Applying for the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund

1. About this fund

The BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund has allocated £2.7m of National Lottery over three years to support programmes focusing on project development along with the talent development and growth of creative practice. Programmes identified that support intervention for early career creatives working at pre-debut level may be supported through this fund by BFI NETWORK.

We are seeking organisations to design and run creative project development programmes in feature film (narrative, documentary, animation) and/or narrative immersive media for the benefit of participants and projects. Applicants will need to respond to specific challenges set by the Fund and can propose programmes of various shapes and sizes, whether short or long term, virtually or in person, etc. Programmes may include shadowing opportunities, mentoring, creative practice sessions (e.g. read-throughs, scene shoots), peer support, finance and packaging advice, long-term career planning, and matching creatives with industry advocates and champions.

Programmes should support the advancement of participants projects through a structured, ‘hothouse’ development environment, and prime these projects to go on to receive financial support from the marketplace.

Programmes

We expect programmes to be delivered by suitably experienced practitioners; these may include facilitators, producers, script editors, wellbeing providers or other industry specialists. Applications should also include strong outreach and engagement proposals.

Programmes should consist of structured creative practice sessions which could, for example, be staged as day sessions over a six to twelve month period, or could be intensive week long hothousing sessions that progress the projects participants are working on, contextualised with broader career development support.

Programmes may include:

script writing or editing support
shadowing opportunities
mentoring
creative practice sessions, for example, read-throughs
scene shoots
peer support
finance and packaging advice
audience and impact strategy
career planning and business development
skills development (communication and problem-solving)
match making with industry advocates and champions
and other elements that applicants identify as beneficial in meeting the challenge

All programmes need to be designed to move those projects taking part to a further stage of development. When applying, you will be asked to specify what you will expect from the creatives benefiting from your programme at key intervals of the project’s evolution. You might focus on a specific stage of development or cover different aspects of the development process and identify outputs for each one. We will ask you to specify the final ‘deliverables’ you will require participating creatives to produce by the end of your programme. These are likely to be development materials that they can use to pitch for further project finance.

Programme beneficiaries

The beneficiaries of (participants in) your proposed programmes should be over 18 and not in full-time education at the point of taking part in the programme and either:

UK resident writers and directors, or writer-directors, who are developing their first, second or third feature film/narrative immersive work — those working on their first film must have established themselves through a body of existing creative work
UK resident producers of any level (early career, emerging or established) who are developing projects with writers or directors who meet the experience criteria above
- ‘Early Career’ is defined as not having written, directed or produced a fiction feature film or immersive media project that has received UK distribution in the last 5 years unless they have self-financed and/or self-distributed the work themselves.
- ‘Emerging’ is defined as having no more than three feature film projects produced and/or comparable television, theatre or immersive work.
- ‘Established’ is defined as having 4 or more feature film projects produced and/or comparable television, theatre or immersive work that have achieved commercial distribution in the UK.

When we refer to creatives in the remainder of these guidelines this is as short-hand for feature film writer, directors and/or producer AND immersive project creators, writers and producers. Programmes can be open to all such creatives or targeted to one or more under-represented groups. All programmes should be designed to be fully accessible to participants with access requirements, and budgets should include a contingency line to be used if access provision is required for individual participants.

Each participant will need to bring a feature film (narrative, documentary, animation) or a narrative immersive media project, as applicable, currently in active development (this Fund is not aimed at more generalised training or career development support). We anticipate that each programme we fund would have, in the cohort of projects it will select for participation, a balance of those that are already supported at development stage with finance from an external source (public or private) and those with promising projects that are yet to receive development funding. This may include creatives and projects previously funded by the BFI requiring further development support although BFI projects should not be prioritised and projects should be selected through an open and transparent process.

Successful applicants to the Creative Challenge Fund will need to issue an open call for participants to take part in their programme and conduct outreach to ensure the call reaches its intended beneficiaries.

If projects seeking to take part in a programme are already receiving development funding from the BFI or partner programme, we may require that they complete delivery of that stage of funding before they can take part in the programme. This will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis between the organisation delivering the programme and the BFI or partner.

