Manx government 'must be transparent' over future investments

Me and Orson Welles was one of the feature films backed by the loss-making fund

The Isle of Man government has been told it must demonstrate the benefit of future investments after it lost about £27m by investing in the film industry.

An investigation into the management of the Media Development Fund (MDF), which paid out nearly £60m between 2007 and 2016, has now ended.

A committee found opportunities were missed to properly oversee and scrutinise the fund.

It has called for transparency around the way future investments are handled.

Almost 100 feature films were backed by the MDF, including Me and Orson Welles starring Zac Efron, which lost about £9m.

From 2007 to 2016, production companies CinemaNX and Pinewood Film Advisors were responsible for managing the fund on the Manx government's behalf.

Investments in individual films stopped in 2017 when government adopted a new approach.

'Scarce resources'

Efforts to develop the island's film industry were undermined by a lack of clear targets and ways of measuring return on the investments, the committee found.

Its final report recommended the Department for Enterprise (DfE) should report to Tynwald annually to demonstrate how investment schemes "generate positive economic impact".

The committee recognised improvements in how business support was managed, but warned "there is a risk that without an overarching vision and strategy that our scarce resources will not be applied to best effect".

"Tynwald should be asked to approve any future investments of this magnitude," it added.

In statement the DfE said a "risk aware approach" was now applied to existing schemes, which are aimed at helping businesses that create jobs.

At this stage the report has not yet been laid before Tynwald.