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 unable 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. 

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 projects at the maximum level of £1,000,000. We expect that our award amounts will generally range from £500,000 to £850,000. Due to limited funds, we may offer you a lower amount than requested.  

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

Timing 

Your proposed first day of principal photography must be at least 20 weeks after the closing date of the applicable funding round. This is to allow enough time for assessment and for legal paperwork to be completed if the application is successful.

In exceptional circumstances, you may request permission to apply if the proposed first day of principal photography is less than 20 weeks from the closing date of the applicable funding round.  If you’d like to get permission, email productioncoordinator@bfi.org.uk before you begin your application. The decision to grant permission to apply in such circumstances is entirely at our discretion.  

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 account and application must belong to the lead producer.  You can add one additional contact (that is not the director or the writer of the project) in the ‘Additional Contact’ section of the application form. They’ll be included in the correspondence about the application. 

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 received a “producer” or “produced by” credit 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 is not also 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 

The director’s experience does not exclusively have to be in moving image media and can be in a related creative sector, such as theatre. 

Each of the production company, producer and director can only be attached to one Discovery application per funding round.   

How we define ‘debut director’

Your director cannot have directed a feature film that:   

• 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 in the UK or Ireland

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 proposed directors intend on sharing their credits as co-directors, both directors must be a ‘debut director’ as defined above.  

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

Your project is not eligible for this fund and you should consider the BFI Impact Fund.

Eligibility of projects

Projects must be stand-alone live action or animated fiction works with an intended running time of at least 70 minutes.

This fund does not support:

• documentaries, which are supported through the National Lottery BFI Doc Society Fund
• immersive or video game projects
• projects which are intended primarily for broadcast television
• projects which focus on another art form such as literature, dance on film, poetry on film, opera or artists’ moving image

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 cannot 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
• have a proposed first day of principal photography which is no less than 20 weeks after the closing date of the applicable funding round (unless we have formally granted permission for you to apply without satisfying this requirement in line with the notes above)
• provide viewing links to your director’s previous work,
  • 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 trailers or selects, which we can view without needing a subscription or a login
• include an initial calculation of the UK 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 acquired a contractual right to secure, the rights in the project
  • this includes the script and any underlying material which is incorporated in the script or on which the script is based
  • you will be required to answer specific questions relating to your rights in the project as part of your application
  • should your application reach the “team read” stage of the assessment process, you will be asked to provide further details of your ownership of rights in the project
• be capable of obtaining a BBFC certificate that is no more restrictive than BBFC ‘18’
• clearly engage with the aims of the funding 

Multiple applications 

When applying to the BFI Discovery Fund, you cannot have an active application for the same project under assessment with the BFI Development Fund, BFI Impact Fund or UK Global Screen Fund International Co Production Strand. 

Resubmission  

If your project has previously been declined by the BFI for production funding (including both Discovery and Impact Funds) you will not be able to submit a further application for either Discovery or Impact funding unless there has been a significant change to your original proposal. This might include a change of director or a significant rewrite of the script by a different writer.  

We will also allow resubmission of a project where: 

• we have directly recommended further development of the project which has now been completed
• the previous application was voluntarily withdrawn
• a Letter of Intent provided by us in relation to the project has expired and we confirm that we remain interested in the project   

Prior to resubmitting an application, the lead producer of the project must contact the Filmmaking Fund team on productioncoordinator@bfi.org.uk  to set out the basis for resubmission and seek confirmation that they are eligible to resubmit.   

Co-productions 

We accept applications for international co-productions if they meet the eligibility criteria outlined above, including clear engagement with our aims of the funding.  

Minority co-productions should 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 or you are seeking an amount above 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 one or more 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 any additional funding from the BFI. Please read our BFI Locked Box fact sheet for further details.  

