The UK feature-film production picture

In the year to September 2026, the BFI recorded 188 feature films starting production, with £1,843.4 million in UK spend. Inward investment accounted for 87.3% of the spending across 50 films. Domestic UK productions accounted for 57.4% of the starts across 108 films. For a writer researching producers, the sector attracting the most money and the sector making the most titles give different leads. [1, Tables 2–3]

Who made the films?

The BFI counts a domestic UK film when a UK production company makes it wholly or partly in the UK. Co-productions involve UK and overseas partners. Inward investment describes productions substantially financed and controlled from abroad. These categories describe how a project is made. They tell us little about who wrote it or how a producer found the screenplay. [1, p. 10]

The table covers 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026. Spend is in pounds as reported. The PreList calculated each share against the BFI total. The three spending shares round to 100.1%. These are the BFI’s first figures for this period. [1, Tables 2–3]

Share of recorded film starts and UK spend

UK feature-film production, October 2025 to September 2026
188 films · £1,843.4 million UK spend

• Inward investment

  Starts

  26.6%

  Spend

  87.3%

• Domestic UK

  Starts

  57.4%

  Spend

  8.7%

• Co-productions

  Starts

  16.0%

  Spend

  4.1%

What changed in the new reporting period?

Over the rolling year, recorded UK feature-film spend fell from a revised £2,768.9 million in the year to September 2025 to £1,843.4 million in the year to September 2026. That is a fall of £925.5 million, or 33.4%. Spend fell in each of the three production categories. The earlier year has had an extra twelve months for records to come in. [1, Table 2]

Across January to September alone, the BFI compares what it knew at the first release for each year. It recorded 123 starts and £1,277.6 million in 2026, against 120 starts and £2,028.8 million in 2025. That is three more recorded starts and 37.0% less spend. The largest cash difference was in inward investment, where spend went from £1,852.5 million to £1,106.9 million. [1, Table 1] [2, Table 1]

The nine-month figures answer a different question from the rolling-year figures. Each film’s UK spend is assigned to the period when principal photography starts, even if the spending takes place over a longer time. The series includes inward-investment films whose only UK work was visual effects. [1, pp. 2, 10]

What did the BFI revise?

For the same year ending September 2025, BFI’s first release recorded 167 films and £2,335.2 million. A year later those figures stood at 299 films and £2,768.9 million. Later records added 132 films to the count, including 101 domestic UK features. The spending estimate rose by £433.7 million. The BFI says reporting delays particularly affect smaller domestic films. That is why the comparison between 188 newly reported starts and 299 revised starts cannot tell us the size of a fall in production. [1, Tables 2–3 and Appendix A] [2, Tables 2–3]

The August release covered years ending in June and the first six months of 2026. November’s tables give neither those exact periods nor the quarterly figures needed to reconstruct them. Revisions to the 24 June-period figures we checked remain unverifiable. Subtracting August’s first-half figures from November’s nine-month figures would mix new starts with possible revisions to the first half. The data package preserves the August values and leaves their November comparisons blank. [1] [3]

Which feature-length productions sit outside the film figures?

In the year to September 2026 the BFI recorded a further 13 feature-length single-episode productions with £237.0 million of UK spend in high-end television. For an eligible feature-length project financed by a broadcaster or streamer, the production company can apply to the BFI for film or high-end television certification. The 188 films in the table use the BFI’s film classification throughout. This matters when a writer is looking for companies making feature-length work for streaming. [1, Tables 4–5]

How are qualifying films financed?

HMRC estimates £702 million of film relief across 1,145 claims for company accounting periods ending in financial year 2024–25. Within that total, the independent-film credit accounted for £57 million across 145 claims. The September 2026 statistics include claims received through 3 August 2026 and HMRC’s estimate for late claims. HMRC rounds amounts to £1 million and claim counts to five. [4]

One production can generate more than one claim. HMRC uses tax records and BFI certification information, and its independent-film credit has its own eligibility rules. Adding tax relief to BFI production spend, or using claims to estimate the number of scripts bought, would double-count or mix different measures. [4]

What do workers and financiers report?

Bectu surveyed screen workers from 28 February to 21 March 2025. Of 3,453 screen-industry respondents, 43% reported being out of work at the time. Bectu also reported that 70% were struggling financially, without publishing a separate response count for that question. The voluntary survey covered film, TV drama, unscripted television and commercials. It describes the respondents’ experience in early 2025. It cannot establish a current UK feature-writer unemployment rate. [5, printed pp. 11, 38–39]

At Film London’s October 2026 Production Finance Market, the organiser reported 105 producers and filmmakers and 65 financiers attending from around the world. According to its account of the keynote, Bankside Films co-founder Stephen Kelliher said his company takes on around 10–12 films a year and receives thousands of submissions. A single sales company’s experience illustrates how projects compete for a sales agent. It gives no market-wide acceptance rate. [6]

How can a writer use this?

If you are researching where to take a feature, start with credits on films comparable to yours. Identify the production company, its financing partners and the sales company. Check the producer’s current submission policy separately. The domestic count can help you decide where to look. Only company-level evidence can tell you whether a particular producer works at your scale or accepts approaches.

For questions about working terms, the University of York’s July 2025 report offers a closer view. Its 23 interview participants included film and television writers and industry representatives. Researchers used purposive and referral recruitment, and the sampled writers were WGGB-affiliated. The interviews concern experiences before the 2024 WGGB–Netflix agreement. They shed light on streaming contracts while leaving open the question of what UK feature writers typically earn now. [8, pp. 12–14, 44]

None of the sources reviewed establishes a recent representative figure for feature-writer employment, earnings or spec sales. The WGGB’s 2022 snapshot poll and its 2025 call for evidence on unpaid work also leave that question open. [7]

Sources, method and maintenance

The PreList used published primary evidence from five organisations and reviewed WGGB material for the question about earnings. Production figures, tax claims, survey responses, interviews and event attendance retain their own dates and populations. The share calculations use BFI’s published totals. No adjustment for inflation or estimate of missing films has been applied.

This edition preserves the evidence available on 10 November 2026. We review subsequent BFI production releases for material changes.

Suggested citation. The PreList (2026). The UK feature-film production picture. Edition 1.0.1, 10 November 2026. Permanent edition.