Applying for BFI National Lottery Discovery Feature Funding

Contents

1. About this funding
2. Aims of funding
3. Check if you’re eligible
4. What you can use the funding for
5. What your project needs to achieve
6. How to apply
7. What happens after you apply
8. Getting a decision
9. Conditions of funding
10. Appendix A – Abridged list of BFI delivery materials

1. About this funding

The BFI National Lottery Filmmaking Fund invests National Lottery funding in a diverse range of work with creative merit and ambition, which the commercial sector is not able to back, in full or in part, and which would therefore benefit from National Lottery support.

Through its various funding programmes, the BFI Filmmaking Fund focuses on developing new, emerging and established talent in front of and behind the camera and encouraging risk in form and narrative approach.

BFI National Lottery Discovery Feature Funding provides support of up to a maximum of £1,000,000 for fictional features from debut directors with budgets from £1,000,000 to £3,500,000. 

Assessment of applications for Discovery funding will focus strongly on the talent involved and their progression, as well as the feature project itself. Through championing under-represented talent earlier in their careers, we can help create a more diverse and inclusive film industry.

Please note that we don’t expect to provide many awards at the maximum level of £1,000,000 per project, and our award amounts will generally range from £500,000 to £850,000. We have limited funds and may therefore only be able to offer you a lower amount than the one you request. 

2. Aims of funding

All projects receiving BFI National Lottery Discovery feature funding must address at least three of the following aims, which are also detailed in the stated principles and outcomes of the BFI National Lottery strategy: 

1. Equity, diversity and inclusion — People from under-represented groups across the UK access the support they need to develop their careers and skills.
2. Impact and audience — People across the UK access a wider choice of film and the moving image, including stories that reflect their lives.
3. Talent development and progression — Creative talent is supported and nurtured, as they emerge and throughout their careers and more people understand how to express their creativity through stories on screen.
4. Creative Risk — People are better enabled to innovate and experiment creatively; a wider range of stories on screen are told that otherwise would not be
5. UK-wide — Everyone across the UK should be able to experience and create the widest range of screen culture. They should feel the benefits from the screen sector in terms of jobs and growth too.
6. Environmental sustainability — Screen organisations significantly reduce their carbon footprint.  

If you’d like support when making your application, you can find information on access support for BFI fund applicants. 

3. Check if you’re eligible

In order to allow enough time for assessment, and for legal paperwork to be completed if the application is successful, eligible projects must have their first day of principal photography more than 20 weeks after the closing date of the funding round.

In exceptional circumstances you can request permission to apply with a principal photography date that is less than 20 weeks from the closing date of the fund. To get permission, email productioncoordinator@bfi.org.uk before you begin your application. 

Eligibility of applicant (lead producer) 

All applications for funding must be submitted by your project’s lead producer who will be the main contact for the BFI. The email address used to create the BFI Account and application must belong to the lead producer. If you would like to add a further contact to be copied into correspondence relating to the application, please provide details of this contact in the ‘Communication Preference’ section of the application form. 

The lead producer must: 

• be the project’s dedicated individual producer and not the writer or director of the project
• apply through a limited company registered and centrally managed in the UK
• apply with the company that has secured or has a contractual right to secure, the rights (including any underlying rights) in the idea you are proposing
• be a producer with an established track record in successfully delivering moving image work, which means having been credited as a “producer” or “produced by” on previous projects — these could be feature films, short films, television, music videos, artists’ moving image work
  • we cannot accept applications from producers whose only previous work is not screen-based

Eligibility of filmmaking team 

Your team must be made up of at least two people across the three creative roles of writer, producer, and director. The writer and director can be the same person, but there must always be a dedicated producer, who cannot also be the writer or director of the project. 

All team members must: 

• be over 18 and not in full-time education
• be able to demonstrate a creative track record – this could be in film, television, documentary, theatre or other art forms

The director of the project must be:

• making their first fictional feature film as a director (their debut)
• able to prove demonstrable directing experience in moving image media (must be credited as director), evidenced by providing viewing links as part of the application
  • experience does not exclusively have to be in moving image media and can be in a related creative sector, such as theatre

How we define ‘debut director’

Your director cannot have directed a feature film that meets either or both of the below criteria:

• had a production budget of £1,000,000 or above (with principal photography being completed by the time of application)
• has been acquired for commercial distribution in the UK or Ireland

We still consider your director to be a debut director if they have:

• self-distributed a fiction feature film (not considered commercial distribution)
• made a documentary feature film that was commercially distributed 

If your director is not a debut director, you may be eligible to apply to the BFI Impact Fund.

If your project has more than one director attached

If the directors intend on sharing their credits as co-directors, both directors must be debut directors as defined above. 

If one, or both, of the directors has directed a feature film with a production budget of £1,000,000 or above (with principal photography being completed by the time of application) and/or that has been acquired for commercial distribution in the UK or Ireland, the project should be submitted to the Impact fund.  

