Lizzie Francke has been named executive producer for film at UKregional screen agency EM Media.

EM Media, which is supported by the UK Film Council among other UKgovernment organisations, recently secured £6m of finance from the EuropeanRegional Development Fund (ERDF) to invest in East Midlands film and media;Francke will be responsible for seeking out feature film talent and projectsand developing new partnerships for EM Media to back.

Since 2001, EM Media has co-financed eight feature films includingShane Meadows' This Is England and tow previous Meadows films, Michael Winterbottom's A CockAnd Bull Story and KeithFulton and Louis Pepe's Brothers Of The Head. EM Media is also investing £750,000over three years in the low-budget studio initiative Warp X which is principallybacked by UK Film Council and Film Four.

Francke joins EM Media from London-based production outfit LittleBird where she set up the company's horror label Ministry Of Fear. While there,she co-produced Marc Evans' psychological thriller Trauma starring Colin Firth. She is a formerartistic director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, was a filmcritic contributing to Sight And Sound, Premiere, The Observer and The Guardianamong others and write the book "Script Girls, Women Screenwriters In Hollywood."

"This is a fantastic time to be joining EM Media," said Francke."The prospect of attracting projects that can be enhanced by the wealth ofexperience and skills that exist here is tremendously exciting. There issomething very tangible and exciting about the East Midlands and the talentworking within it. I hope to build upon the excellent work of Kate Ogborn andlook forward to furthering EM Media's reputation as an exemplary regionalfinancier."

EM Media has also appointedPaul Welsh as development executive, working with Francke. Welsh is a formerjournalist who moved into radio and TV production in the early nineties and setup his own company Edge City Films in 2002.