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
Short film schemes (Short Film Call, Creative Animation, New Shorts Focus)
Run by Northern Ireland Screen, with Arts Council of Northern Ireland and BFI NETWORK lottery funds
Three short film schemes under one roof for Northern Ireland talent: a production call for live action, factual and VR shorts, an animation scheme run through local studios, and a writer-led fiction development track that can end in a production award. All are closed at the moment and reopen on their own cycles.
Grant up to £40,000Open to writers in United KingdomA writer alone, a writer with a producer or a production company
Next dates not yet published
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 £40,000Creative Animation: a maximum budget of GBP 40,000 per film of 5 to 10 minutes. New Shorts Focus: up to three production awards of up to GBP 12,500 after a six-month writer-led development. The Short Film Call's amounts are in its guidelines, not on the page.
- What it is
- Grant
- To apply
- Free
Who can apply
- Applicant
- A writer alone, a writer with a producer or a production company
- Where you write
- In United Kingdom
- Rules
- Writer, director and producer teams resident in Northern Ireland. The Short Film Call funds live action, factual and virtual reality shorts of about 15 minutes at individual and company level; Creative Animation is for Northern Ireland animation companies supporting resident junior animators; New Shorts Focus is for under-represented new writers and writer-directors, with a Northern Ireland production company attached before any production award.
- Stages
- Development and production
- Formats
- Short, Animation, Documentary
- Language of the application
- English
When to apply
The fund opens once a year. The next cycle's dates are not yet published; we add them when they are. All three schemes are closed; New Shorts Focus ran October 2025 to March 2026 and Creative Animation films deliver by October 29, 2027. Next calls not yet published.
What it gives besides money
New Shorts Focus: monthly online development meetings with a development producer and script coverage on each draft; marketing support to attend one international festival screening of a funded short.
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.