If your production budget is above £3,500,000

You’re not eligible for this fund and you should consider applying for Impact funding.

Eligibility of projects 

Projects must be stand-alone live action or animated fiction works with an intended running time of at least 70 minutes. Documentaries are supported through the National Lottery BFI Doc Society Fund and are not eligible for Discovery funding. 

Awards will be made in accordance with the scale, ambition and reach of each proposal. We hope to receive applications at a range of budget levels and requests, and do not expect to support many films at the top award level. 

All projects must: 

• have a total budget between £1,000,000 and £3,500,000
• have a fully developed script submitted as part of the application
• be seeking funding of no more than £1,000,000 to be applied as a contribution towards the total budget
• include third-party funding, in addition to the amount requested from the BFI, in their finance plan. We do not consider a UK Tax credit loan as third-party funding and can’t accept applications for the entire project budget amount. You do not need to have all other funding in place before you apply to us, but you will need to provide a draft finance plan showing how your project may feasibly be funded.
• must have their first day of principal photography more than 20 weeks after the closing date of the funding round unless permission has been received from the Filmmaking Fund team for an exception
• provide viewing links to your director’s previous work as this is an important part of the assessment process. The viewing link must be provided with a password that does not expire during the assessment period. Please only include links to the full films or episodes, not the trailers or selects, which we can view without needing a subscription or a login
• include an initial calculation of the UK film tax credit and any other incentives or subsidies available to the production in their finance plan. Find the latest information on the UK Film Tax Credit
• be capable of qualifying for certification as a British film, either through the applicable cultural test, or as an official co-production. Should you need advice as to whether your project is capable of qualifying, please contact certifications@bfi.org.uk prior to submitting your application
• have secured, or you have a contractual right to secure, the rights (including any underlying rights) in the idea you are proposing. This includes use of any necessary archive or biographical material. You will be required to provide a summary of the chain of title as part of your application and then further proof of this prior to any funding offer or payment of any award from the BFI
• be capable of obtaining a BBFC certificate that is no more restrictive than BBFC ‘18’
• clearly engage with the aims of the funding

Co-productions

We accept applications for international co-productions provided that they meet the eligibility criteria outlined above, including clear engagement with our aims of the funding. Minority co-productions should however consider applying to the BFI UK Global Screen Fund’s (UKGSF) International Co-Production strand in the first instance, unless you believe that your project won’t meet the applicable eligibility criteria and/or you are seeking an amount in excess of the maximum award available from UKGSF. You should not apply for Discovery funding and UKGSF International Co-Production funding simultaneously, and you cannot receive support from both funds for the same project.  

If your application for Discovery funding is declined, you may still subsequently apply to UKGSF if you meet their eligibility criteria, and vice-versa. 

BFI Locked Box 

If you have a BFI Locked Box from one or more other BFI-funded projects that is accumulating funds, you should tell us this in your application. If you have, or are likely to have, more than £20,000 accrued in any BFI Locked Box at the point of financial closing of your new project, we will require you to invest all sums over £20,000 in the project ahead of additional funding from the BFI. Please read our BFI Locked Box fact sheet for further details. 

When you’re ineligible 

You’re not eligible to apply for this funding if: 

• your film is intended primarily for broadcast television
• your film is a documentary
• your film focuses on another art form such as literature, dance on film, poetry on film, opera or artists’ moving image
• you are seeking funding for an immersive media work
• you have previously applied for BFI National Lottery production funding at any time for the project, and there has not been a substantial change in elements (e.g. a change of director, or a significant rewrite of the material with a different writer)
• you have a live application for the same project submitted to the BFI Development Fund, BFI Impact Fund and UK Global Screen Fund International Co Production Strand
• the director of your project meets either or both of the below criteria:
  • has directed a feature film with a production budget of £1,000,000 or above with principal photography being completed by the time of application
  • has directed a feature film that has been acquired for commercial distribution in the UK or Ireland
• your first day of principal photography is less than 20 weeks from the closing date of the funding round, unless you have received permission from productioncoordinator@bfi.org.uk 

If, having read the above eligibility criteria, you’re still unsure whether you are eligible to apply for Discovery funding, please contact the team on productioncoordinator@bfi.org.uk.