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 to be used as a contribution towards the costs included in the total budget for your project. Your budget should be created using industry norms and market rates, and include all costs you expect to incur to complete and deliver the project including the following:   

• repayment of any BFI development funding or Vision Award (if applicable)
• all underlying rights payments (e.g. to the writer of the script and any underlying rights holders)
• director’s fee
• 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 or production fees/overheads proportionate to the proposed budget
  • we expect the combined producer fees and production fees/overheads to be in the region of 7-8% of the direct costs of production (i.e. the production budget net of the producer fees, production fees/overheads, budgeted deferments, financing fees, legal and accountancy fees, audit fees, insurance costs, completion guarantor fees, and contingency )
• 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 union or guild residuals which are not capable of being fully bought-out)
• 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 or 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
• adequate unit publicity stills and footage
• any access support you may require 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, we may ask you to include an additional £20,000 in your budget to be ring-fenced as a financier’s contingency (i.e. a separate contingency allowance which may only be used with the approval of the BFI and, as applicable, one or more other financiers)
• 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 or crew require access support which will incur 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 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
• a personal assistant for a team member who requires additional assistance during the production
• an access coordinator to work with the production department to support all cast and crew 

You must include all applicable access support costs in your budget under the category Access Support. If you’re asking for the maximum award amount, you can apply for access costs on top of this if you need to (for example, if you can’t cover these costs in full using the total other finance available to you plus the maximum Discovery award amount). 

BFI delivery materials  

An abridged list of delivery materials required by the BFI is attached at Appendix A. 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, that the availability of these materials is publicised, and they are made available in time for any UK screenings of the film.    

Wellbeing

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 your 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 the Discovery Fund 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 and 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 our BFI inclusion targets for writers, directors and producers. 

UK-wide 

Projects should address and contribute to delivering against the BFI’s UK-wide principle. 

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. You can do this through considering:  

• where your core team are based
• where your project’s story is set
• where you plan to base the production
• plans for engaging local communities during production
• potential for place-based community/audience engagement when the film is released 

Environmental sustainability  

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.   

When completing your application, you should consider:  

• 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

Discovery Fund opening and closing dates are announced on our website. 

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.    

Information you’ll need to provide  

Lead contact and organisation details 

• details of the lead producer and the company through which the application is being made
• details of another contact who you would like to be copied on project correspondence (if applicable)  

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
• 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, BFI Development and UK Global Screen Fund) 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
• confirmation that you have secured, or you have a contractual right to secure, the rights in the project (including in the script, and in any underlying material which is incorporated in the script or on which the script is based)  

Production

• production plan
• casting proposal
• heads of department
• locations
• environmental impact 

Finance

• development spend incurred to date
• details of the finance plan you are submitting with your application e.g. which financial partners are confirmed, pending and any proposed funding strategies
• your case for National Lottery good cause support 

Market

• pre-sales, UK distributor or sales agent details/proposal
• festival and general distribution strategy 

BFI Diversity Standards

You will need to complete a Diversity Standards form as part of your application. The Diversity Standards form is accessed by a link from the main application form, and provides 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 Discovery 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 using this information for assessment purposes, it may be anonymised and aggregated for inclusion in overall statistics published about the Diversity Standards and to help inform future policy. If your project is co-funded by other organisations that use Diversity Standards, some of your application and data may be shared with them.

Documents you’ll need to provide

You will be asked to attach the following to your application:  

• the script for 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 — this must be the full budget, not just the top sheet
• 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
• any other materials (in addition to those provided in the Creative Proposal section) expressing your ideas for the project, for example, mood board or reel, production design, images

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

Submitting your application  

You’ll 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 of the sections, as incomplete applications are ineligible and will be declined.

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

Please consult this PDF preview of the application form to see the questions you will be asked in full:

For guidance about how to use our new BFI applicant portal:

We welcome your feedback on the application process and how we might improve it: productioncoordinator@bfi.org.uk.

7. What happens after you apply

After the fund closes, you’ll get:

• confirmation we’ve received your application within 5 working days
• a decision in principle within 12 weeks

We’ll send you email confirmation that we have received your application and assigning it a unique ID 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.  

