Dear George,

We are responding to your FOI enquiry received on 10 October in relation to the nationalities of writers and directors whose feature films the BFI has funded in England between 2014 and 2024.

We are able to provide this data for only part of the period you have requested; from January 2017 to mid-October 2024 as we do not hold equality monitoring data prior to that date. In addition, it is difficult to quantify ‘productions funded in England’ because we fund productions UK-wide; films may shoot in more than one nation, writers and directors may identify as being from one nation but reside in another. So we are presenting our data to you in the clearest way that we are able.

Please find the attached document which gives the level of information that we are able to provide for this period for BFI National Lottery Filmmaking Fund-supported feature films and the following explanatory notes in relation to the data.

• We are also not able to provide a yearly breakdown of the data as this would be counter to data protection of the individuals who provided their personal information.

• Some writers and directors will have stated that they are ‘British’ but no further nationality identifying information.

• In addition, in considering the nationality data of the writers and directors of feature film productions which the BFI has been a co-funder, please note that many of the non-UK nationals will have been or are UK residents. Also, we would note that the BFI also supports UK co-productions which bring together creatives, cast and crew from the partner countries.

Working to ensure the BFI’s investment of National Lottery funding supports a diverse range of work and developing talent in front of and behind the camera UK-wide, is a core priority across our 10-year Screen Culture and National Lottery strategies. Our published guidelines (https://www.bfi.org.uk/get-funding-suppo...) include inclusion targets for:

BFI National Lottery filmmaking Fund - Development and production (Discovery and Impact funding):
• Geographic spread of writers, directors and producers: 60% based outside London and the South East; 15% based in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales
• Geographic spread of production company (lead applicant): 55% based outside of London and the South East; 13% based in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales

The following information is not directly related to your enquiry but in the interests of transparency and completeness the BFI also manages the UK Global Screen Fund (UKGSF) on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. This fund which was established in 2021 and it provides different funding strands including funding to UK minority feature co-productions. The purpose of the fund’s international co-production funding is to support UK producers to work on international television (documentary and animation only) and feature film co-productions and help create new global projects. The UKGSF is intended to support independent companies across the UK, ensuring a UK-wide benefit, with consideration given to where supported companies are based in the nations and England’s regions outside Greater London.

We hope the information that we have provided helps to answer your question.

With best wishes,

Sian
BFI Freedom of Information Team

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