4. What you can use the funding for

Our funding is a contribution towards the total budget of your film. Your budget should be created using industry norms and market rates, and contain provision for the following:  

• all costs you expect to incur in order to complete and deliver the film
• the costs of clearance of all rights (including in the music) in the project worldwide in all media in perpetuity on a full buy-out basis (save only for PRS payments for music and any applicable US Guild residuals)
• working with environmentally sustainable suppliers throughout all stages of production. When preparing your budget, consider how you will account for specific elements of sustainable production practice. This could include sourcing renewable energy; increasing travel by train and other public or shared transport; catering using local, seasonal ingredients; using different and less environmentally impactful materials; or choosing more sustainable solutions for digital storage and post-production. You may wish to consult BAFTA albert’s list of sustainable suppliers
• repayment of any BFI development funding and/or Vision Award (if applicable)
• crew payments, at least in line with the London Living Wage (or equivalent)
• cast payments, at least in line with Equity minimum (including any cast buy-out fees)
• producer/production fees proportionate to the proposed budget. If we decide to support the project, we will discuss these fees with you. Although there are exceptions, the combined producer fees and/or production fees/overheads are, on average, in the region of 7-8%, and not more than 10%, of the direct costs of production (i.e. the production budget net of the producer fees and production fees/overheads). The BFI does not encourage deferral of any fees
• adequate unit publicity stills and footage
• any access support you require in order to produce the project
• adequate legal costs for the production (including for any other financiers who require their legal costs to be met from the budget).
• all customary production insurances (including errors and omissions) on which the BFI will require to be added as a named insured (for production insurance) and as an additional insured (for errors and omissions).
• all the delivery materials required by the BFI including enhanced access materials (check Appendix A for an abridged list of BFI delivery materials)
• adequate delivery materials for delivery to an international sales agent and all other financing partners.
• a mandatory Film Skills Fund (FSF) levy of 0.5% of UK core expenditure (subject to the FSF cap)
• a 10% contingency
• sufficient allowance for accounting and audit costs including those related to the final audit and your UK tax credit application
• if required by BFI or any third-party funders, provision for a completion bond
  • if a bond is not required, an allowance of an additional £20,000 financier’s contingency
• any other requirements of funding detailed within these guidelines

We encourage you to be economical when budgeting, but we need to ensure that the projects we support are produced in accordance with all applicable UK laws, including in relation to cast and crew payments. You can include contributions ‘in kind’, e.g. of resources or time – these should be clearly identified as such in your budget and you will need to demonstrate that cast and crew are being paid fairly. 

Access support costs  

If any members of your core team, cast and/or crew have access requirements that mean there will be additional costs during the production of your project, you must include these costs in your application. We define access support as specific help required by people who are disabled or have a physical and/or mental health condition, which will result in a verifiable additional cash cost to your production budget. This might include: 

• a BSL interpreter to work with members of cast or crew
• additional transport or accommodation costs for disabled team members
• fee for the personal assistant of a team member who requires assistance during the production.  

If you need support for such costs, please include them in your budget under the category Access Support. If you are already seeking the maximum award amount and have not been able to cover support costs within that, you can apply for these in addition to the maximum award amount. 

BFI delivery materials  

An abridged list of The BFI is committed to ensuring that the cinema experience is open to all, especially to disabled audience members. It is therefore a requirement of our funding that the film is delivered with subtitles and audio description, and that the availability of these materials is publicised, and they are made available in time for any UK screenings of the film.   

Wellbeing facilitators 

Wellbeing facilitators aim to champion and facilitate a positive working culture, acting as an independent point of contact for everyone on set throughout the lifecycle of a production. Once we have confirmed our support you should apply for additional funding to cover the costs of engaging a wellbeing facilitator approved by the BFI on their production. 

Should you have any further questions relating to wellbeing facilitator funding, including wellbeing providers, please contact productioncoordinator@bfi.org.uk. 

Costs we cannot support 

Costs that we cannot support, and which should not be included in your budget, include the following: 

• core costs for day-to-day running of your production company not associated with the film
• activity that is already specifically supported by another source of funding
• costs incurred prior to a formal offer of funding from BFI

The above list is not exhaustive, and we may inform you that other types of activity identified in your application may not be included in your production budget. 

5. What your project needs to achieve

Key Performance Indicators

The BFI will measure the success of Discovery funding using the following Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

• number of projects per year: 6
• projects receiving BAFTA albert certification: 100%
• projects meeting a minimum of three Diversity Standards (including mandatory Standards C and E): 100%
• writers, directors and producers new to BFI National Lottery funding: 20%
• geographic spread of writers, directors and producers:
  • 60% based outside London and the South East of England
  • 15% based in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales
• geographic spread of main production base (monitored through the location of lead applicant/production company):
  • 55% based outside of London & South East of England
  • 13% based in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales
• number of Wellbeing Facilitators on each project: 1
• supported writers, directors and producers making a second longform work in the five years following completion of the project: 50%
• projects with a sales agent attached within 12 months of the film’s delivery to BFI: 100%

Equity, diversity and inclusion 

We ask applicants to address equity, diversity and inclusion by engaging with the BFI Diversity Standards for film. Discovery funding 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 writers, directors and producers supported: 

• disability (including those identifying as D/deaf or neurodiverse or with a longstanding physical or mental diagnosis): 18%
• ethnically diverse (London): 40%
• ethnically diverse (outside London): 30%
• gender (50-50 balance of male and female identifying within the gender binary): 50%
• sexual identity (other than heterosexual): 10%
• working class background: 39%

UK-wide 

Projects should address, and contribute to delivering, against the BFI’s UK-wide principle. You can do this through considering where your core team are based; where your project is set; any plans for engaging local communities during production and potential for place-based community/audience engagement when the film is released.  

