MOTIF: Case Study

Taking a leap of faith as a company is always far easier when you believe that you have the right support around you. That is the story for North East production company MOTIF Pictures who have recently completed the Create Growth Programme and also been granted the Shared Success Fund to open up new opportunities for them 

According to Managing Director James Craggs, it’s become a journey that he and business partner Tautvydas Baranauskas never imagined they would find themselves on.

“We started MOTIF in 2020 on a bit of a wing and a prayer and to create a production company in our own image.

“We’ve been fortunate enough to win a couple of RTS Awards for comedy and traveled all over Europe for a show for FIFA+ that we made and delivered a BBC documentary.

“We feel hugely fortunate to be able to do what we do.”

Craggs freely admits that they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into when starting the company but that they quickly discovered that the problems encountered aren’t necessarily always of the scale that you imagine they will be.

“The big hurdle in running your own business is that there’s lots of small hurdles. Those small hurdles have to all just keep being jumped.

“And it’s about lots and lots of different elements and strands that make your business what it’s going to be.”

When MOTIF started working with Creative UK on the Create Growth Programme, Craggs explains that they went into it not knowing what to expect but that it proved a transformational experience in helping them understand their company and where it needed to go next.

“The Create Growth Programme has helped us refine our ambitions. It’s made us realise that we can’t just consider doing nice, shiny, creative stuff all the time but need to think about the nuts and bolts of the business as well.

“It forced us to really think about where we’re going rather than just what’s happening tomorrow.

“The Programme made us take a step back and think about who we are, what we do and where we’re going.

“As a result, we decided that we were going to need something that was going to differentiate the two sides of the business, so we moved all of our commercial work under a brand new label - Labas Media - and kept all the work we do for channels, broadcasters and streamers under the label of MOTIF.”

With that understanding and development of their proposition came another new direction for MOTIF that Craggs only felt confident enough to go for because of the work they did in the Create Growth Programme. Like many other organisations who have worked with Creative UK they were able to ‘dream big’ with the Shared Success Fund.

“We were very fortunate that we were awarded £25,000 and that’s going to allow us to realise another brand new ambition that is part of the company’s future we hope which is a movement into what you would consider a content studio.

“The best thing about it is that we’re backed by an organisation in Creative UK that allows us to understand what that journey looks like and have support from them when we need it.

“They know that they’re taking a chance on all of these different opportunities with different types of companies and they know that without this chance, those companies wouldn’t be able to do the thing that they want to do.

“So ultimately it’s just a really great concept for everyone involved.”

“The Create Growth Programme has helped us refine our ambitions. It’s made us realise that we can’t just consider doing nice, shiny, creative stuff all the time but need to think about the nuts and bolts of the business as well.

It forced us to really think about where we’re going rather than just what’s happening tomorrow. The Programme made us take a step back and think about who we are, what we do and where we’re going."