How does the BFI award it's short film funding?
Today's article is something I have been trying to write about for almost a year; short film funding. Last July I contacted the BFI with a Freedom of Information request about the amount of money awarded to short films. After a bit of chasing (and ten months passing), they have finally released the figures. I asked them which short film projects they have funded in the past few years, and to what amounts. In summary...
In summary...
Since 2011, the BFI has awarded over a million pounds to 29 short film projects
The largest amount of funding for one film was £58,500
Warp Films received over 10% of the total amount awarded
BFI short film funding by year
The total amount awarded since January 2011 was £1,084,961 and splits up as follows...
2011 = £123,818
2012 = £887,651
2013 = £72,792
2014 = £700
Total Jan 2011 to Feb 2014 = £1,084,961
In 2011 there was no new shorts scheme, whereas in 2012 The Lighthouse managed the BFI's allocation of £1 million. The short film awards are now handled by Net.Work.
The Films
The one million pounds was split across 29 different short film projects and most projects were only awarded one grant. Eight were awarded two lump sums and two projects were given three different sets of money. The largest amount given to a single short film was £58,500 to Mohammed from Pico Pictures and the smallest was £2,800 to Pitch Black Heist from DMC Film. The average amount awarded was £37,412 per film. [table id=21 /]
Company Credits
Warp Films were awarded £115,333 across three projects, meaning that they received over 10% of the total amount awarded by the BFI. [table id=19 /]