UK Global Screen Fund: International Business Development

The UKGSF is a three-year 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 UKGSF supports international business development, co-production, promotion and distribution activities intended to:

• enable UK independent screen businesses to further grow international partnerships and to develop projects with international appeal for mutual benefit
• increase the reach of UK screen content to international audiences

The International Business Development strand

• The International Business Development strand aims to support the development of UK screen content businesses that focus on revenue generation through export and international expansion.
• This funding will provide grants for growth strategies that begin in 2025 and span three to five years (see below information on the tracks within this strand), to support companies that have identified opportunities to develop and expand in terms of turnover and scale of Intellectual Property (IP) creation, exploitation and acquisition, with the express aim of enhancing the company’s international revenue, activities and profile.
• The aims of this strand are to:
  • support the transformation of UK screen content businesses through international activity
  • stimulate business innovation, entrepreneurship and risk-taking in the UK screen sector when trading internationally, and in particular to seize new global export opportunities as part of the UK Government’s Global Britain objectives
  • support the corporate development and growth of independent companies already operating in the UK screen sector across the four nations of the UK by helping them to capitalise on opportunities in the global marketplace
  • assist ambitious, promising companies to reach the next level of their development, and to help them attain investment readiness, based on compelling strategic plans for corporate growth through international activity
• The International Business Development strand will achieve these aims by:
  • assisting UK companies to develop a strong presence in the international marketplace
  • facilitating increased development of quality UK projects and talent aimed specifically at the global marketplace and at global audiences
  • supporting the creation of new international business partnerships and alliances
  • supporting the development of new international revenue streams and increased levels of private sector investment
  • assisting UK companies in developing and implementing targeted development, production, sales, distribution and marketing strategies which exploit new opportunities in the global digital and online realm
• The International Business Development strand offers two application tracks:
  • International Business Development – General Track: for eligible companies from any of the screen sectors looking to expand their revenues, audiences and reach through internationally-focused growth strategies over a three-year period
  • International Business Development – Film Transformation Track: for eligible applicants with a track record in the independent film sector, who wish to embark on an internationally-focused transformational business strategy related to independent UK film over a three to five year period

Funding Information

• Eligible companies can apply for funding between £50,000 and £200,000 in total over the three-year funding period, with support in the form of non-repayable grants (applicable to both the Film Transformation Track and the General Track).

Eligibility Criteria

• The International Business Development strand is open to independent UK screen companies with a track record in creating, acquiring, and/or exploiting IP in at least one of the following categories:
  • feature films – fiction, documentary, animation – for theatrical and/or online release
  • programmes – fiction, documentary, animation – for broadcast television, video-on-demand services or other forms of online release
  • interactive narrative video games for commercial digital platforms, revenue-generating from the public consumer market
• A company will be eligible if it is a limited company registered and centrally managed in the UK and is either a micro business, or a small or medium-sized company according to the definitions used by the UK Government.
• A company is considered micro if it fulfils any two of the below:
  • less than 10 employees
  • an annual turnover under £632,000
  • less than £316,000 on your balance sheet (meaning the total of the fixed and current assets)
• A company is considered small if it fulfils any two of the below:
  • less than 50 employees
  • an annual turnover under £10.2 million
  • less than £5.1 million on your balance sheet (meaning the total of the fixed and current assets)
• A company is considered medium-sized (due to the need to engage time-limited roles for the specific requirements of production of a game or animation) if it fulfils any two of the below:
  • less than 250 employees on average
  • an annual turnover under £36 million
  • no more than £18 million on your balance sheet (meaning the total of the fixed and current assets)
• The eligible company:
  • is also not a company controlled by any one or more of the following third parties, and/or in which more than 25% of its shares are held, directly or indirectly, by any one or more of the following third parties:
    • a non-UK corporate entity
    • a television broadcaster/SVOD platform or operator
    • a video games publisher
    • any company defined as a large company under the Companies Act 2006 (for example, if the company has at least two of the following criteria: a turnover of more than £36 million, a balance sheet total of more than £18 million or more than 250 employees)
  • has at least two years of accounts filed at Companies House
  • has at least one director who has been a director of the company for more than two years
  • is engaged in creating, acquiring and/or exploiting IP in at least one of the following categories:
    • feature films intended for theatrical and/or online release in the genres of fiction, documentary and/or animation
    • programmes intended for broadcast television, video-on-demand services, or other forms of online release in the genres of fiction, documentary and/or animation
    • interactive narrative video games for commercial digital platforms, revenue-generating from the public consumer market
• You’ll be asked to provide a corporate ownership chart detailing all direct and indirect ownership interests, and corporate domicile of all related entities.
• The eligible company should also have:
  • a company credit leading on the creation, acquisition and/or exploitation (or equivalent experience) of at least one project that falls within these categories, which has had commercial distribution, exploitation and/or release in the UK or internationally, within the last three years; or
  • (in the case that the company is less than 4 years old) a slate of projects in third-party funded development which have not yet been commercially distributed but are expected to be so in the next three years
  • achieved a minimum £35,000 gross profit average over a three-year period including current year forecast and the past two historical years (gross profit is defined as revenues less cost of sales, before any other company overheads such as salaries and wages, rent, and other expenses)

For more information, visit British Film Institute.