Applying for the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund

These guidelines give you the information you’ll need to apply for BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Funding.

Contents:

  1. Current challenge 
  2. Aims of funding 
  3. Check if you’re eligible 
  4. How much can you apply for
  5. What you can use the funding for 
  6. What your programme needs to achieve 
  7. How to apply
  8. What happens after you apply 
  9. Getting a decision 
  10. Conditions of funding 
  11. Appendix A – Expenses guidance 

Challenge 1: Increasing opportunities for UK creatives to attend feature film and immersive project development programmes

1. Current challenge

The BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund has allocated £3m of National Lottery Funding over three years to support programmes focusing on project development along with the talent development and growth of creative practice.  

Programmes for early career creatives may be supported by additional funds allocated by BFI NETWORK. 

We are looking for organisations to design and run specialist programmes for UK filmmakers who are developing either feature film or screen-based immersive projects. These programmes must support participants to advance their projects through expert-led, structured development environments, enabling more ambitious projects with the potential for significant audience impact to go on to receive financial support from the marketplace.  

By screen-based immersive, we mean projects that explore new ways of storytelling using technologies such as VR, AR, XR, 360° media, or other extended reality media, to create audience-facing, narrative experiences.  

For either film or immersive programmes a strong emphasis should be placed on:  

  • building capacity within the development pipeline 
  • nurturing producers by equipping them with the creative, business and market-facing skills needed to develop viable projects 
  • funded time for producers to package, finance and bring their work to market.  

Each programme must address one of the following priorities that have been identified to strengthen the UK screen sector: 

Challenge priorities 

The challenge priorities are to increase: 

  • the diversity of genres in feature films and immersive projects in development   
  • the number of animated feature films and immersive projects in development   
  • opportunities for early career producers to build viable projects  
  • opportunity for projects that have scale and a greater chance of a bigger audience impact domestically or internationally 

Programmes 

Programmes must be designed to support a minimum number of projects and participants: 

  • ten for live action feature film projects and ten participants or  
  • five for immersive and animated feature film projects and five participants.  

Programmes can support writers, producers or directors, and can be targeted to a specific practice or under-represented group. All programmes must be fully accessible to participants with access requirements. Programmes can vary in size, be short or long term and take place either virtually or in-person.  

This fund is not aimed at generalised training or career development support and each programme participant will need to bring a feature film (narrative, documentary, animation), or screen-based immersive project, that is currently in active development.  

We expect programmes to be delivered by specialists who can evidence prior experience in developing feature films or immersive projects, or running similar development programmes. These may include facilitators, producers, script editors, wellbeing providers or other industry experts.  

Programmes must: 

  • be aimed at filmmakers who can evidence some prior experience in screen work and are ready to develop a feature film or immersive project 
  • have been developed in consultation with the industry 
  • issue an open call for participants to take part 
  • include strong outreach and engagement proposals 
  • consist of structured creative practice sessions contextualised with broader career development support  
  • enable creatives to develop specific projects through a structured development environment 
    • this could be staged as day sessions over a six to twelve-month period, or as intensive residencies 
  • be designed to move the individual projects taking part to a further stage of development 
  • prime those projects to receive financial support from the marketplace 
  • support participants to create a set of defined deliverables 

Programmes could include: 

  • script writing or editing support 
  • shadowing opportunities 
  • mentoring 
  • creative practice sessions (such as 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  
Check out the programmes we've funded in the past

We anticipate that each programme will have a balance of projects, including those that have already been supported at development stage with third party finance (public or private) and some that are yet to receive development funding. 

Slate development is not supported, 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 or develop further following this National Lottery-funded programme.  

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

  • led by staff that are under-represented in the wider screen industry, in line with the focus areas of the BFI Diversity Standards 
  • based outside London and the South East 
  • with a London or South East base that serve under-represented parts of the industry and are seeking to deliver a larger scale or nationwide programme for the first time 

Rights in the projects taking part in your programme 

You must not impose conditions relating to project rights on the selected participants for your programme. 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 
  • requiring a ‘first look’ arrangement in relation to any participating project 

However, we recognise that you may select a project for further development following the completion of the programme and, subject to our approving the terms of that future engagement, would consider this a positive outcome of the Creative Challenge Fund’s intervention. 

