Funding

The BFI has now opened applications for the Short Form Animation Fund, which aims to support growth in the UK animation sector. With awards of £30,000 to £120,000 available for successful projects, the Fund, which is now in its second round, is seeking applications from a wide array of UK animators and will back projects which represent a significant advancement in their work, enable progression and open up new opportunities.

Supporting higher-budgeted animated work of up to 15 minutes in length, the Short Form Animation Fund can support narrative short-form projects in any animated technique or genre and for any platform, including cinema, digital platforms, and immersive. It responds to priorities set out in BFI2022, the BFI’s five-year strategy, which identified animation as a focus area, and a commitment to encourage continued experimentation in form and content. The BFI is committed to supporting a diverse range of talent and addressing underrepresentation so is actively encouraging ethnically diverse teams to apply.

Within this year’s round of the fund is a new partnership with StoryFutures Academy – the UK’s National Centre for Immersive Storytelling run by the National Film and Television School (NFTS) and Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL) – who will contribute a grant of up to £50,000 each to support two animated projects that are intended to be immersive in nature, through virtual or augmented reality content.

Projects funded through the Short Form Animation Fund will benefit from the oversight of a BFI Film Fund Executive and a dedicated animation specialist. If teams would benefit from a relationship with an experienced studio or company, introductions could be facilitated. Projects supported by a grant from StoryFutures Academy will also receive additional oversight from a specialist in immersive content.

The BFI continues to support animation talent through BFI NETWORK with awards of up to £15k per project available for filmmakers at the early stages of their career. In addition, the government-funded Young Audiences Content Fund from the BFI supports the creation of distinct, high-quality content for children and young audiences to be broadcast on free-to-access, Ofcom regulated television channels and online platforms.

Who can Apply

A director, or writer/director with at least three director credits on previous pieces of animated work. One of these should have received notable industry recognition. ​The applicant must be credited as the director on all three, rather than animation director. Please check the eligibility criteria in the guidelines which you can find here before beginning your application.

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Coventry Creates 2021 will fund local artists to work in collaboration with academics and local arts organisations. This joint project between the University of Warwick and Coventry University will give 12 Coventry artists the opportunity to work with academic researchers to create digital art works reflecting research themes connected to City of Culture.

The Coventry Creates 2021 Fund

Each of the successful projects will receive up to £2250 to create a digital artwork which will be exhibited online in December 2021 and at the Resonate Festival on University of Warwick Campus in April 2022.

This year’s successful applicants will also receive consultation sessions with Coventry Art Forum experts and the chance to attend various informal online networking sessions hosted by members of the Coventry Creates team. The resulting art works will be showcased in the Coventry Creates Digital Exhibition in December 2021 and a physical exhibition at the Resonate Festival on University of Warwick Campus in April 2022.

The two universities would like to hear from anyone working in the arts including (but not limited to); combined arts, dance, film, libraries, literature, music, museums, and theatre and visual arts. Applications that showcase interdisciplinarity and innovation are also encouraged.

The commissions will be showcased in a digital exhibition, to be curated by the universities and next spring at the Resonate Festival on Warwick campus.

History of Coventry Creates

Since 2018 the collaboration between the universities has funded more than 50 research and creative projects in Coventry in the run up to City of Culture 2021. When lockdown struck in 2020 there was worry that some of the projects may not be able to continue. There was also huge concern about the creative sector in the city during a time of financial strain and social isolation.

The first Coventry Creates commissions were funded by the collaboration to help support the artistic community in the city. 18 collaborative works between academics and city artists were produced over the summer and exhibited online in the autumn last year. The success of the resulting exhibition allowed the universities to successfully bid for Arts Council England (ACE) backing to fund 12 new commissions.

Professor Jackie Hodgson, University of Warwick Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research said: “Following the enormous success of our first Coventry Creates exhibition, Coventry University and the University of Warwick, with the support of ACE, are delighted to be able to announce this new call to provide up to £2,250 per project, supporting our local arts sector and bringing our research to new audiences.

