Deadline: 25 November 2024
The British Film Institute has announced its call for UK Global Screen Fund International Co-Production Strand, a three-year long scheme that seeks to boost the UK’s international competitiveness by offering additional, targeted support at each stage of the screen content supply chain.
The objective of the International Co-production strand is to support internationally co-produced feature films as well as internationally co-produced television documentaries and animation.
This funding aims to increase the number of international co-production projects involving UK collaboration that are highly exportable, and which are able to cross borders and share stories with international audiences.
Funding Information
- Eligible Applicants may apply for funding of up to a maximum of £300,000 towards the UK production spend of a project that meets the Eligible Content criteria.
Eligible Costs
- Any funding granted under the International Co-production strand must be applied solely against the UK elements for your project. Successful applicants will therefore be required to:
- Make use of the UK’s talent pool, through cast and/or crew and/or post-production and location facilities etc.
- Comply with the eligible expenditure requirements set out in the applicable bilateral treaty or the Convention on Cinematographic Co-production;
- For unofficial co-productions, apply the UK financial contribution on costs which, as a minimum, constitute qualifying UK expenditure in line with the BFI Co-production guidance notes.
- As part of their application, eligible applicants will be required to submit a production budget based on industry norms and market rates, to include:
- At least national minimum wage for any UK crew
- At least equity minimums for any UK cast
- At least Writers Guild of Great Britain minimums for UK scriptwriters
- For film: clearance of all rights in the project worldwide in all media in perpetuity (except for those sums due in respect of music public performance rights)
- For TV: clearance of all rights in the project in all UK broadcast and online media in accordance with the applicable union or guild agreement and, where appropriate, the requirements of the published terms of trade with the relevant Public Service Broadcaster
- Repayment of any BFI Development Awards and/or Vision Award (if applicable)
- All customary production insurances (including errors and omissions) on which the BFI will require to be named as an additional insured
- All the delivery materials (see further below) required by the BFI including access materials and any costs related to achieving BAFTA albert certification
- Adequate unit publicity, stills, EPK
- A mandatory Film Skills Fund (FSF) levy, or Skills Fund for Animation or equivalent recognised skills programme for television, of 0.5% of UK core expenditure (subject to the FSF cap)
- Sufficient allowance for accounting and audit costs including those related to the final Audit Statement and the Audio-Visual Expenditure Credits (AVEC), if claimed
- Adequate legal costs for the production and financiers
- All financing costs
- A contingency suitable to the needs of the project
Eligible Projects
- Your Film
- Is a ‘single project’, feature-length (no less than 60 minutes in length), fiction, animation or documentary film with potential for a theatrical release.
- Is a project where the UK co-producer is a “minority” co-producing partner.
- Qualifies or is wholly capable of qualifying for certification as a British film either under:
- The Cultural Test;
- One of the UK’s official bilateral co-production treaties; or
- The European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production.
- Your TV Project
- Is a ‘single project’ or episodic animation or documentary project, with a minimum aggregate duration of 24 minutes, and is intended for TV/online broadcast and:
- For ‘minority’ co-productions, has at least two broadcasters from two different countries contributing to the finance plan (this can include a broadcaster from the UK).
- For ‘majority’ co-productions, has at least three broadcasters from three different countries contributing to the finance plan (this can include a broadcaster from the UK).
- VOD platforms can be included, provided that the VOD platform is not acquiring worldwide rights on a buyout basis.
- Is a ‘single project’ or episodic animation or documentary project, with a minimum aggregate duration of 24 minutes, and is intended for TV/online broadcast and:
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible Applicants may apply for funding in respect of the following forms of content, which must also meet all of the Eligible Content criteria set out below:
- Feature film co-productions, in any genre (including drama, animation and documentary) and in any language, where the UK producer is a “minority” co-producing partner (i.e. the contribution of at least one of the other co-producing partners is greater than the overall contribution of the UK producer).
- Television co-productions, in the animation and/or documentary genres only, and in any language, where at least two (for “minority” UK co-productions) or three (for “majority” UK co-productions) broadcasters are contributing to the finance plan.
Ineligibility Criteria
- The fund will not support the following types of content:
- Filmed productions such as theatre shows, sporting or music events, or artist installation work
- Projects seeking only completion costs
- Immersive and interactive media of any kind
- Video or digital games of any kind, including related platforms and tools
- Music videos and video-clips
- TV dramas
- Multimedia art projects and installations
- Student films and graduation works
- Live recordings, TV game shows, talk shows, reality shows or educational, teaching and ‘how-to’ programmes
- Documentaries promoting tourism, “making-of”, factual entertainment programming, constructed reality shows, reports, current affairs, news programmes, docu-soaps, animal reportage
- Works of a promotional nature, being part of a promotional campaign or advertising for a specific product, organisation and/or brand
- Work that is incapable of obtaining a BBFC certificate no more restrictive than BBFC ‘18’, or the equivalent certification within another format
- Work that does not meet the other eligibility criteria stated elsewhere in the funding guidelines.
For more information, visit BFI.