2. Aims of funding

All projects receiving BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge 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

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 

You must be able to demonstrate: 

  • previous experience in designing and delivering a creative project development programme 
  • specialist expertise in the projects you are proposing to support 
    • for example, expertise in the development of feature films, animations, immersive projects that have received UK distribution and reached UK audiences 
  • suitable delivery infrastructure 
  • relevant collaborations, partnerships and industry relationships  

If you are a newly formed organisation staffed by individuals with relevant experience, the eligibility criteria will be applied to your delivery team’s collective experience.  

If your ‘inhouse’ team do not have the relevant development experience, you may choose to work with specialist organisations to deliver part of the activity. In your application, you’ll need to outline who these other organisations are and why they have been chosen to contribute alongside you. 

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

If you are currently being funded by the BFI for other activities, you will need to demonstrate that you are able to sufficiently deliver on your funding commitments.  

Individuals cannot apply. 

Eligibility of your programme 

Your programme must respond to the aims of the fund and address one of the challenge priorities.

All activity must be completed by 31 March 2029 unless you have approval from the Creative Challenge Fund team before applying.  

You can apply if your programme: 

  • is focused on project development and designed to advance the projects taking part 
  • takes place in the UK 
  • is for a UK public audience and public benefit 
  • starts 16 weeks or more after the application deadline and is within the date range for the round you are applying to
  • has a duration of up to one year, from your call for applicants to delivery of a final session 
  • has a clear structure with defined start and end points 
  • will recruit via an open application process  
  • supports either:  
    • a minimum of 10 projects and 10 participants for programmes focused on live action feature film programmes or 
    • a minimum of 5 projects and 5 participants focused on animation and immersive programmes (recognising that additional participants are required to support any technical advancement when developing animation and immersive projects) 
  • includes a payment for all participants during their time participating in programme activity — projects supported can be represented by one or more participants 
  • is designed to develop projects in any or all of the following formats (programmes can encompass multiple formats where this is practical): 
    • live action or animated fiction features - standalone work of at least 70 minutes in length. 
    • documentary features (live action or animation)- standalone work of at least 70 minutes in length. 
    • immersive – screen-based projects that explore new ways of storytelling using technologies such as VR, AR, XR, 360° media, or other extended reality media, to create audience-facing, narrative 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 
  • 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 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 

Programmes previously supported through this fund 

You’re eligible to reapply with a programme that has previously been supported through this fund if it meets the requirements of the specific challenge. Previously supported programmes need to have completed delivery and demonstrated how they have achieved impact and adapted their programme in response to learnings from previous editions.

Established programmes 

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

  • they no longer have access to previous, or other, sources of funding sufficient to deliver their programme 
  • their programme will only be delivered if they were to receive National Lottery support 
  • 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 short films, single episodes, series or television projects (TV or web based)
    • all projects being accepted onto programmes must be feature films for theatrical release or immersive projects that will reach UK audiences 
  • focuses on artforms other than independent UK and international film and expanded screen activity such as literature, dance of film, poetry film, opera or artists’ moving image 
  • support participants who do not meet the programme participants eligibility criteria 
  • focuses on any production output, or includes proof of concept production 
  • timed filmmaking challenges 
  • is to develop a slate of your own creative projects or is being used to acquire projects for your own slate 
  • places any conditions on participants relating to taking rights in projects participating in the programme 
  • 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 or producers may apply)   

If you would like to run a programme of more than one edition, or you’re unsure if you or your programme are eligible for this fund, please contact us on [email protected] 

Eligibility of your programme participants and projects 

Participants 

The participants of your proposed programmes must be over 18 and not in full-time education at the point of taking part in your programme and can be either or both:  

  • UK resident writers and directors, or writer-directors, who are developing their first, second or third feature film or screen-based immersive work  
    • those working on their first film must have established themselves through a significant body of work
    • by ‘significant body of work’ we mean a creative track record of multiple works in short film or immersive projects that have garnered industry recognition by way of funding or commissions, awards and festival selection, critical praise or a substantial online audience
  • UK resident producers (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.  

If applicants to your 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. 

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 you to formally means-test the creatives who want to take part, but do expect you to gain sufficient information from applicants to be able to consider which creatives: 

  • will benefit most from the support 
  • are likely to struggle to find the time or resource needed to make progress on their project without the support 
  • are likely to achieve success without needing public funding for this project or at this point in their careers (based on track records or information they have shared in their application)  

Projects 

Funded programmes must run an open call asking applicants to confirm that their projects meet the required eligibility criteria including that projects, 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 

You can read more information on British certification on the BFI website.  