We aim to inform all applicants if we are recommending their project for approval to our Lottery Finance Committee within 12 weeks. 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.

If your application is ineligible   

We’ll let you know that we cannot consider it for funding.  

If you’ve made a mistake in your application, and that’s the only reason it’s ineligible, we may get in touch with you so that you can correct it.  

If your application is eligible  

You’ll be sent an email that your application is progressing to assessment. 

If it is discovered during any stage of the assessment process that your application does not meet all eligibility criteria, we reserve the right to decline the application solely on that basis. 

How your application is assessed   

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 project 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 project for filmmaking team
• the feasibility of the budget, its value for money and whether the project 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 lead producer and the company through which the application is made. 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 previous 18 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.

Assessment process 

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

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.  

Throughout the assessment process we may share parts of your application with other BFI teams and external consultants to help with our assessment. External consultants will be required to maintain confidentiality regarding the application contents and to agree not to retain application materials following their review. 

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. This will create a longlist of projects to proceed to stage two. 

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

The team will review the script, and any other creative documents submitted with the applications longlisted from stage one. 

Projects that we consider have responded most successfully to the aims of the funding and the wider assessment criteria above will be shortlisted for progression to stage three. We only expect to shortlist a very limited number of projects, which means a significant number of projects will not progress beyond stage two. 

Stage three: full ‘team read’ of shortlisted projects 

Shortlisted projects will be considered at a ‘team read’ discussion with a wider range of BFI staff. This may include staff from other departments such as the Audiences Team, the Inclusion Team and internal advisory groups.   

The filmmaking team for each shortlisted project will be offered the opportunity to provide a short video summarising their creative vision for the project for consideration. We will also review the budget, finance plan, schedule and general production plan submitted with your application. 

At this stage, we will also request that you send 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, any option agreement or any writer agreements entered into by the applicant production company with applicable third party or parties).  If we decide that your application should progress to the next stage, then we will also ask you to provide copies of all such signed agreements prior to any funding decision being made. If the agreements provided to us do not accurately reflect the answers given by you in your application, or do not otherwise adequately evidence your right to make and exploit the project, then we reserve the right to decline your application solely on that basis. 

Stage four: Interview with filmmaking team  

If your project is selected for progression following the “team read”, the filmmaking team will be invited for an interview to further discuss their vision for their project. This will include the creative proposal, production plan and audience and festival intentions. 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. 

An invitation to interview does not mean that we have made a commitment to fund the project.  

Stage five: BFI Business Affairs and Production Finance meeting 

Projects that are selected to progress to the final stage of assessment will be required to meet with our Production Finance and Business Affairs teams to discuss their finance plan in detail and to address any other relevant finance and legal questions relating to the project. Our internal production team will also review the proposed production budget and, as a result, we may request that specific budget lines or allocations are amended.  

At the completion of stage five, a decision will be made as to whether we wish to support your application for funding in principle. If we do decide to support your application, then the process set out in the “If your application is successful” section below will apply. Please note that all decisions at this stage remain subject to final approval of funding by the BFI Grant and Lottery Finance Committee. 

8. Getting a decision

If your application is 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 

This is an extremely competitive fund. We receive many more applications than we have funds available to support and unfortunately this means we have to decline the majority of submitted applications, including those with clear potential and sometimes those which strongly meet the aims of the funding.  All decisions made by the BFI Filmmaking Fund team are final. 

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

Feedback  

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 otherwise further discuss your project. 

If your project reaches stage three (or a later stage) of the assessment process and is then declined, we will offer the lead producer the opportunity to speak to a BFI Filmmaking Fund executive about our decision. 