“We are looking for local artists and creative organisations to collaborate with our researchers to create novel artworks. Artists and researcher teams should work together to understand the research content and create innovative, diverse commissions that capture imagination and showcase Coventry artistic and research talent in the year when all eyes are on Coventry. This is an exciting time for the universities and an opportunity for researchers to work with artists of all descriptions in creative and innovative ways, engaging with City of Culture 2021.”

Professor Neil Forbes, Director, Creative Cultures at Coventry University said: “We are tremendously excited to be awarded Arts Council England funding. This will be used to continue and expand the work of Coventry Creates – a digital exhibition bringing together researchers and artists, showcasing unique digital arts works created during the pandemic. Coventry Creates 2.0 will continue to provide a platform for researchers and artists to collaborate, engage and discover new ways to express research outcomes.”

Apply to Coventry Creates 2021

Call for applications is open and is open to all CV postcode Coventry artists and arts organisations. Researchers from The University of Warwick and Coventry University working in all disciplines are also invited to apply. Applications are encouraged from the combined arts, dance, film, libraries, literature, music, museums, and theatre and visual arts. Coventry Creates 2021 will fund 12 Coventry postcode artists and all those that are successful will be matched together in artist and researcher collaborative teams.

Applications close on Wednesday 30 June 2021 at midday.

Source: www.miragenews.com

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Creative England’s Start-Up Loans were established in partnership with the British Business Bank. These loans can unlock new and important investment opportunities for all subsectors of the UK’s creative industries.

The new government-backed Start Up Loans for the creative industries will offer borrowing of up to £25,000 at a fixed interest rate of 6% per annum, repayable over 1-5 years. As well as providing access to early financing, the loans will also include 12 months of post-investment mentoring support for recipients.

Applicants are welcome from any subsector of the UK’s creative industry; from young practitioners or experienced freelancers, to creative Start Ups less than two years old.

Start Up Loans Eligibility

You’re eligible for a Start Up Loan if:

• you’re 18 years of age or older
• you’re a current UK resident
• you’re starting a new business or have been trading for up to 24 months
• you’re unable to secure finance from other sources (self-declaration is ok)
• your business is based in the UK
• you have the right to work in the UK
• your type of business and reason for wanting the loan is eligible under the terms of the scheme
• you pass credit checks and you can afford to repay the loan

Find out more about the new scheme here.

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The BFI Short Film funding programme supports projects with directors based in England. It is run in partnership with the BFI NETWORK Talent Executives who work with filmmakers on the delivery of funded projects.

About the BFI Short Film Fund

This fund supports the production costs of fiction shorts, in both live action and animation. They want to support short films that respond to BFI core objectives, which are to support:

• The early careers of ambitious filmmakers;
• Filmmaking that takes risks on talent, form and content;
• Work that recognises the quality of difference – in perspective, in talent, in recruitment;
• Work with cultural relevance or progressive ideas;
• Filmmakers based throughout the nation, not just in traditional industry centres.

This fund supports standalone short films and this can include projects that have the potential, further down the line, to be developed into other forms or formats (e.g. a feature film, content in serial form). The fund is intended to stimulate new ideas and stories, so it doesn’t support adaptations of existing material. The BFI welcomes applications for amounts throughout the available budget range up to a maximum of £15,000. You can submit applications for films of any length up to a maximum of 15 minutes.

This funding is accompanied by creative oversight of the short film by a BFI NETWORK Talent Executive. As well as working with filmmakers prior to and during production, the Talent Executives may be able to advise you on:

• Finding screening opportunities regionally and further afield;
• Ways to meet potential collaborators for your project;
• Festival strategy for your film;
• Other means to gain industry exposure for your work.