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 produced and shot and how this will support the BFI’s UK-wide principle. 

Environmental sustainability and wellbeing 

All applicants for BFI production funding need to plan their project, from development stage onwards, with the environment and the climate crisis in mind. In your application, you will need to tell us about how environmental sustainability will be embedded in your production. This means working to reduce your carbon emissions as much as possible, and your impact on the living world; and to maximise the positive environmental benefits your project could have.   

You’ll have to think about:  

•  the impact of your approach to production
• where your energy comes from, in offices and on location
• what materials you consume
• how you plan to limit the use of petrol-based transport
• considerations on catering, props and wardrobe
• how you plan for reduction, re-use and recycling  

We are also keen to see creative responses to the climate and ecological emergency and ask you to consider this in relation to your project in the application form. We ask all applicants to share and embed sustainable values and behaviour with their collaborators and their supply chain and promote sustainable production to colleagues across the wider industry.   

We require all projects receiving funding to gain BAFTA albert certification. This process must be started in pre-production. If you are selected for funding, visit the albert website to request an account. You can then use the Carbon Calculator to predict your production’s footprint by entering information on your anticipated activity, including prep and post-production phases. The predicted footprint will enable you to see which aspects of the production will generate the most carbon emissions and help you to identify actions to reduce these before you start. These should then be recorded in your Carbon Action Plan. Once production gets underway, enter the actual data to calculate a final footprint which forms part of your submission to albert at the end of post-production.  

Albert has a range of production and editorial tools, and training courses to support you and your teams to reduce the negative and increase the positive environmental impacts of your film. Find full details and upcoming training dates in albert’s handbook.  

6. How to apply

We can only make awards to projects that have been submitted to us through the online application process. This means that we cannot accept, or read, application materials submitted by any means other than the online application portal.   

You need to create an account to make your application online. You can save your application and return to it later, but we strongly encourage you to keep an offline copy of your application in case of any technical issues.  

Make sure you complete all the sections as incomplete applications will be automatically ineligible and declined.   

You can get access support with the application form if you need it.   

Information you’ll need to provide  

Lead contact and organisation details 

• details of the lead producer and the production company
• you can also include details of another contact who you want copied in on project correspondence. 

Project and team details   

• Project title/working title.
• The amount of funding you are seeking from the BFI.
• Estimated total production budget – see what you can use the funding for above
• Your case for National Lottery good cause support.
• Details of the individual producer(s), writer(s) and director(s) or writer/director(s), including their key credits.
• Project logline.
• Proposed pre-production dates.
• Proposed principal photography dates.  

We will also ask if you have applied for production or development funding from other BFI funds (including BFI NETWORK) for this project.  

Creative proposal  

• Story/Synopsis.
• The creative vision.
• Project work undertaken to date.
• Links to relevant previous work.
• Declaring whether your project is an adaptation of an underlying work.
• A summary of your chain of title (see further details in the “Attachments” section below) 

Production

• Production plan.
• Casting proposal.
• Heads of Department.
• Locations.
• Environmental impact.

Finance

• Development spend incurred to date.
• Details of the finance plan you’ll attach at the end of the form, e.g. which financial partners are confirmed, pending and any proposed funding strategies.

Market

• Pre-sale, UK distributor and/or sales agent details/proposal.
• Festival and general distribution strategy.

BFI Diversity Standards

The Diversity Standards form is on a separate system, that is linked to from the main application form, with instructions on how to register and complete the form. Once completed, you will receive a Diversity Standards reference number. You need to enter this on your main fund application before it can be submitted.

Your Diversity Standards form will be shared with the Filmmaking Fund team and will form part of the overall assessment of your project.

As well as this information being used to form part of our assessment, information maybe anonymised and aggregated as part of overall statistics published about the Diversity Standards and inform future policy. If you are being co-funded parts of your application and overall data, maybe be shared with the relevant partners.

Documents you’ll need to provide

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

• the script of your project in standard industry format, submitted as a PDF. This needs to be dated on its front page and should be a completed script rather than a treatment or outline
• a detailed budget generated using either Excel or MovieMagic, submitted as a PDF. This should reflect the cost requirements for your project in line with what you can use the funding for
• a proposed finance plan, which matches the total of your submitted budget and details the status of any actual or proposed third party finance
• a production timeline, detailing all stages of production through to final delivery
• a draft shooting schedule generated using either Excel or MovieMagic, submitted as a PDF
• a chain of title summary which should outline the flow of ownership in the underlying rights in and to the project and list the relevant signed agreements relating to such ownership (for example, an option agreement and/or any writer agreements entered into by the applicant production company with applicable third party or parties).  If your application is progressed, then we will ask you to provide further evidence of your ownership in the underlying rights in the project prior to any funding offer or payment of any award advanced by the BFI
• any other materials expressing your ideas for the project for example, mood board or reel, production design, images etc, to the extent that you’ve not provided these in the Creative Proposal section

Equality monitoring

You’ll be asked to complete an equality monitoring form when you submit your application. The data that you submit on this form will be confidential and anonymous and will not be seen by the staff assessing your application. Please note that we will not be able to put forward your application for assessment until you have completed the equality monitoring form.