National Lottery funds can only be used to benefit creatives who demonstrate a compelling case for National Lottery support and a clear public benefit from the activity being funded. We don’t expect organisations delivering programmes to formally means-test the creatives who want to take part, but do expect you to gain sufficient information from applicants to your programme to consider who will benefit most from the support; which creatives are otherwise likely to struggle to find the time or other resources needed to make progress; and which creatives may, based on track records or information they have shared in their application, be likely to achieve success without needing public funding for this project or at this point in their careers.

If applicants to a programme have a project that has secured development funding from any source, it will need to be clear that the activity supported by participation in the Creative Challenge-funded programme is entirely additional and not already funded through the existing development finance.

What happens to the rights in the projects taking part

Organisations delivering programmes funded by the Creative Challenge Fund cannot take rights in projects going through the programme as a condition of participation, nor should they anticipate taking rights in those projects as a matter of course. Where production, distribution companies or sales agents are delivering programmes, we recognise that they may choose to pick up a project for further development following the completion of the programme. This would be a positive outcome of the Creative Challenge Fund’s intervention. At the same time, this Fund does not support slate development, as that would give an unfair economic advantage to a very limited number of companies. By slate development, we mean a single company building a portfolio of projects that it intends to take rights in and/or develop further following the National Lottery-funded programme.

Therefore, all organisations applying must propose programmes with an open application process, so creatives who are entirely new to the organisation can take part. Conditions relating to project rights must not be imposed on the selected participants. This includes not:

taking any Executive Producer (EP) or similar credits on projects, should they subsequently go into production. You will be provided with BFI branding guidelines detailing how those projects should acknowledge Creative Challenge Fund support, which will identify how your organisation and your programme can be credited on the project alongside the BFI National Lottery;
taking any kind of fee in relation to further development or production of the project; and
requiring a ‘first look’ arrangement in relation to any participating project.

Aims of the fund

We want to ensure everyone can create original screen work, from first-time creators to world-class professionals. All funded activities we support should contribute to at least five of the following aims identified in the BFI National Lottery strategy outcomes.

creative talent is supported and nurtured, as they emerge and throughout their careers
people are better enabled to innovate and experiment creatively
a wider range of stories on screen are told that otherwise wouldn’t be
people from under-represented groups across the UK can access the support they need to develop their careers and skills
a broader range of organisations supported by the fund, breaking down historic barriers to funding
screen organisations have significantly reduced their carbon footprint.

2. Check if you’re eligible

Designing and running creative project development programmes in feature film and/or narrative immersive media requires specialist knowledge, delivery infrastructure and relationships. Applicants are expected to be screen organisations with sufficient expertise, already operating in the sector.

Applicants should have previously delivered creative or talent development programmes and be able to evidence successful previous delivery including describing beneficial outcomes for participants. If you are a newly formed organisation staffed by individuals with relevant experience, the eligibility criteria will be applied to your staff’s collective experience rather than the track record of the organisation itself.

Eligibility of your organisation

Your organisation must be legally constituted and centrally managed in the UK as one of the following:

a limited company registered at Companies House
a community interest company registered at Companies House
a limited liability partnership (LLP) registered at Companies House
a UK combined or local authority or statutory body
a UK charity or trust registered with the Charity Commission

Production, distribution and sales companies are eligible to apply, providing they are not seeking support for slate development and are proposing a new programme that is outside of their regular activity. Organisations whose primary purpose is delivery of exhibition activity such as a UK based film festival that meet the eligibility criteria may apply.

Where organisations applying are profit-making, the activity we fund will need to be not-for-profit.

As part of our commitment to addressing industry imbalances and under-representation, we are particularly interested in receiving applications from:

organisations based outside London and the South East.
smaller organisations in London or the South East that serve under-represented parts of the industry and are seeking to deliver a larger scale or nationwide programmes for the first time
organisations led by staff with characteristics that remain under-represented in the wider screen industry, in line with the focus areas of the BFI Diversity Standards
organisations that have not previously been supported by the BFI to deliver this area of activity

The proposed Creative Challenge Fund programme cannot be co-funded by another source of BFI funding.

Applicant organisations who are currently being funded by the BFI for other activities will need to demonstrate that they are able to sufficiently deliver on their funding commitments.

