BUILT FOR BOLD STORYTELLING
Greenlight West is a £4.5 million fund offering grants of £50,000 to £500,000, depending on the funding route, to ambitious screen productions with a credible finance plan and route to market.
We want to back productions that create meaningful impact in the region and make the most of the West of England’s talent, locations, infrastructure and creative expertise.
THE FUND
Backing bold productions
Greenlight West supports ambitious screen productions that will bring investment, jobs, skills and wider economic benefits to the West of England.
We’re looking for productions that will:
- generate significant spend in the West of England
- create paid employment and skills development opportunities for local people
- make strong use of the region’s crew and production infrastructure, including locations, studios, facilities and suppliers
- demonstrate a robust approach to inclusion and environmental sustainability
- contribute to the growth, resilience and profile of the region’s screen sector
We will prioritise productions that make a substantial investment in the West of England and deliver significant and lasting economic value for the region.
Two funding routes currently open
Route 1: incoming productions
For productions led by companies based outside the West of England that will undertake significant production activity in the region.
Route 2: indigenous productions
For productions led by, or delivered through a substantive partnership with, a production company with an existing substantive business and production base in the West of England.
The West of England-based company must play a genuine creative, commercial or production leadership role. A nominal co-production arrangement, service-company relationship or temporary regional address will not be sufficient.
Routes 1 and 2 offer grants of between £100,000 and £500,000.
Routes 1 and 2 may include post-production activity delivered in the West of England as part of a wider production, but do not support applications solely for post-production.
Route 3: post production – coming soon
Route 3 will offer grants of between £50,000 and £200,000.
If you are applying specifically for post-production activity delivered in the West of England, you will need to apply through the separate Route 3: Post Production process.
The Route 3 guidance and Expression of Interest will be available soon. Sign up to our mailing list or email us at screen@westofengland-ca.gov.uk for more information.
HOW TO APPLY
1. Expression of Interest
Submit:- a short online Expression of Interest form
- one PDF pitch deck of no more than eight pages and under 10MB
Expressions of Interest will be assessed against the fund’s eligibility requirements and published assessment criteria. Applicants will be contacted directly with the outcome.
2. Full application
Successful applicants will be invited to submit a full application with more detailed information about the production, finance plan, qualifying regional expenditure and wider regional impact. Applicants will be contacted directly with the outcome.
3. Assessment and decision
Applications will be assessed against the published criteria, including regional spend, economic impact, skills and wider sector benefits.
Full applications will be assessed against the published criteria, including regional expenditure, economic impact, skills development and wider benefits for the West of England’s screen sector.
Final decisions will be subject to the necessary due diligence, assurance and approval processes. Applicants will be contacted directly with the outcome.
BEFORE YOU APPLY
These FAQs provide additional clarification on some of the practical questions applicants may have about Greenlight West. They should be read alongside the full fund guidance, which sets out the eligibility requirements, assessment criteria and application process in detail.
Choosing the right route
I am based outside the West of England but working with a regional production company. Which route should I use?
This will depend on the nature of the partnership.
Route 1 will normally apply where the production is led by a company based outside the West of England and the regional company is providing production services or supporting delivery in the region.
Route 2 may apply where the West of England-based company has a substantive creative, commercial or production leadership role in the project. A nominal co-production arrangement or service-company relationship will not be sufficient.
What counts as a substantive business and production base in the West of England?
A registered address alone will not be sufficient. We will consider evidence such as permanently staffed premises, permanent employees, Companies House records, business rates and evidence of sustained production activity in the region.
A temporary address established for the purposes of an application will not meet the requirement.
Can a West of England-based production qualify if filming takes place outside the region?
Yes. A production may be eligible through Route 2 even if some or all filming takes place elsewhere, provided it demonstrates genuine creative, commercial or production leadership in the West of England and meets all regional-spend and wider-benefit requirements.
For example, a West of England-based natural history production could film internationally while employing regional staff and undertaking production and post-production activity in the region.
Can I apply for post-production activity through Routes 1 or 2?
Post-production can form part of the wider regional activity proposed through Routes 1 or 2. However, stand-alone post-production applications are not eligible through the current process.
