About

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.

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.

The pilot

A job, a client and a deadline.

What we have made

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.

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

How it works

The model

Hire, production, testing, space and education contracts earn income, alongside funding and donations. The asset lock means no surplus can be paid out to directors or members, so it goes back into the work — training places, production simulations, research and development, the lab and the events.

The detail

Crew at the camera on the festival floor

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.

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.

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