A £4.5m production fund, Greenlight West, has been launched by the West of England Combined Authority to increase the quantity, range and scale of film and TV productions made in the region.
Grants of between £50,000 to £500,000 are being offered to what the authority has described as “ambitious, commercially viable screen productions that can demonstrate the meaningful impact they will bring to the region in terms of local spend, employment, skills development and other benefits”.
Eligible applicants include incoming productions filming in the region, productions made or led by regionally based companies, and productions carrying out significant post-production work locally. The West of England Combined Authority covers Bristol, Bath, north east Somerset and south Gloucestershire.
“Unlike many other incentives offered in different geographical areas of the UK, funding is non-recoupable, a factor expected to significantly enhance the West of England’s competitive edge as a filming region,” said a statement from the local authoirty.
The fund is open to feature films, animation, high-end TV, children’s programming, documentary, unscripted and entertainment formats. Short films, video games and development activity will not be supported.
There are two routes for applications: route one is for incoming productions, which are led by a company based outside the West of England that will undertake significant production activity in the region, and are able to demonstrate an increase in local employment, expenditure or increase in scale of activity in the region. Route two is for indigenous productions, led by, or delivered through a substantive partnership with, a production company permanently based in the West of England.
Productions to previously shoot in the region include Disney+ series Rivals, Apple TV series Down Cemetery Road, Thea Gajic’s BFI and Film4-backed debut feature Surviving Earth, Jonatan Etzler’s Bad Apples for Paramount Pictures, starring Saoirse Ronan, and portions of Philippa Lowthorpe’s H Is For Hawk.
Greenlight West is the first investment from the £25m secured by the West of England from the UK government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) Creative Places Growth Fund. The West is one of six regions to unlock the funding from government.
A £10.5m production fund in Manchester was unveiled in June of this year, another region to access the DCMS Creative Places Growth Fund, and Screen Cornwall launched a £2.5m fund at the end of 2025 backed by Cornwall council and private investors.
“With this new incentive we’re sending a clear message to the sector,” said Helen Godwin, mayor of the West of England. “We want you to make more magic here in the West Country, tell more stories from our region, and show off more of our places on screen, with all the tourism benefits that brings.
“We’re here to help you invest, recruit, and train locally and we look forward to harnessing the power that your film and TV production can bring to the country’s fastest-growing regional economy.”
“This is excellent and welcome news for the region’s production companies and freelancers living and working in Bristol and the South West,” said a spokesperson from local producers’ alliance, Bristol Screen Producers.
“We particularly welcome the recognition of an indigenous element in the funding provision that will help build businesses, grow skills development and retain key talent. It’s fantastic that there’s a specific motivation to retain postproduction work that often misses out to London. The funds provide a necessary boost to the screen sector’s entrepreneurial spirit and finally gives us the opportunity to be equitable with other regions.”
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