If you have any questions when completing the application form, please contact us on productioncoordinator@bfi.org.uk   

Download the PDF preview of the application form

7. What happens after you apply

We’ll send you confirmation that we have received your application within five working days after the fund has closed. If you have not received an email from us within five working days (and have checked in your junk folder for it), please email productioncoordinator@bfi.org.uk.  

Once your eligibility has been confirmed you will receive a confirmation of eligibility email. If your application does not meet our eligibility criteria, we will email to tell you that we will not be able to consider it. If you have made a mistake in your application, then we may enable you to correct this, if that is the only reason that the application is considered ineligible. 

How your application is assessed  

If your project meets all of our eligibility criteria, then it will proceed to assessment in accordance with the assessment process outlined further below. 

Assessment criteria 

Your application will be assessed against how well it meets the aims of the funding. We will also consider: 

• the ambition of the creative proposal
• the extent to which the proposed film is likely to represent a creative progression in relation to the team’s previous work, and particularly for the director
• the strength of the case made for the potential career impact of the film for filmmaking team
• the feasibility of the budget, its value for money and whether the film as described in the application requires the amount of money requested from the BFI
• your demonstration of need for National Lottery funding. Our funding is not intended to substitute or replace existing or commercial funding or other income that would or might otherwise be available, or to fund activity at the same scale that can be achieved without our funding. National Lottery funds can only be awarded to applicants who demonstrate a compelling case for National Lottery support and a clear public benefit from the activity being funded
• the overall balance of projects receiving support, to ensure variety in the nature of the projects funded by the BFI

When assessing applications, we will also take into account previous National Lottery awards received by the applicant producer and their company. In order to widen the range of recipients of BFI National Lottery funding, we will not generally prioritise applications from producers who have received a formal offer letter for BFI National Lottery feature production funding within the previous18 months or who have an existing Letter of Intent (LOI) in place in respect of another project.  

Such applicants will need to demonstrate exceptional engagement with the aims of the funding, including through presenting a case for significant talent progression and wider industry impact, in order for us to consider making a further award to the same applicant within the above referenced 18-month period or who has an existing LOI in respect of another project.   

Assessment process 

Once the fund has closed, the 12-week assessment process, as outlined below, will begin. If the assessment round falls over the festive period, the assessment period might be extended to up to 14 weeks. 

At each stage, there will be projects that do not progress to the next stage. During the assessment process, we may contact you to ask for more information, in which case it may take us longer than the timeframe outlined for us to reach a decision on your application. 

Stage one: initial review of application, diversity standards and previous work 

Eligible applications will be assessed by two staff members from the BFI Filmmaking Fund team, as well as an independent external reader to provide us with an additional perspective. Throughout the assessment process we may share parts of your application with other BFI teams, or additional external consultants, to help with our assessment. External consultants participating in the assessment process will be required to maintain confidentiality regarding the application contents and to agree not to retain application materials following their review. 

Stage two: reading of script and additional materials for longlisted projects 

The team will review the submitted script, and any additional documents for a secondary assessment.  

Stage three: full ‘team read’ of initially shortlisted projects 

Projects that we consider having responded most successfully to the aims of the funding and the wider assessment criteria above will progress to consideration at a ‘team read’ discussion with a wider range of BFI staff. This may include departments such as the Audiences Team, the Inclusion Team and internal advisory groups. We only expect to read and discuss a very limited number of projects, which means a significant number of projects will not progress to this point. Teams will be offered the opportunity to provide a short video, summarising their creative vision for the project. We will also review the submitted budget, finance plan, schedule and general production plan at this stage.  

Stage four: Interview with filmmaking team 

We will invite the filmmaking team for an interview to discuss the vision of their project further. This will include the creative proposal, production plan and audience and festival intentions. This does not mean that we have made a commitment to funding the project. All members of the filmmaking team should try to attend, and we may ask you to supply further information after the meeting before a decision to progress your application further is made.

Stage five: BFI Business Affairs and Production Finance meetings 

Producers of projects that reach the final stage of assessment will be required to meet with our Production Finance and Business Affairs teams to discuss the status and detail of their finance plan. At the same time, our Production team will review the proposed production budget. Following both such reviews, we may request that specific budget lines and/or allocations are amended and/or for further detail to be provide in relation to the finance plan, which may include asking the producer to seek additional and/or alternative funding from third-party sources, before we make a final funding decision. 

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 our decision-making committee until we have received your completed form.  