If you are applying specifically for post-production activity delivered in the West of England, you will need to apply through the separate Route 3: Post-Production process. The Route 3 guidance and Expression of Interest will be available soon.
Funding and regional spend
How much regional spend makes a strong application? £3 for every £1 of funding seems low.
The £3 of qualifying West of England expenditure for every £1 of Greenlight West funding is a minimum threshold, not a target or an indication of what we expect every production to deliver.
The threshold has been set at this level so that the fund can support a wide range of genres and production models. Some documentary, factual and natural history productions, for example, may need to film outside the region or incur significant expenditure on specialist contributors, access, archives or international locations. These productions may have less scope to achieve the same regional-spend ratio as a large, studio-based production, while still creating valuable employment, skills and supply-chain opportunities in the West of England.
We would expect larger-budget productions—including high-end television drama, scripted series and feature films making substantial use of regional studios, locations, crew, facilities and suppliers—to deliver a significantly higher return. For these productions, a ratio above £5 of qualifying regional expenditure for every £1 of funding would generally make an application more competitive, and major productions may be expected to deliver substantially more.
Applications will be assessed proportionately, taking account of their scale, genre and production model. Applicants should maximise their proposed regional expenditure and provide a realistic, evidence-based figure. An application offering only the minimum £3-to-£1 ratio will need to explain clearly why a higher regional return cannot reasonably be achieved. Meeting the minimum requirement does not in itself make an application strong or guarantee funding.
How do the 20% grant limit and regional-spend requirement work together?
The maximum amount you can request will be determined by whichever limit produces the lower figure.
For example, a £2 million production could request no more than £400,000 under the 20% limit. However, to request £400,000, it would also need to demonstrate at least £1.2 million in qualifying West of England expenditure.
If its qualifying regional expenditure were £900,000, the maximum request would be £300,000.
The overall fund limit of £500,000 also applies.
What happens if a production spends less in the region than it originally committed?
The regional-spend commitment will form part of the grant funding agreement. If the production does not deliver the agreed level of qualifying regional expenditure, the grant may be reduced proportionately.
Applicants should therefore provide a realistic, evidence-based regional-spend figure rather than an optimistic estimate.
Spending more than the agreed amount will not increase the grant award.
Can any of the grant be paid in advance?
Grant payments will normally be made in arrears against eligible expenditure that has been incurred, paid and evidenced.
A limited advance payment may be considered in exceptional circumstances where there is a clearly evidenced cash-flow need. Advance payments are not guaranteed and require prior approval from the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority.
Applying to the fund
How much of the production finance needs to be secured before applying?
There is no single percentage that applies to every production. However, projects should be at an advanced stage of financing and must demonstrate a credible and achievable route to full finance.
At Expression of Interest stage, applicants should clearly distinguish between finance already secured, finance still to be secured and any remaining finance gap. More detailed evidence will be required at full application stage.
Can principal photography begin while my application is being assessed?
No. Principal photography must not begin before a funding decision has been made.
Applicants should consider the published assessment timescales carefully when deciding when to apply.
When does the assessment timescale begin?
Expression of Interest outcomes are expected within 10 working days of the relevant assessment-round deadline, rather than within 10 working days of submission.
The full application assessment period begins once a complete application and all required supporting information have been received. Applicants should allow up to eight weeks for this stage.
Can I reapply if my application is unsuccessful?
You may submit a new Expression of Interest if there has been a material change to the proposal. This could include significant progress in financing, project development, route to market or the scale and quality of the proposed regional impact.
Resubmitting substantially the same proposal is unlikely to result in a different decision.
Can the fund team review my application before I submit it?
The fund team cannot review draft applications or advise applicants on how to make their proposal more competitive.
If you have a specific question that is not answered in the guidance or FAQs, please email screen@westofengland-ca.gov.uk. We cannot guarantee individual meetings or calls before submission.
If your application is successful
Will an on-screen credit be required?
Yes. All funded productions will be required to provide an on-screen credit acknowledging Greenlight West and the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority.
The required wording, branding and placement will be confirmed in the grant funding agreement.
Can the grant increase if the production’s costs or regional expenditure increase?
No. The maximum grant will be the amount confirmed in the grant funding agreement.
Any increase in the production budget or regional expenditure will need to be met from other sources.