Projects previously funded by the BFI 

All projects must be selected through an open and transparent process. You can include (but not prioritise) participants with projects that have previously received development funding from the BFI, or our partners, but need further development support. If these projects are selected by you for your programme, we may require that they complete the delivery on their previous award before they can take part in your programme. This will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis between the organisation delivering the programme and the BFI (or partner). 

4. 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 for one edition (or call) for your programme which should run for a maximum of 12 months.  

We can consider making awards for up to three editions of your programme at no more than £150,000 per edition. Applications for awards over £200,000 will only be accepted for programmes which demonstrate exceptional project advancement, professional development of the participants, national profile and scale and are supported by a good range of partners. Awards over £200,000 will be rare so we strongly advise that you discuss your project with the Creative Challenge Fund team before making an application for over this amount.   

This fund is highly competitive. You should consider this when deciding how much funding you’ll need to deliver your programme and if the scale of your request is appropriate for the level of public benefit.  

If your project is longer than 12 months

All activity will need to be completed by 31 March 2029. Our decision to offer funding for more than 12 months will be based on evidence that your programme will deliver strongly against the fund’s aims and that you’ll be unable to achieve your programme outcomes in a shorter period.  

If you’re successful in securing an award for more than one year, funding will be cashflowed in line with your projected expenditure subject to: 

  • satisfactory performance – you’re able to continue your activity in accordance with your contractual terms, and that you can demonstrate (through regular reporting) that you’re able to remain financially viable through to the end of the term 
  • routine reporting of progress against KPIs, costs to date, proposed changes to the forecast budget and activity plans, and details of planned activity  

The amount of funding that we can make available for the second year of funding may be impacted by the ongoing availability of National Lottery funds at predicted levels. If we have to reduce funding, we will aim to provide sufficient notice and work with you to change plans accordingly. 

If you would like to run a programme of more than one year, or you’re unsure if you or your programme is eligible for this fund, email us: [email protected] 

5. What you can use funding for

Eligible costs 

Our funding can be used 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 or income 
  • freelance facilitator and contributor fees 
  • payments to creative participants for their time on the programme (see guidance below) 
  • programme venue costs 
  • equipment hire, for production-related workshops for example:
    • creative practice sessions such as 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 and 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 is relevant and benefits the outcomes of the programme and the projects  
  • monitoring and 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 such as payroll administration costs or office space where these are not already covered by another source of funding or income
    • these costs should not exceed 5% of the amount you are applying for and are capped at £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

Your budget should include payments for your programme participants. This should be based on a minimum hourly rate of £13.45 or £14.80 if your programme is based in London (Real Living Wage).  

All payments 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 a programme participant is £5,000 (45.5 days at the minimum rate) although this would be a substantial time commitment for participants. We expect most programmes to require a significantly smaller time commitment from participants.   

You can propose to pay a higher day rate to participants if this is designed to demonstrably increase access to the programme. If you’d like to do this, you should provide justification in your application.   

You may offer programme participants the ability to waive receipt of 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 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 must 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: 

  • for-profit activity by the organisation running a programme 
  • general marketing costs for you or your partners or contributors  
  • production costs 
  • the purchase of equipment such as IT equipment, phones, production kit. 
  • 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 
  • staffing costs which are covered by other sources of funding or income 
  • flights within or between England, Wales and Scotland 
  • provision of one-to-one therapy or other ongoing therapeutic interventions for participants 
  • prize funding or gifts of any kind 
  • alcohol, parties or similar events 
  • activity that is already specifically supported by another external source of funding 
  • business start-up costs 
  • development of your business not relating to the project 
  • costs relating to an extension of ongoing work 
  • cost incurred prior to an offer of funding from BFI 
  • promotional materials (stands, printed brochures, tote bags, badges etc.)  
  • costs already covered by other BFI or partner funding – 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 are 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 

You must be able to demonstrate an element of partnership support which can include cash or in-kind support. Partnership contributions are an important demonstration that there is genuine support for your project from your community, stakeholders and other partners. The larger the request to the fund the more partnership funding we would expect to see. 

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 or your partners or collaborators. For: 

  • micro organisations (0-9 employees), we expect a cash or in-kind partnership match of at least 5% of the amount you are seeking from the BFI.    
  • small organisations (10-49) employees, we expect a cash or in-kind partnership match of at least 10% of the amount you are seeking from the BFI.    
  • medium and larger organisations (50 or more employees), we expect a cash partnership match of at least 20% 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 programme start date.  

Other BFI funds cannot be used as partnership funding (for example from BFI Network, BFI Doc Society). UK National Lottery funding from another distributor (for example Arts Council) should not be the only form of partnership funding.   