We aim to give all applicants a final decision within 12 weeks of the closing date for the applicable funding round. However, if we receive exceptionally high numbers of applications, or when there are other circumstances out of our control, it may take us longer to give you a decision. 

We will keep applicants updated if the timeframe is likely to be extended.  

8. Getting a decision

Letter of Intent  

If we decide in principle to take your application for funding forward, we will issue a formal but conditional expression of interest in funding your project (a ‘Letter of Intent’). You will need to sign the Letter of Intent and return it to the BFI within five days of issue. This may be useful in helping you to secure other investment or talent for your project. The Letter of Intent will remain valid for a specified period of time, normally six months, so that our funds are not indefinitely tied up. After this period, we will be under no obligation to consider your project further, although we may, at our discretion, choose to issue a further time-limited Letter of Intent if there are compelling reasons for us to do so and sufficient funds remain available.   

If we do not provide you with a Letter of Intent, or your Letter of Intent has expired, then you should not assume that we have made any formal expression of interest to fund your project. 

Once we have received your signed Letter of Intent, projects will then be assigned a dedicated BFI Executive who will oversee the project.  

Further discussions will then take place with you and our Production, Business Affairs and Production Finance departments, before we are able to formally commit to the project and submit it for approval by the BFI’s Grant & Lottery Finance Committee. This will involve reaching agreement on all of the following: 

• production budget
• shooting script
• main elements (such as key cast and crew)
• production timelines and schedules
• final finance plan that matches the production budget
• recoupment schedule
• sales agent (if attached), sales estimates and commercial terms
• UK distributor (if attached) and commercial terms. 

In exceptional circumstances, where there is clear evidence of need to complete the finance plan and we have sufficient funds available, we may at our sole discretion elect to increase our offer to an amount in excess of our fixed funding cap of £1,000,000.  

Due to the amount of time and resources required to draft, negotiate and finalise all of the necessary financing documents ahead of production if, for any reason, we are unable to present a project to the BFI Grant & Lottery Finance Committee at least six weeks prior to the start of principal photography, we may withdraw our expression of interest to fund your project. 

Grant & Lottery Finance Committee Consideration 

We will submit funding recommendations to the BFI Grant & Lottery Finance Committee for approval and will inform applicants in writing of the decision as soon as possible. Our decision on whether or not we wish to support your project is final.  

If you’re unsuccessful  

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

• did not sufficiently meet the aims of the funding, including in relation to engagement with the BFI Diversity Standards
• was too ambitious for the budget
• did not demonstrate enough relevant experience
• was not yet developed enough
• did not demonstrate sufficient need for National Lottery support and should be financed by other means 

Due to the amount of funding we have available, this is an extremely competitive fund and, unfortunately, we have to decline the majority of applications, including those with evidenced potential and even some that meet many of our stated priorities. We understand that this is disappointing and we try to communicate this is carefully, but it’s also important to emphasise for all applicants ahead of submission. 

Feedback 

If you have reached Stage Three (or a later stage) of the assessment process and your project has been declined, we can offer a feedback call between the lead producer of the application and a BFI Executive that assessed the project.  

Due to the high level of applications we receive, we are unable to give feedback for projects declined prior to Stage Three of the assessment process or enter into dialogue about your project and its further development.  

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

Resubmission 

Prior to resubmitting an application, please contact the Filmmaking Fund team on productioncoordinator@bfi.org.uk to detail your changes and confirm eligibility.  

If your project has previously been declined by the BFI for production funding (including the Discovery and Impact Fund) you will not be able to resubmit for BFI Filmmaking Funds unless there has been a significant change to your original proposal. This is usually a change of director or a significant rewrite of the material with a different writer. We will also allow a resubmission of a project where we have directly recommended further development, a project was voluntarily withdrawn, or where a Letter of Intent has expired, and we have confirmed that we remain interested in the project.  

You can only apply for the BFI Development Fund with a project that has been declined for Impact and Discovery funding if we have invited you to do so. 

If you’re successful  

Upon confirmation of BFI Grant & Lottery Finance Committee approval for your project, the Business Affairs team will issue a formal offer letter in respect of the project (“Offer Letter”), which must be signed and returned to us within seven days of issue. The formal offer of funding will remain subject to signature of a production finance agreement with the BFI (“PFA”) within three months from the date of the Offer Letter. In the event that that the PFA is not signed, and full financial closing of the financing of the project has not occurred, within that three-month period, then the BFI shall be entitled to review its decision to invest in your project and may elect to withdraw the offer entirely. 

Check the conditions that apply to our funding. 

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 award made. In exceptional circumstances however, such as when a film encounters unexpected challenges during production, we may offer to provide additional production funding, subject to approval by the BFI Lottery Finance Committee. If we do identify a need for additional funding, and we have sufficient funds available, then we will ask you to make a short additional application to us for the amount required.  

We welcome your feedback on the application process and how we might improve it. 