Ineligible applicants

The following types of applicants cannot apply:

Individuals (the call for participants in funded programmes will be run separately by successful organisations)
Any organisations looking to develop their own slates of creative projects
Organisations looking to produce a film or series of films through the delivery of a development programme – the focus must be on development, not a production output
Organisations otherwise not meeting the criteria outlined in these guidelines.

Eligibility of your programme

All activity must be completed by 31 March 2026 unless you have approval from the Creative Challenge Fund team prior to making an application.

All programmes need to be designed to move the projects taking part to a further stage of development. When applying, you will be asked to specify what you will expect from the creatives benefiting from your programme at key intervals. You might focus on a specific stage of development or cover different aspects of the development process and identify outputs for each one. We will ask you to specify the final ‘deliverables’ you will require participating creatives to produce by the end of your programme. These are likely to be development materials that they can use to pitch for further project finance.

Programmes that have previously been supported through this Fund are eligible to reapply if they meet the requirements of the specific challenge. Previously supported programmes will need to have completed delivery and demonstrate how they have adapted their programme in response to learnings from previous editions.

You can apply if your programme:

takes place in the UK
is for a UK public audience and public benefit
starts 16 weeks or more after the time of application
has a duration of up to one year, from your call for applicants to delivery of a final session. We may, by exception, consider programmes with a longer duration if there is a clear case for why this is necessary
has a clear structure with defined start and end points
will recruit via an open application process, so creatives who are entirely new to the organisation can take part (The BFI will provide guidance to organisations on elements that will need to be included in their calls for applicants and will require approval of the call documents before they are published)
supports a minimum of ten projects, each being represented by one or more individuals
includes a payment for all participants during their time participating in programme activity
is focused on project development
is designed to develop projects in any or all of the following formats:
- fiction features (live action or animation)
- documentary features (live action or animation)
- narrative immersive film work

By feature we mean a standalone work which, when made, will be at least 70 minutes in length.

By immersive we mean narrative, cinematic experiences that aim to develop immersive as a cinematic medium. Projects can be produced and experienced using a range of technologies — including but not limited to VR, AR, MR and 360-degree experiences. The programmes cannot support filmed live productions such as a theatre show, sporting or music event, experimental artist’s installations intended for art gallery exhibition or video games intended for home release.

Programmes can encompass multiple forms where this is practicable.

has a UK-wide reach in terms of recruitment scope and location of the creatives that take part (We are open to programmes that have a more regional or localised focus, where there is a strategic argument for this)
supports projects, that once made, must be capable of being certified as British through any of the following:
- the applicable Cultural Test for Film, Animation or Video Games
- one of the UK’s official bi-lateral co-production treaties
- the European Convention on co-production

This means that for organisations who are successful in receiving funding to run a programme, their call for projects to take part will need to include a section requiring applicants to determine whether or not their project meets the above criteria.

supports projects that will not gain other sources of finance at this point in their development. BFI National Lottery funding supports activity that the commercial market alone will not finance
is designed to move the projects taking part to a further stage of development.

Existing programmes: As sources of finance for creative development programmes have reduced in recent years, we recognise that there may be some existing programmes that have lost other funding and meet the criteria of this Fund. Organisations in this scenario can apply if they can demonstrate:

that they no longer have access to previous, or other, sources of funding sufficient to deliver their programme;
that their programme will only be delivered if they were to receive National Lottery support; and
that the programme has evolved to address immediate industry challenges and to meet all eligibility criteria of these Creative Challenge Fund guidelines.

National Lottery funds can only be awarded to applicants who demonstrate need and a clear public benefit from the activity being funded. Any organisations that receive support that apply again to the Fund will need to meet the specificity of the challenge concerned. This is project-based, time-limited funding, and as such, there should be no expectation of ongoing support beyond the term of any awards made. All applicants are encouraged to develop plans for alternative sources of funding if they intend their activity to continue following Challenge Fund support.

When your programme is ineligible

You’re not eligible to apply to the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund if your programme:

supports the development of television projects. All projects being accepted onto programmes must be feature films for theatrical release or immersive format
focusses on artforms other than independent UK and international film and broader screen activity
is for-profit activity
focuses on a production output
is to develop a slate of your own creative projects
places any conditions on participants relating to taking rights in projects participating in the programme. This includes not:
- taking any Executive Producer (EP) or similar credits on projects, should they subsequently go into production
- taking any kind of fee in relation to further development or production of the project; and
- requiring a ‘first look’ arrangement in relation to any participating project.
is to purely deliver training activity (the BFI has separate initiatives that focus on industry skills. Only programmes with a project development focus targeted at writers, directors and/or producers may apply)
is aimed at beneficiaries under the age of 18 or in full-time education.