About 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.

6. What your programme 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 one individual supported per project taking part in a 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 programmes 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 programme will contribute towards achieving the BFI inclusion targets for creatives participating in your programme 

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 

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

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

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.  

If funded, you’ll need to: 

  • ensure at least one member of the funded projects’ creative team completes relevant continuing professional development (for example a workshop delivered by BAFTA albert academy workshop) 
  • submit requested environmental impact data and report how you have applied the ES principle 

We’ll also signpost you to a range of tools, resources, and training opportunities to support you in making your BFI-backed project more sustainable.

7. How to apply 

When you can  apply 

You must apply at least 16 weeks before the start date of your programme, which is the date you open your call for participants, not the date the participant activity starts. 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 

The application form will ask you for the following:  

  • Programme summary including:   
    • which challenge priority your programme addresses 
    • which project format your programme supports 
    • proposed start date and end date 
    • number of participants 
    • number of projects 
    • programme length 
    • approximate number of hours of facilitated sessions and additional time allowed for development of deliverables 
    • programme aims and objectives   
    • overview of the content and structure 
    • how the projects will benefit, what stage do the projects progress from and to 
    • who in the industry you have consulted 
    • who are your collaborators and 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 
    • evidence of your past experience in developing feature films or immersive projects 
    • what is the staff requirements for delivering the programme 
    • safeguarding and wellbeing measures to support the participants 
    • what financial processes are in place for managing participant payments, travel and accommodation expenses 
    • 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  
  • a draft programme plan and timeline that includes: 
    • dates and deadlines, detailing the extent to which timelines can and cannot be moved 
    • content and description of the activity 
    • who you will approach to deliver each session
      • where known at point of application it is essential to include the names of the proposed content deliverers
    • proposed event locations, for example, which city or 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 / audited accounts  
  • 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 2025 to 30 June 2026, 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 programme staff at the point of application or during your programme. 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 applications are ineligible and will be declined. 

Check the guidance on how to use our BFI applicant portal. 

Download the budget and KPI template

Creative Challenge fund: KPI and budget templateOpenDocument Spreadsheet15 KB

Download a preview of the application form

Creative Challenge Fund – application form preview PDF229 KB
Start your application

8. What happens after you apply 

You will get confirmation we received your application within 5 working days.

You will get a decision within 12 weeks. 

 We may write to you or request to meet with you to obtain more information about your application.  

 If we’ve agreed that your programme is longer than 12 months, we may ask you for a cashflow showing when you will spend the funding. If we need more 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: 

  • how well does the proposal addresses the challenge  
  • how well does the proposal addresses the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund aims 
  • your track record in delivering relevant professional or creative development initiatives and your relevant experience, skills and network to deliver the activity  
  • is the proposal well-designed, robust and clear 
  • 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 
  • will the projects development be advanced in a significant way 
  • are the proposed deliverables relevant and impactful 
  • demonstrable understanding of screen sector development needs 
  • level of detail and quality of planning around logistical elements of programme delivery and programme production overall  
  • are the programme partnerships or collaborations evidenced and how do 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, including any third party contributors or partners, 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  
  • 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 

Grant and Lottery Finance Committee consideration 

Following assessment of each application, funding recommendations will be made to the BFI Grant and Lottery Finance Committee (GLFC). 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 applying 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. 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 GLFC 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. 

9. Getting a decision

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 meet the specific Challenge priorities
  • 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 [email protected].

If you’re successful  

You’ll receive a written offer of funding. You’ll 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. 

10. 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:  

  1. You will need to incorporate the creative and project eligibility criteria set out in section one into your programme design.  
  2. Your programme must be free of charge for participants. 
  3. Participants must be remunerated for their time in line with the information provided in section four. 
  4. 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. The BFI will provide guidance to funded organisations on details that will need to be included in their calls for applicants and will require approval of the call documents before they are published.
  5. 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.  
  6. 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 (subject to BFI approval over the terms associated with that investment), 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.  
  7. 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.   
  8. 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. 
  9. 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. 
  10. 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).  
  11. 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 
  12. 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. 
  13. You will be required to ensure at least one member of the funded projects’ creative team completes relevant continuing professional development (for example, a workshop delivered by BAFTA albert academy) and submit requested environmental impact data and report how you have applied the ES principle 
  14. 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 2028-29 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. 
  15. 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. 

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/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 subsistence (meals) directly associated with approved travel and accommodation.