Apply for the Short Film Fund

The Short Film Fund opens for two six-week application windows in the Spring and Autumn of each year. The BFI will publish the application dates six months in advance so that filmmakers can plan their applications, polish their draft scripts and find collaborators in good time. The dates for the next two application windows are as follows:

2021/22 | Spring Round

Applications open: Monday 26 April 2021

Applications close: Monday 7 June 2021 – 5pm

Deadline for securing additional finance: Monday 16 August 2021

Final Funding Decisions Announced: By end of September 2021

2021/22 | Autumn Round

Applications open: Friday 20 August 2021

Applications close: Friday 1 October 2021

Final Funding Decisions Announced: By end of March 2022

Learn how to apply via Film Hub North here. If you are instead a director based outside England or a filmmaker looking for documentary funding opportunities, please see their Funding Finder.

Source: syfn.org

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The BFI Doc Society Ripple Effect Fund is a new National Lottery funded initiative. It enables and empowers communities, networks and organisations to build their own inclusive vision for the independent UK documentary sector from the ground up. If you have new and collaborative ideas to support underrepresented documentary storytellers, to reach diverse audiences or to foster closer connections and amplify the work of grassroots nonfiction champions – tell us what they look like.

The Ripple Effect will be open for one round from Thursday 13th May – Thursday 10th June. It offers non-recoupable grants between £5,000 – £20,000 for activities taking place before March 2022.

The Ripple Effect will help kickstart documentary-focused ideas and activities that boost connectivity for documentary filmmakers across the UK. It will also create inclusive opportunities for underrepresented non-fiction voices and develop new audiences.

The goal of the fund is to expand its outreach and support programmes. It does this by identifying, fostering and supporting the work of independent groups, individuals and organisations who are building communities and opportunities for documentary locally or have a great plan in mind to do so.

The BFI Doc Society will be therefore hosting a fund webinar on Monday 24th May from 5pm – 6pm. So if you are potential applicant, come with your questions!

All the information and guidelines about the fund can be found here: www.docsociety.org/bfi-doc

Source: www.northernirelandscreen.co.uk

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Netfliix’s new talent initiative will offer up to six successful applicants the opportunity for a year long programme of professional development.

This fellowship, for each writer, will include a bursary of £22,568 to write a spec script for an original idea over the course of a year, monthly development events and workshops, and a paid placement in a writers room of a Netflix or Sky series. They are looking for applications from writers of Black, Asian and other racial and ethnic backgrounds that are under-represented in the High-End TV and film industry.

Each submission will be assessed by an experienced script reader. Shortlisted applicants will then be interviewed and selected by a panel of industry experts.

The Fellowship offer will include:

If you have been invited to attend a key festival in person please make an application or email francesca.carr@britishcouncil.org. British Council are in regular communication with a range of Festival partners over their plans to stage events, virtually or in real life. Have a look at this regularly updated document here to see who is doing what. 

The Short Film Festival Travel Grant is a partnership between the BFI NETWORK and the British Council.

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The BBC are now accepting applications for this year’s Felix Dexter Bursary. The Bursary, now in its fourth year, aims to develop talented comedy writers who are Black, Asian and other ethnic minority writers or writing duos aged 18 or over. The opportunity, offered by BBC Comedy in partnership with the BBC Comedy Association (BCA), is designed to find writers with a fresh, unique point of view and the potential to help shape the future of comedy, whether within the BBC or elsewhere in the industry. It aims to make a positive intervention to address an under-representation of Black, Asian and other ethnic minority professionals in comedy production across all broadcasting.

Unlike most bursaries that culminate in a one-off prize, this bursary gives trainee writers the chance to focus on comedy, writing full time over six months, while immersed in comedy production. They hone their skills while gaining experience on a range of BBC comedies across radio, TV and online, on panel shows, shorts, sitcoms or comedy entertainment shows – building the confidence needed to take the next step in their career.

To apply for the Felix Dexter bursary, applicants will need to send:

• A sample comedy/sitcom script that is a minimum of 15 minutes and a maximum of 30 minutes in length
• Answers to the application questions as outlined in the full terms and conditions
• A writing CV with a short profile biography

The deadline for applications is 19 March 2021.

Find full application details on the BBC’s Commissioning website

Read more on the BBC’s Media Centre website