If you would like to run a programme of more than one year, or you’re unsure if you or your programme are eligible for this Fund, please contact us on creativechallengefund@bfi.org.uk

3. How much you can apply for

The amount of funding depends on the timeframe and ambition of your programme. You can apply for between £12,000 and £150,000.

4. What you can use the funding for

Eligible costs

You need to propose programmes that have been devised to respond to the aims of the fund. You can use this funding for programme costs including:

Cost of your organisation’s staff time for running the programme, where this is not already covered by another source of funding
Freelance facilitator and contributor fees
Payments to creative participants for their time on the programme (see guidance below)
Programme venue costs
Equipment hire e.g. for production-related workshops
Creative practice sessions e.g. read-throughs, scene shoots
Travel for delivery staff and participants to and from the programme (see Appendix A for guidance)
Participant and programme staff accommodation where programmes are residential / require overnight stays
Provision of meals and refreshments for participants when the programme schedule necessitates this
Mentors
Shadowing opportunities
Attendance at markets or festivals for participants where activity benefits the outcomes of the programme and the projects
Monitoring/surveying costs of participants to feed into your final reporting. This work should be conducted by you and not a third-party consultant
Access requirements of participants or contributors
Any specific and demonstrable overhead costs your organisation will incur in relation to delivery of the programme (payroll administration costs, office space etc.), where these are not already covered by another source of [public] funding. These costs should not exceed whichever is the greater of 5% of the amount you are seeking from the BFI or £2,000. If you request a contribution towards overhead you will need to provide a breakdown of how the figure has been calculated.

Where the content of a programme brings specific sensitivities around wellbeing, applicants can budget for relevant wellbeing support if this carries a specific cost.

Payments to participants

We expect you to budget to pay participants for their time while they participate in your programme. This should be based on a minimum eight-hour day rate of £110 per person (current London Living Wage). All payments to participants need to equate to hours spent taking part in the programme, rather than providing a flat fee. The maximum amount that can be paid to an individual for participation is £5,000 which would equate to 45.5 days at the minimum rate. This would be a substantial time commitment for participants, and we expect most programmes to require a significantly smaller commitment. Applicants can propose to pay a higher day rate to participants where this is designed to demonstrably increase access to the programme. If you wish to do this, you should provide the thinking behind your approach in your application to us.

Organisations can offer programme participants the ability to waive their participation fee, on the grounds that they have already secured substantial development backing for their project or judge themselves to be of sufficient financial means that they do not require the support. In this instance, successful organisations could propose during delivery to reallocate these funds to another area of the programme that requires additional finance or offers an opportunity to increase impact. This re-allocation will require BFI approval; if the reallocation is not approved by BFI, or the funds are no longer required, they will be retained by BFI for distribution to other projects seeking National Lottery funding.

All organisations applying need to outline the fraud risk measures they will apply to programme delivery, including ensuring the payments for participants’ time are received by the correct individuals, and payments are only made in accordance with actual time spent attending programme sessions.

Ineligible costs

We cannot support the following types of programme or cost:

TV (single episodes/series intended for broadcast (TV or web based) project development
For-profit activity by the organisation running a programme
Programmes solely focused on production skills / practical filmmaking skills
Timed filmmaking challenges
The purchase of equipment e.g. IT equipment, phones, production kit etc.
A project management fee or profit line that does not reflect costs directly associated with delivery of the programme
Core costs for the day-to-day running of your organisation not associated with the activity/programme
Flights within or between England, Wales and Scotland
Provision of one-to-one therapy or other ongoing therapeutic interventions for participants
Third party evaluation
Prize funding or gifts of any kind
Alcohol, parties or similar events
Activity that is already specifically supported by another external source of funding
Programmes that focus on other art-forms such as literature, dance on film, poetry film, opera or artists’ moving image
Cost incurred prior to an offer of funding from BFI
Promotional materials (stands, printed brochures, tote bags, badges etc.)
Programmes already supported by other BFI funding provided by a different fund or BFI delegate partner – please contact us if you are unsure whether this applies to you

The above list is not exhaustive, and we may inform you that other types of activity within your application cannot be supported by a BFI award, or request that you amend specific budget lines. The budget templates include additional guidance on eligible and ineligible costs.

