BFI Development Funding
BFI (British Film Institute), National Lottery
The main public route for developing a British fiction feature, from treatment through to a screenplay ready to finance.
VariesGrant or repayableany time
Regional fund United Kingdom, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Script, Project and Slate Development funding
Run by Northern Ireland Screen
Recoupable development money for feature film and television drama scripts, and for single projects or slates across film, TV and interactive work. A Northern Ireland writer with a producer attached is the fund's natural applicant; beyond the first few thousand pounds it expects matched cash and some market interest.
Repayable, up to £100,000Open to writers in United KingdomA writer with a producer or a production company
Applications taken any time
That closing date has passed. We check the funder's page every day and add the next dates once they are published.
The money
- Amount
- Up to £100,000Script development to a company: up to GBP 40,000 or half the development costs, whichever is less, paid in stages. Project and slate development: 90 percent of a budget up to GBP 10,000, 75 percent between 10,000 and 20,000, 50 percent above that, to a maximum of GBP 100,000. All development awards are recoupable.
- What it is
- RepayableA loan, an advance on receipts or a conditionally repayable grant: it is paid back only out of what the film earns.
- To apply
- Free
Who can apply
- Applicant
- A writer with a producer or a production company
- Where you write
- In United Kingdom
- Rules
- Script development is for Northern Ireland writers and writing teams, Northern Ireland based companies, and outside production companies working with a writer resident in Northern Ireland. Project and slate development is for independent production companies based in Northern Ireland, or European companies with an office and staff there. Short film development is not funded.
- Stages
- Development
- Formats
- Feature, Series
- Language of the application
- English
When to apply
Applications are taken at any time; decisions follow in the fund's own rhythm. No rounds; applicants contact the development executive first.
Also open to writers in United Kingdom
BFI Doc Society Fund: features development and production
Doc Society for the BFI (British Film Institute), National Lottery
The UK's National Lottery money for feature documentaries, run by Doc Society.
range£150kGrantcloses in 50 days
BFI Filmmaking Fund: Discovery and Impact feature funding
BFI (British Film Institute), National Lottery
Production money for British features in two strands split by budget and by the director's experience.
up to£1.3MGrant or repayablecloses in 45 days
Made of Truth (BFI Doc Society short film fund)
Doc Society for BFI NETWORK (British Film Institute), National Lottery
A yearly grant for short documentaries by UK filmmakers at the start of their careers, in live action or animation.
up to£25kGrantbetween rounds
More development funding elsewhere
Grants for Artist Projects (GAP)
Artist Trust
Small, fast and plentiful: 65 Washington artists a year receive USD 2,500 toward a specific project, from research travel to a first draft.
range$2.5kGrantbetween rounds
Incubator Fund
ITVS, Independent Television Service
ITVS's development door, replacing its earlier diversity development fund: a small first payment to shape a nonfiction feature or web series for PBS streaming, with a few months of…
up to$10kGrantpaused
Public Media Content Fund
Latino Public Broadcasting
Documentaries and limited series about Latino life for national public television, funded from first research through the final mix.
range$100kInvestmentbetween rounds
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grants at Film Independent
Film Independent, with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Science on screen pays here: three cash grants a year for fiction projects about scientists or technology, awarded inside Film Independent's Episodic Lab, Producing Lab and Fast Track…
range$30kGrantbetween rounds
Also useful
Where Creative Europe's development money goesEvery MEDIA development grant since 2014, by country, company and year.Fellowships and labsPrograms that pick a few writers and work with them for months, on the events pages.How to write a treatmentThe document a development application is built on, step by step.Screenwriting eventsContests, labs, festivals and conferences, with their deadlines.