Case Study - East Coast Pictures Ltd

East Coast Pictures Ltd is a TV and screen development company specialising in unscripted entertainment and factual content.

Led by Director Julia Thompson, East Coast Pictures has worked with major industry partners including SYCO Entertainment and Lime Pictures.

Julia approached Innovate UK Business Growth to explore how a story she had developed, Havelok’s Kingdom, the story of a Viking boy prince arriving in Grimsby in 800AD, could be developed into an immersive entertainment experience.

Julia worked with Gillian Kavanagh, Senior Innovation & Growth Specialist at Innovate UK Business Growth, over a period of 18 months from October 2024.

Gillian mentored and advised Julia throughout the process of pivoting from traditional television into immersive entertainment and creative technology, supporting the development of Havelok’s Kingdom as an innovative new revenue stream for the business.

The support included:

• Mentoring and strategic advice to position Havelok’s Kingdom as an immersive experience.
• Identification, advice and support to secure innovation funding, including £50,000 from Innovate UK Creative Catalyst to explore feasibility and prototyping, £15,000 from Bridge AI Hartree Centre to commission Cardiff University research into AI for animation, gaming and immersive experiences, and £3,000 for an IP Audit to protect intellectual property across multiple territories and classifications.
• Advice on immersive prototyping pathways and technical delivery, including introductions to specialist partners such as the University of Salford to develop a 180 degree immersive Viking village and Manchester Immersive Technologies Hub (MiTH) for motion capture expertise.
• Support to develop a full business strategy, including financial projections, pricing, costs, intellectual property capture, and expansion into books, merchandise, gaming, animation, and live events.
• Ongoing mentoring and ecosystem navigation, including introductions to publishing routes, agents, licensing networks, trade fairs, creative industry events and potential future partners.

As a result of the support, turnover increased by 166% to £120,000, with £113,000 secured in project funding in total. This success led to the launch of a spin-out business for events, Bright and Shiny Live Ltd, and East Coast Pictures is now positioned as a CreaTech company.

Soft launches took place in schools, pop-up locations and a cathedral, attracting over 5,000 visitors to date, with major immersive launches scheduled across four locations in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire in 2026. Julia also completed writing and publishing Havelok’s Kingdom, with a book launch scheduled for May 2026.

The project supported employment of up to 62 people across events, including immersive technicians, software developers, actors, creatives and production staff, with more new roles planned for 2026 and 2027.

Julia Thompson, Director, East Coast Pictures Ltd, said: "The advice, support and knowledge from Gillian Kavanagh has been central to securing and building a strong foundation for this exciting new brand, especially in a time of industry disruption around AI, content creation and teams with a future-proofed skillset.

"Thanks to the initial Innovate UK funding we are now building the strong foundations to be agile and move with speed engaging and growing audiences in gaming, mobile, data collection, live, immersive as well as traditional TV and Film commissions in both UK and international markets.

"To be launching this brand alongside the era of disruption and opportunity brought by AI, means this brand, from the very outset has created exciting opportunities for innovation in the way our new teams work — a team that embraces AI as a tool alongside traditional skills."