If you’re registered for VAT

Your figures should not include VAT that you can claim back. If you are not registered for VAT, or you are registered for VAT but cannot fully recover the VAT you incur on costs, your figures should include irrecoverable VAT. Grants we make are ‘outside the scope’ of VAT and should be listed in your accounts as a grant and not, for example, as a fee for any services supplied to the BFI. You should get financial advice from your own accountant or the relevant tax office.

Partnership funding

The amount of partnership funding we expect you to include in the income section of your programme budget differs depending on the size of your organisation.

For micro organisations of 0-9 employees, we do not require any cash or in-kind contribution, though organisations that can provide or leverage a contribution are welcome to include this in their budget.

For small organisations of 10-49 employees, we expect a cash or in-kind partnership match of at least 5% of the amount you are seeking from the BFI.

For medium and larger organisations of 50+ employees, we expect a cash partnership match of at least 10% of the amount you are seeking from the BFI.

Partnership funding does not have to be secured at the point of application but will need to be secured in advance of BFI award payment and before the proposed project start date.

BFI National Lottery funding

We can only award funding to projects that have a clear public benefit along with an evidenced need for National Lottery funds. You should not apply for National Lottery funds to replace existing project funding or available income, or to fund activity that can start without an award.

BFI National Lottery Funding is project-based, time-limited funding, and as such, there should be no expectation of ongoing support beyond the term of any awards made.

All applicants are encouraged to develop plans for alternative sources of funding if they intend their activity to continue following Challenge Fund support.

5. What your project needs to achieve

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

All awarded programmes will contribute to the following KPIs which we use to measure the success of the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund:

A minimum of ten individuals supported per programme, noting this number may be higher where each project taking part has multiple participants
45% of beneficiaries based in England outside of London and the South East
15% to be based in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
No more than 40% of beneficiaries based in London and the South East
At least 30% of participants taking part in programmes are new to BFI National Lottery funding
Projects participating converted to production within five years: 15%

Equity, diversity and inclusion

We ask applicants to address equity, diversity and inclusion by engaging with the BFI Diversity Standards for film. The Creative Challenge Fund will prioritise projects that will make a significant contribution to improving equity, diversity and inclusion across the industry and so your application will need to make clear, specific commitments to making this change. If successful, you’ll need to report following the conclusion of your activity, evaluating how you’ve delivered against the aims of the Diversity Standards in practice.

Your project will contribute towards achieving the following BFI inclusion targets for creatives participating in your programme:

Inclusion targets

disabled (including those with a longstanding physical or mental condition and those identifying as D/deaf or neurodiverse): 18%
Black and Global Majority (London): 40%
Black and Global Majority (outside London): 30%
those identifying within the gender binary (also monitoring trans and non-binary identities): 50:50 gender
sexual identity (other than heterosexual): 10%
working class background: 39%

UK-wide

Our funding supports national, regional and local activity to ensure that communities throughout the UK feel the benefit of the screen industries and culture. You’ll need to tell us where your proposed activity will be delivered and how this will support the BFI’s UK-wide principle.

We’re seeking to support programmes that stimulate a UK-wide ecosystem, providing impact and profile. Applicants are encouraged to make use of partnership working to achieve these aims.

Environmental sustainability

We ask all applicants to consider how you’ll apply environmental sustainability (ES) principles to the funded activity or your organisation more generally. This could include:

implementing good environmental practice for the project e.g. travel and events
embedding sustainability within your organisation more broadly
exploring environmental themes as part of the work e.g. programming, training or skills development

Due to the range of organisations and activity that we fund, we’re not prescriptive about what you should focus on. For guidance, you can refer to resources provided by Julie’s Bicycle, particularly the Sustainable Screen Resource Hub, which outlines good environmental practices. To support the beneficiaries of your programme, you can also explore resources provided by BAFTA albert.