If your application is successful   

Letter of Intent  

If we decide, in principle, to support your application, we will issue a written expression of interest in funding your project, which will be subject to stated conditions (a ‘Letter of Intent’).  You may use the Letter of Intent to help you secure other investment or talent for your project. The Letter of Intent will remain valid for a specified period, normally six months, so that our funds are not indefinitely tied up. If, after this period, your project has not sufficiently progressed to a stage where we are able to present it to the BFI Grant and Lottery Finance Committee for consideration, we will be under no obligation to consider your project further. In such circumstances we may choose to issue a further time-limited Letter of Intent if we believe that there are compelling reasons for us to do so and sufficient funds remain available; this decision is at our sole discretion.   

If we do not provide you with a Letter of Intent, or your Letter of Intent has expired, we are under no obligation to consider your project further.  

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

Preparation for BFI Grant and Lottery Finance Committee 

Our Production, Business Affairs and Production Finance teams will work with you to progress your project to a stage where we are able to present it to the BFI Grant and Lottery Finance Committee for consideration for approval.  This process will include reviewing and finalising each 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
• commercial terms of all other finance
• 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 choose to increase our conditional offer to an amount in excess of our fixed funding cap of £1,000,000. Similarly, if there are additional costs that were not reasonably foreseeable at the point of application which cause the project budget to exceed the £3,500,000 Discovery fund cap, for example, the cost of attaching higher-level cast than originally anticipated, we may at our sole discretion continue to support the project on an exceptional basis. 

Due to the time and resources required to complete the relevant production and financing paperwork for each project that we support, if for any reason, we are unable to present a project to the BFI Grant and Lottery Finance Committee at least six weeks prior to the proposed start of principal photography, then we may withdraw our expression of interest to fund your project.  

Identity checks 

We undertake due diligence assessments of the applications we are recommending to our decision-making committee for funding. As part of this we may request the bank details of the lead applicant. We will request the personal address and date of birth of the CEO or Managing Director of the organisation applying. We will use this data to run an identity check. Please note that this is not a credit check. We will be unable to submit your application to our decision-making committee until we have received your completed form.  

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. 

Grant and Lottery Finance Committee consideration  

Once our Production, Business Affairs and Production Finance teams are confident that your project is ready for presentation, we will submit a funding recommendation to the BFI Grant and Lottery Finance Committee for them to consider for approval. If approval is not granted, we will inform you in writing as soon as possible. If approval is granted, then we will send you a formal offer of funding, as further detailed below. The decision of the BFI Grant and Lottery Finance Committee on all funding requests is final.  

Offer letter 

Subject to confirmation of BFI Grant and Lottery Finance Committee approval, the Business Affairs team will issue a written funding offer for your project (“Offer Letter”). The Offer Letter must be signed and returned to us within seven days of issue. The funding offer will be subject to signature of a production finance agreement (PFA) with the BFI within three months from the date of the Offer Letter. If 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 fund your project and may choose to withdraw the funding offer entirely.  

Our funding is subject to specific conditions, details of which are set out below.  

BFI National Lottery funding is project-based, time-limited funding, and as such, there should be no expectation of ongoing support beyond the original award made. In exceptional circumstances, such as when a film encounters unexpected challenges during production, we may at our sole discretion offer to provide additional production funding, subject always to approval by the BFI Grant and 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.   

9. Conditions of funding

All BFI National Lottery funding awards are subject to the General Conditions of National Lottery Funding.

In addition, the following conditions will apply to all Discovery funding awards. 

