About

Built from inside the industry.

Futures in Film CIC is a community interest company working from the Ken Adam Building at Pinewood Studios, run by people who work on units.

The origin

It started with paid commercial work.

A pilot came first: commercial productions in Blackburn, Leeds, Skelmersdale and London, made by Pixeleyed Pictures Ltd with first-timers alongside working crew. It is part of the long-term development context, not Futures in Film CIC delivery.

That is one end of a bridge. The North West is where the work started and Pinewood is where it goes.

Commercial work as the training ground.

The pilot

Commercial work as the training ground.

A job, a client and a deadline.

The company

A community interest company, not a charity.

Company number 14621615, incorporated 2023, asset-locked: assets and profits are committed to community benefit. Most of the work is paid for by trading; the Rank Foundation and the British Film Commission have supported it.

It is director-led and is formalising its governance: a developing Board of Directors, an advisory structure alongside it, and a policy review. The board is being formed, not constituted, and the people in it are named on the team page.

Recognition

Finalist, Duke of Edinburgh Film & TV Inclusion Award 2025, Production Guild of Great Britain.

Direct recognition of the CIC’s own inclusion and access work, in a national screen-industry context.

An operator carrying a built camera across cobbles on a period location.

How it works

Trading funds access.

The margin is asset-locked. It funds training places.

The model

The margin is asset-locked. It funds training places.

Hire, production, testing, space and education contracts earn the income. The asset lock means the margin cannot be taken out as profit, so it goes back in as funded places.

The longer thread

Pinewood and the Rank Foundation.

J. Arthur Rank built Pinewood in 1935 and set up the Rank Foundation in 1953. Futures in Film works from his lot, with his foundation’s support.

Which is the other end of the bridge. The work starts where people are — Liverpool, Manchester, Lancashire — and reaches a stage on the lot Rank built. Region and studio are one argument, not two lists.

The ecosystem

Separate companies, working together.

MR Helix Ltd holds the research and the equipment. Pixeleyed Pictures Ltd makes films. Screen Sisters CIC is a sister organisation with its own board. Step Up Hub is a separate organisation. Each is legally and financially distinct from Futures in Film.

Who to ask

There is always a person at the end of it.

A board being formed, an advisory structure alongside it, and practitioners who work on units.