If funded, you’ll need to:

ensure at least one member of the funded projects’ creative team completes a relevant BAFTA albert academy workshop
submit requested environmental impact data and report how you have applied the ES principle

6. How to apply

When you can apply

You must apply at least 16 weeks before your programme’s proposed start date. Applications submitted less than 16 weeks before the start of a project are ineligible and will be declined.

We strongly encourage you to apply as soon as you’re ready to provide sufficient lead time to the start of your programme.

Diversity standards form

Before you can submit your application, you’ll need to complete and submit the Diversity Standards – Creative Challenge Fund form. You’ll need to register an account to do this.

This form will give you a unique diversity standards reference number, which you’ll need to fill in your application form. You’ll need to submit both forms 16 weeks ahead of your start date for your application be eligible.

Application forms received without a completed and submitted diversity standards form will be considered incomplete and therefore ineligible.

Information you’ll need to provide

As an overview, the form will ask you for:

Programme summary including:

Which challenge your programme addresses
Which project format your programme supports
Proposed start date / end date
Number of participants
Number of projects
Programme length
Approximate number of hours of facilitated sessions

Programme aims and objectives

Overview of the content and structure
How the projects will benefit
Who you have consulted
Who will support the delivery of the programme
What are the expectations of the participants
What are the delivery materials you will ask for from participants

Participant summary including:

Who are the proposed participants, what stage of career are they
Any geographical focus
Any long-term benefits for participants
Inclusion targets
Outreach and recruitment activities

Programme need including;

Why you need BFI National Lottery Funding
What is the legacy of the programme, will it continue once the funding ends
If previously funded for similar activity, what adaptations have been made

Programme management and delivery including:

What your organisation does and its governance structure
Past experience
Staffing
Safeguarding and wellbeing
Financial processes
Evaluation and monitoring
Programme finances

How the programme meets the BFI outcomes and principles of funding:

UK Wide
Environmental Sustainability
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Documents you’ll need to provide

At the end of the form, you will be asked to attach:

Marketing and outreach plan describing how you will engage potential applicants
Draft programme plan and timeline – including where dates/deadlines (detailing the extent to which timelines can and cannot be moved), content and description of activity, who you will approach to deliver each session (where known at point of application), and proposed event locations (i.e. which city/town rather than which specific venue).
Detailed budget in Excel format using the template below providing a breakdown of income and expenditure and showing the amount and status of any partnership funding
Your last set of independently certified or audited accounts
Where you have them in place already, your organisational anti-bullying and harassment and wellbeing policies
Risk register for the programme from point of funding confirmation onwards, identifying risks perceived, how they will be mitigated and who is responsible for taking action

If you have gained agreement from us to apply for a programme that lasts longer than a year, you will also need to attach:

Your most recent organisational budget and management accounts for the current financial year as approved by your Board (including both income and expenditure reporting and a balance sheet)
Budget and forecast for your organisation covering the full life of the activity being applied for, for example 1 April 2024 to 30 June 2025, accompanied by notes highlighting the assumptions made and key risks (for instance around renewal of funding from other sources)

Equality monitoring

You may be asked to provide equality monitoring data relating to your organisation’s leadership or project staff at the point of application or during your project. The data you submit on this form will be confidential and anonymous.

Submitting an application

You need to create an account to make your application online. You can save your application and return to it later.

Make sure you complete all the sections as incomplete forms will be automatically ineligible.

7. What happens after you apply

You will get confirmation we received your application within 2 working days.
We’ll request any additional information we may need within 4 weeks.
You will get a decision within 12 weeks, unless we need more information from you, then it’ll take longer.

Once submitted, the BFI Filmmaking Fund will review your application and if necessary, may write to you or request to meet with you to obtain more information about your application.

For applicants who have gained our agreement to seek funding for a programme taking place over more than 12 months, we may ask you at this point for a cash flow showing when you will spend the funding. If we need additional information from you, it may take us longer to reach a decision on your application. We may share parts of your application with other BFI teams or external consultants during or following assessment.

If your application is ineligible, we will email to tell you we are unable to consider it. We may enable you to fix a mistake if this is the only reason the application is ineligible.