1. The BFI will pay the award in accordance with an agreed cashflow to a 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 (“SPV”).
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 any recoupment of the BFI’s production funding. This corridor comprises 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 project (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 project agree. If available, the UK Tax Credit Entitlement will be payable, either alongside or (if required by the other recouping financiers of the project) 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 a front-end BFI/National Lottery animated logo and presentation credit, and certain end title credits and logos on the completed project. 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 project to the BFI, which the BFI shall hold in perpetuity and license back to you to allow you to make and exploit the project.
9. You will need to establish clear chain of title to your project i.e. demonstrate you have or can acquire all the rights necessary to produce and exploit the project.
10. You will be required to clear worldwide rights in all media in perpetuity from all individuals and/or organisations who are contributing to, or whose material is included in, the project on a full buy-out basis (save only for music public performance rights and any applicable union or guild  residuals which are not capable of being fully bought-out ).
11. The BFI may take a security interest over the UK production company and/or any applicable SPV and, where applicable, over any co-producer or other entity through which rights in the project may pass.
12. You will be required to provide a contribution to the Film Skills Fund levy of 0.5% of the project’s UK core expenditure (subject to the Film Skills Fund levy cap).
13. You will be required to ensure your project 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 required to secure all customary production insurances (including errors and omissions insurance) for your project on which the BFI must be named as a loss payee or (in the case of errors and omissions insurance) as an additional insured.
15. You may be asked to engage a completion guarantor for your project who will provide a completion guarantee in favour of the BFI and any other relevant financiers.
16. All revenues generated by the project must be collected by an independent collection agent, and the sales agent for the project will be required to direct all distributors to make payment of all sums due, including minimum guarantees and overages, in respect of the project to the dedicated collection account for the project.
17. The BFI will require certain approval rights in connection with the project including over key production elements and any changes thereto, the identity and funding terms of the other financiers, the identity and terms of appointment of the sales agent and key distributors, and all key production and finance documents relating to the project.
18. The BFI aims to ensure that you receive your full entitlement to a reasonable producer fee and, where applicable, production company overhead from the production budget and does not encourage deferral of any such amounts.
19. If you deliver your project 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 such 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 all applicable laws .
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 production budget.
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 project for their own purposes, and for the general promotion of the BFI and/or the National Lottery by way, inter alia, of use of stills and clips from the project including, without limitation, in their corporate videos and/or on the BFI and/or National Lottery websites 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 project 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 project.
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 for the project confirming receipt of the same), an equality monitoring report (which helps us to measure against the BFI Diversity Standards form that you submitted as part of your funding application), 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 project 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 project and a right of approval over the final cut (alongside other financiers, as is applicable).
28. You may be required to comply with certain requests in relation to interns or trainees. You may be expected, if asked and where reasonably feasible, 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, as the BFI may reasonably request.
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. All awards made 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 funding of more than £100,000 (including cumulatively over the course of development and/or production of the film) on the subsidy transparency 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 publication by the BFI of all National Lottery awards on the BFI website. 

10. Appendix A – Abridged list of BFI delivery materials

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

Marketing or 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 or during the promotional campaign for the UK release

• at least one still and one behind the scenes image from the film
• behind-the-scenes or B-roll footage of the filmmaking process (e.g. cast on-set, phone footage)
• 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 (for example the 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:    

DCDM 

• one Digital Cinema Distribution Master (DCDM) delivered on hard drive(s) or LTO(s) 

Required elements:  

• image sequence/s (English Language Texted Master)
• audio channels
• audio description (English)
• closed captions (English)
• auxiliary Data: MD5 checksums 

Optional elements:  

• Open captions (English)
• Assisted Listening (HI) track  

DCP 

• one unencrypted Digital Cinema Package (DCP) to be delivered on cru/Hard Drive or via the BFI’s file transfer portal (MASV) 

Required elements:  

• Original Version (OV) (as per DCDM) with Closed Captions (English) and Audio Description Track (English)
• Ancillary Data: Successful Validation report  

Optional elements:   

• Version/Variant File Package (VF) with Open Captions* (English) and/or Assisted Listening Track 

ProRes and Broadcast MXF 

• one ProRes or Broadcast MXF file (distribution dependent) delivered on Hard Drive or via the BFI’s file transfer portal (MASV)  

Required sidecar files:  

• Audio Description (English)
• Closed Captions (English)
• Ancillary Data: MD5 checksums  

Optional sidecar files:  

• Open captions (English)  

Additional deliverables 

• Proof of albert certification
• one PDF copy of the ScreenSkills Film Skills Fund Levy invoice
• one copy of the Final British Film certificate
• one audited statement