Funding for broadcast, games and film projects
Our broadcast grants offer support for projects and programmes that engage an audience with issues in biomedical science in an innovative, entertaining and accessible way. We are interested in projects aimed primarily at UK audiences, but still consider stories that have a global appeal or that are not set in the UK.
Development Awards (Broadcast, Games and Film)
These awards - up to £10 000 – support the development of early-stage broadcast projects. This might include:
- Undertaking thorough research
- Creating a taster tape
- Building a game prototype
- Developing a script
People Awards
These awards – up to £30 000 – support production and/or outreach and dissemination costs for fully developed broadcast, games and film projects.
Co-Production Awards (Broadcast, Games and Film)
These are given for broadcast, games and film projects that bring science stories to the heart of pure entertainment. To be eligibile, projects must experiment in the way they tell science stories, be innovative in form or content, and be aimed at a mass ‘entertainment-seeking’ audience. Projects must be co-produced in association with a broadcaster or other mass entertainment platform and the Co-Prodcution Award must only part finance the project – i.e., at least matching funding should already be secured for the project. These awards are available by invitation only.
Society Awards (games only)
These awards – above £30 000 – are open to games projects that have education or public engagement with science as their core objective. Large broadcast media projects, including mass-market games projects that focus on entertainment rather than education, are not eligible for Society Awards. Such projects should look at Co-Production Awards (Broadcast, Games and Film).
Science Media Studentships
These offer financial support for three practising biomedical scientists to undertake a postgraduate qualification in Science Media Production at Imperial College London and to follow this with a six-month placement working in the broadcast industry.
If you are unsure which grant to apply for, please speak to someone in our team.