How your application is assessed

When assessing your application we consider:

degree to which the proposal closely addresses the challenge being addressed
degree to which the proposal addresses the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund aims
your track record in delivering relevant professional/creative development initiatives
originality and dynamism of approach to programme design
strategy and sensitivity of approach in the creation of project-specific development resources for relevant talent constituencies
demonstrable understanding of screen sector development needs
level of detail and quality of planning around logistical elements of programme delivery and programme production overall
any programme partnerships and/or collaborations and how they enhance the activity
ability to provide partnership funding, whether cash or in-kind, to support programme delivery, in line with graduated requirements depending on company size described above
extent to which the programme will create UK-wide benefit
extent to which the strategic principle of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is reflected within delivery plans
extent to which environmental sustainability is reflected within delivery plans
value for money demonstrated by the amount of activity delivered with the amount requested from the BFI
your demonstration of need for National Lottery funding
whether there is a clear public benefit to the proposed activity
detail of risk assessment and strength of proposed mitigations, including in relation to wellbeing and safeguarding
how you and your team have managed any previous BFI awards

How we prioritise applications

We get a lot of applications and cannot support them all. We prioritise proposals that:

Most closely meet the challenge proposed
May have a transformational effect on the organisation delivering the activity
We think will have the biggest impact on the participants involved and the wider industry
Offer the widest geographical spread to beneficiaries across the UK with other supported programmes
Offer value for money
Are innovative in approach
Aim for ongoing sustainability in terms of continuing to take place beyond the term of any funding from the BFI

Lottery Finance Committee consideration

Following assessment of each application, funding recommendations will be made to the BFI Lottery Finance Committee (LFC). This is the final stage of the funding decision process.

We undertake due diligence assessments of the applications we are recommending to our decision-making committee for funding. As part of this, before submitting an application to the committee, we will request the bank details of the lead applicant. We will also request the personal address and date of birth of the CEO or Managing Director of the organisation applying. Please note that our request for this information is not an indication or confirmation of funding and you will be informed separately of the funding decision on your application. We will use this data to run an identity check. This is not a credit check and will not affect the ability of the CEO or Managing Director to receive credit from other organisations. We will be unable to submit your application to LFC until we have received your completed form.

All applicants will be informed in writing of the decision on their application. If your application is declined, all supporting materials will be deleted from your submission in line with our record retention policy.

8. Getting a decision

If you’re successful

You will:

receive a written offer of funding
need to sign the offer of funding and return it to the BFI within 14 days

Your offer of funding will set out details of how you will receive the funding, how to use it and how we expect you to report to us.

Read conditions of funding below to find out what you will have to do if you are offered an award.

If you’re unsuccessful

We may have turned down your application because we determined that the proposal:

Did not fit the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund aims
Did not demonstrate a strong enough commitment to one or more of the following principles: equity, diversity and inclusion; UK-wide; environmental sustainability
Was too ambitious for the budget
Did not demonstrate enough relevant experience
Was under-developed or lacking in detail around programme content, staffing, risk management etc.
Did not demonstrate sufficient need for National Lottery support and could be financed by other means
Did not sufficiently address the BFI Diversity Standards.

It is not possible to resubmit the same application to the Creative Challenge Fund.

Feedback on an unsuccessful application

If requested, we will try to provide feedback. As a small team we will prioritise those organisations where we asked for additional information or interviewed during the assessment process. The feedback will be by email, video call or telephone.

We will keep the data and supporting materials you sent to us in line with our records retention policy.

We welcome your feedback on the application process and how we might improve it. You can contact the Creative Challenge Fund team on creativechallengefund@bfi.org.uk.

9. Conditions of funding

If we offer you funding, in addition to the General Conditions of National Lottery Funding, you will be required to deliver the funded programme in accordance with the requirements set out in these guidelines and with the contents of your application (in its final form as approved by the BFI) as follows:

You will need to incorporate the creative and project eligibility criteria set out in section one into your programme design.
Your programme must be free of charge for participants.
Participants must be remunerated for their time in line with the information provided in section four.
You will need to issue a public call for applications that makes applying to the programme accessible for any applicant meeting the criteria and accompany this with creative engagement and outreach work to ensure visibility of the opportunity to a wide range of potential participants.
You will be expected to enter into a contract with each participant setting out the conditions relating to their engagement in the programme covering practicalities around attendance and payment of participation fee as well as conduct and wellbeing. BFI will set out the minimum participation terms for such contract which you can adapt for your purposes.
Programme design, participant selection and ongoing relationships with programme participants must be guided by the principle that this funding is not for slate development. There is not a prohibition on a successful organisation, following the conclusion of a programme, investing further in one or more projects that took part, but this is expected to be the exception rather than the rule, since the aim of the programme is to enable projects to gain financial support from other sources of investment.
You will be required to work collaboratively with relevant BFI departments and partners, and your award will be overseen by one or more BFI representatives. This will include us requiring approval of a final programme schedule and budget including detail of the contents of each session. We may require successful applicants to attend a group meeting or workshop session prior to launching their programmes. If we request it, you will be required to enable a BFI representative to take part in the selection process for participants in your programme - including shortlisting applicants and/or taking part in any interviews you hold – and to facilitate access for a BFI representative to observe or where appropriate take part in one or more of your programme sessions. We may ask you for a meeting at any point during delivery to review progress, and may require you to share with BFI the materials that creatives deliver to you as part of the programme.
You will be required to collect diversity and geographical monitoring data on the applicants and beneficiaries of your programme, using data categories that will be supplied to you by the BFI. You will need to collect this data in a way that keeps it separate from your decision-making process and report the data in anonymised form to BFI.
Where you have included unsecured partnership funding within your budget, you will need to provide updates on securing this finance to the BFI. The BFI may elect to withhold or withdraw your award if you are unable to secure a level of partnership funding required to deliver the programme as planned, or require that you submit revised plans and budget showing how the programme could be delivered without the planned partnership funding.
Where applicable, you will need to adopt safeguarding provisions for protecting children and vulnerable adults. In terms of ensuring broader wellbeing for participants, you will need to require all participants to sign a code of conduct prior to joining your programme with a focus on behaviour, confidentiality around other participants’ work and a prohibition against any form of copying or plagiarism (as part of the minimum participation terms referred to above).
Your progress will be measured based on submission by you of interim and final reports, dates for the receipt of which will be set out in your funding agreement matched to cash flow of instalments of the award. Each report will need to include a narrative update that includes detail on any changes to plans in comparison to those previously approved by BFI; update on KPIs; and cost reporting against your budget. Your final report will need to include survey data on the experience of your programme’s participants and permit follow-up surveying of participants’ career progression to help inform future BFI strategy
You will be required to write, and agree to the publication on the BFI website of, a final report sharing the learnings of your funded activity. This should be written in the spirit of the greatest transparency possible, to enable other organisations to learn from what your programme has achieved.
You will be required to work with Julie’s Bicycle and, where applicable, BAFTA albert to assess the environmental impact of your programme and identify sustainability actions to take during delivery.
You will be required to take part in evaluation of the Fund, carried out by a third-party contractor appointed by the BFI. This is likely to take place in 2026-27 and may be revisited during later years so you should ensure to retain all data relating to your programme, its participants and its impact until the end of the BFI Screen Culture Strategy in March 2033. You will need to ensure that data on all participants in the Creative Challenge Fund-supported programme can be shared with BFI and any third-party evaluator it appoints, in compliance with data protection legislation.
You will be required to gain BFI approval for marketing and related materials for the programme, in line with branding guidelines that the BFI will provide you with.

Those branding guidelines will also set out what credits you may take in relation to your programme’s support for any completed project.

Appendix A – Expenses guidance

Our contributions towards expenses would be capped as follows:

accommodation per night:
- for major city or overseas: £150
- regional UK: £135
travel including flights:
- economy only
- no flights within mainland UK
- no taxis unless related to an access requirement
subsistence (meals): £40
- breakfast: £10
- lunch: £10
- dinner: £20

This aligns with general conditions attaching to use of public funding and we will not cover costs of first class travel or accommodation, hospitality or general subsistence unless they are related to an access requirement.

Travel and accommodation costs are only funded by BFI where they are reasonably required where teams are based in different parts of the UK and need to meet for the purposes of furthering the project (for example, for a workshop or residential).

We would expect teams to use online meeting tools where possible to minimise travel and to act in accordance with environmental sustainability principles.

We would only contribute to meals/subsistence directly associated with approved travel and accommodation.