9. Conditions of funding

If we offer you an award, in addition to the General Conditions of National Lottery Funding, the following conditions will apply to your award.

1. The BFI will pay the award in accordance with an agreed cashflow to a separate dedicated production account in the name of the applicant company or, where applicable, to another limited company registered in the UK established by the applicant specifically for the project.
2. The BFI will not commence cashflow until it is satisfied that you have complied with certain conditions as set out in our production funding agreement. At our discretion, and subject to specific conditions, we may provide an advance in the form of ‘pre-closing cashflow’ up to a maximum amount of 10% of our funding, but there will be no automatic entitlement to this.
3. The BFI funding will be recoupable by the BFI.
4. The BFI Locked Box Corridor will apply to the BFI’s production funding. This is a 25% share of the BFI’s recouped investment in the production until the BFI has recouped 50% of its total investment, rising to 50% of the BFI’s recouped investment until the BFI has recouped 100% of its investment. This corridor of revenues is payable into a BFI Locked Box bank account held by the BFI for the benefit of the UK production company, writer(s) and director(s) of the project who may draw-down those funds and spend them on development or production of film projects, or on staff skills training, subject to certain conditions.
5. The BFI supports the UK production company being entitled to recoup an amount equal to the UK tax credit advance included in the final finance plan for the production (subject to a cap of the actual amount of the UK tax credit proceeds, if lower). This is known as the UK Tax Credit Entitlement, and it will only be available to the UK production company if the other recouping financiers of the production agree. If available, the UK Tax Credit Entitlement will be payable, either alongside or (if required by the other recouping financiers of the production) after the BFI’s recoupment of its production funding, into the BFI Locked Box for the sole benefit of the UK production company, who may draw-down those funds for future development or production activity, or on staff skills training, subject to conditions. Further information on the BFI’s Locked Box initiative is available on the BFI Locked Box page.
6. The BFI will require a proportionate share of financier net profits.
7. You will be required to include the BFI/National Lottery animated logo and presentation credit at the start of the production and certain closing credits and logos at the end of the production. At the producer’s discretion, the applicable BFI Filmmaking Fund executive may also be accorded an Executive Producer credit.
8. You will be required to assign a share of all rights (including copyright) in the finished production to the BFI, which the BFI shall hold in perpetuity and license back to you so as to allow you to make and exploit the production.
9. You will need to establish clear title to your project i.e. demonstrate you have or can acquire all the rights necessary to produce and exploit the production.
10. You will be required to clear worldwide rights in all media in perpetuity from all individuals or organisations who are contributing to, or whose material is to be featured in, the production on a full buy-out basis (save only for music public performance rights and any applicable US Guild residuals).
11. The BFI may take a security interest over the UK production company and, where applicable, over any co-producer entity through which rights in the project may pass.
12. You will be required to provide a contribution to the FSF levy of 0.5% of the project’s UK core expenditure (subject to the FSF cap).
13. You will be required to ensure your production achieves BAFTA albert certification. This includes developing a carbon action plan and submitting both pre- and post-production carbon footprint calculations.
14. You will be expected to put in place all customary production insurances (including errors and omissions insurance) on which the BFI must be named as a named insured or (in the case of errors and omissions insurance) as an additional insured.
15. You may be asked to engage a completion guarantor and to provide a completion guarantee for your production.
16. All revenues for the production must be collected by an independent collection agent, and the sales agent will be required to direct all distributors of the production to make payment of all minimum guarantees and overages in respect of the production to the collection account for the production.
17. The BFI will require certain approvals over your production including in relation to the terms of all other finance, the identity and terms of appointment of the sales agent and key distributors, and all key production and financial documentation prepared in relation to the production.
18. The BFI is keen to ensure that you receive your full entitlement to a reasonable producer fee and production company overhead from within the production budget and does not encourage deferral of any such amounts.
19. If you deliver your production within budget the BFI will support you in being able to receive up to 50% (subject to an agreed cap) of any production underspend after payment to any UK tax credit funder of an amount equal to the reduction in the UK tax credit as a result of the underspend.
20. You will be required to ensure that your project is produced in accordance with the requirements of all unions and guilds having jurisdiction and with all applicable laws and statutes.
21. You will be required to adhere to and promote the set of principles aimed at tackling and preventing bullying, harassment and racism in the screen industries commissioned by the BFI and partner organisations. This entails taking active steps to help tackle and prevent bullying, harassment and racism in the screen industries and, in particular, in connection with the funded project.
22. You will be required to provide certain delivery materials to the BFI, the costs of which must be included in the budget of the production.
23. You will be required to procure that the BFI and/or the National Lottery are entitled to use the BFI delivery materials to publicise by any means the involvement of the BFI and/or the National Lottery in the production, for their own internal purposes, for the general promotion of the BFI and/or the National Lottery by way, inter alia, of use of clips from the production in their corporate videos and/or on the BFI and/or the National Lottery website and to deposit any of such delivery materials at the BFI National Archive.
24. You will be required to ensure that any agreement for the distribution of your production in the UK provides for the availability of soft-subtitling and audio-description materials in cinemas and on any video-on-demand, DVD or Blu-ray disc release of the production.
25. The BFI will hold back 5% of its funding (capped at £50,000) until delivery to the BFI of specified delivery materials, including enhanced access materials (and a letter from the UK distributor or Sales agent confirming receipt of the same), an Equality Monitoring Report (which helps us to measure against the BFI Diversity Standards form that you submitted), confirmation of albert certification and a final audited cost report certified by an independent auditor.
26. The BFI will expect to receive information about the progress of the production e.g. regular production reports and dailies, and to be able to attend any stages of production.
27. The BFI will have consultation rights over the assembly and all cuts of the production and a shared approval over the final cut (alongside other financiers, as is customary).
28. You may be required to comply with certain requests in relation to interns or trainees. You may be expected, if asked and where feasible and within reason, to participate in any apprenticeship schemes run by the BFI Filmmaking Fund, either during production or at some point in the future.
29. You may also be asked to provide access to the production, or the completed project, for other BFI activities such as film education or fundraising screenings and/or from time to time to make yourself, the writer(s) and/or the director(s) of your production available (subject to professional commitments) to provide industry training or mentoring, if the BFI reasonably requests.
30. You will be required to deliver against the undertakings made by you in relation to the BFI Diversity Standards. Failure to deliver against those undertakings without good cause may affect your ability to receive future funding from the BFI.
31. Subsidy Control: All awards made under through the BFI Filmmaking Fund will be compliant with the UK’s Subsidy Control Act 2022 and any other relevant subsidy control rules and regulations, as required by the UK government, which are subject to change. In order to meet subsidy transparency requirements, the BFI is required to publish details of any successful application which receives more than £100,000 of funding (including cumulatively over the course of development or production of the film) on the subsidy transparency database (the Subsidy Database) within three months of the date of the award (or the date at which the cumulated awards exceed £100,000). The details published will include at a minimum:
    • Amount of subsidy received (the award amount)
    • Company name
    • Company registration number
    • Company size
    • That the company is a provider of goods
    • Region
    • Sector

This is separate and in addition to the BFI’s publication of all National Lottery awards made on our own website.

10. Appendix A – Abridged list of BFI delivery materials

Successful applicants will be provided with this a copy of this list featuring the BFI contact details needed for submission.

Marketing/PR items

As part of our work supporting UK film, the BFI needs to illustrate the breadth of work we fund. This is done by gathering case study information on the films and filmmakers, sharing in the success stories of our projects and promoting projects at various stages of its life cycle. 

During the production, at project completion and/or during the promotional campaign for the UK release

at least one still and one behind the scenes image from the film 

• a recorded ‘Thank You’ message to National Lottery players for supporting the project (optional)
• trailer files (Pro Res and online versions)
• a clip to use in BFI Marketing materials (e.g. the BFI Filmmaking Fund sizzle reel)
• a bespoke/exclusive piece of content for the BFI social channels 

Digital items to be supplied to the BFI National Archive 

Delivery of the following digital items is a requirement of BFI production financing.  

The items are acquired by the BFI National Archive for the purposes of long-term preservation.  

All content supplied to the BFI National Archive for long term preservation must contain the following materials, regardless of duration or intended release platform:  

• one Digital Cinema Distribution Master (DCDM) delivered on:
  • hard drive(s) or LTO(s) containing:
    • image files  
    • audio files
    • timed text: subtitles/forced narrative (FN) files (if present)
    • enhanced access: closed captions (CCAP)
    • enhanced access: open captions (OCAP) (if Subtitles/FN are present, otherwise optional)
    • enhanced access: audio description (AD/VI) Track (and Assisted Listening (HI) if available)
    • auxiliary Data: MD5 checksums
• one Digital Cinema Package (DCP) (unencrypted) delivered on:
  • cru/hard drive or via FTP
  • auxiliary data: Validation report
• DCP’s with no subtitles/forced narrative will be supplied as:
  • one original version (OV) with closed captions and audio description track
  • optional — one version file (VF) with open captions and/or assisted listening track
• DCP’s containing subtitles/Forced Narrative will be supplied as:
  • one OV with burnt-in subtitles/Forced Narrative, Closed Captions and Audio Description
  • one VF with open captions positioned around Burnt-In Subtitles and optional Assisted Listening Track
• one ProRes or Broadcast MXF file (distribution dependent) delivered on:
  • hard drive or via FTP
• projects with theatrical or non-theatrical (streaming) distribution:
  • one ProRes file
• projects with broadcast distribution:
  • 1x Broadcast MXF file
• ProRes and Broadcast MXF will be accompanied by the following sidecar files:
  • enhanced access: Audio Description Track
  • enhanced access: Closed Captions (Open captions also, if available)
  • auxiliary data: MD5 checksums