Impact Together, the non-profit entity run by Together Films, is proud to announce the selected participants for THE BUSINESS OF IMPACT LAB & PITCH, a five-month development programme supporting UK-based producers to build, refine, and pitch socially resonant, commercially ambitious scripted feature films.
Launching on 10th February 2026, The Business of Impact Lab & Pitch will support ten projects and twenty producers through an intensive programme designed to strengthen commercial strategy, financial packaging, and real-world impact planning. The Lab brings together emerging and established producers developing projects with clear social relevance, equipping them with the tools, partnerships, and confidence needed to navigate an increasingly complex production landscape. The Business of Impact Lab is delivered by Impact Together and supported by the BFI Creative Challenge Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.
The selected projects (listed below) cover a wide range of social issues and genres, including both drama, thriller and comedy with issues ranging from trans identity, the right to protest, water pollution, international sex trafficking and migration. Each film takes a unique perspective on the themes covered and shows strong commercial possibilities in the current marketplace.
Delivered through ten virtual sessions and an in-person development day and culminating in a live pitch event to financiers and key stakeholders, the programme provides a structured and supportive environment for producers to interrogate their business models, financing pathways, and audience strategies. A core focus of the Lab is bridging the gap between creative ambition and market readiness, particularly for projects seeking to combine artistic excellence with meaningful social engagement.
Participants will work with an expert group of industry speakers and mentors (to be announced soon) spanning film finance, distribution, impact strategy, philanthropy, foundations, and non-traditional investment. These sessions are designed to offer both practical insight and direct access to cross-sector perspectives that can unlock new routes to production and distribution.
The programme will culminate in a high-profile live pitch event in June 2026, where producers will present their projects to a curated room of industry leaders, financiers, philanthropic supporters, and distribution partners who actively champion bold, socially relevant storytelling. This event serves as a rare access point to decision-makers positioned to meaningfully advance projects toward production.
The Business of Impact Lab is delivered by Impact Together and supported by the BFI Creative Challenge Fund, awarding National Lottery funding. The programme reflects a shared commitment to strengthening the sustainability of UK independent film by backing producers who are building projects with both commercial ambition and social purpose at their core.
“The producers selected for The Business of Impact Lab & Pitch 2026 are working at the sharp edge of both creativity and necessity. Socially relevant scripted films are essential to how we understand the world — yet too often they struggle to access the financing, visibility, and pathways to market they deserve. This Lab exists to challenge that imbalance. By opening up new avenues of impact and funding, and by bringing producers into direct dialogue with philanthropy, foundations, brands, and equity partners, we’re deliberately expanding who gets to invest in — and benefit from — these stories. I’m thrilled to see a mix of genres and issues in the final selection to appeal to broad audiences and investors. If we want bold films to reach audiences and shape culture, we have to build the infrastructure that helps them be seen, supported, and sustained.”
"Responding to the BFI Creative Challenge Fund’s goal of enabling producers to sustain careers and deliver their creative visions at scale and with reach, The Business of Impact Lab has chosen ten ambitious projects representing a dynamic cross-section of genres from an exciting range of producers. Drawing on Together Films’ decade of impact campaign expertise and the support of our National Lottery funding, these UK-based scripted producers now have access to rigorous, practical business development support and a structure that spotlights ways for the work to impact in a socially and creatively conscious way. We look forward to seeing the powerful ideas and collaborations that emerge.” The Business of Impact Lab is delivered by Impact Together and supported by the BFI Creative Challenge Fund, awarding National Lottery funding. The programme reflects a shared commitment to strengthening the sustainability of UK independent film by backing producers who are building projects with both commercial ambition and social purpose at their core."
Meet The Projects
After You’d Gone
When Mel’s partner of six years vanishes overnight, leaving only a note – “don’t find me” – she goes looking anyway, uncovering a secret buried inside the very system they were fighting.
Producers: Anna Griffin (Griffin Films), Alastair Clark (Wellington Films)
Alterations
A maverick Afghan artist working illegally at the back of a Liverpool dry cleaners defies the expectations of her as a refugee, an Afghan, and a woman.
Producers: Thembisa Cochrane, Georgie Paget (both Caspian Films)
Black Samphire
Desperate to reconnect, Isla brings her partner Mari to an isolated village, unaware that the polluted marshland river demands a sacrifice for its suffering.
Writer/Producer: Cathy Wippell (Silicone Gothic)
Producer: Joseph Archer (Silicone Gothic)
Four Ordinary Women
(In development with BBC Film)
After destroying a fighter jet destined for a genocidal regime, four women turn their prosecution into a historic courtroom battle that puts Britain’s arms trade on trial.
Writer/Director: Dorothy Allen-Pickard (Sixteen Films)
Producer: Jack Thomas-O’Brien (Sixteen Films)
It’s A Fake
(In development with BBC Film)
After one of their grandmother’s incessant pujas, twin siblings and sworn worst enemies – Nik and Nyah – wake up in each other’s bodies.
Producers: Savannah James-Bayly (Teen Club), Alexandra Blue (Bluebird Productions)
Jem
When a talented Romani teenager lands a major audition, he questions his family ties and cultural roots in pursuit of a dream that may never fully accept him.
Producers: Aleksandra Bilić (My Accomplice) Dorottya Székely (My Accomplice)
MADISON
In 2005 Llanelli, a sharp-witted trans girl enters a cut-throat reality TV show to escape her small seaside town. But as bitter heartbreak and hollow stardom test her relationships with friends and family, she must weigh the lure of leaving against the power of being herself at home.
Producer: Alice Lusher (Lushkin Films)
Associate Producer: Helios Blanc (Lushkin Films)
Shorelines
Seven years after being separated from his pregnant wife at sea, Ilyas arrives in the UK to learn that he was presumed dead. As Ilyas reunites with Hana, the woman he never stopped loving, and pursues a connection with the son he’d never met, his presence threatens the stability of Hana’s newly married life in South Wales.
Producers: Branwen Prestwood-Smith (48 Films Ltd), Heather Rabbats (48 Films Ltd)
Stolen
A young woman full of hope is kidnapped and sold into the sex slave trade. Stealing her freedom. They cannot steal her fight.
Director: Anya Camilleri (Boudica Entertainment)
Producer: Rebecca Long (Boudica Entertainment)
The Lido
Meet Rosemary, 70s, and Kate, entering her 30s: Dreamers, campaigners and outdoor swimmers… From opposing sides they come together to make a stand about the importance of friendship, the value of community, and how ordinary people can protect the things that matter, and the things they love. This feel-good contemporary drama is adapted from the Sunday Times Bestselling novel THE LIDO by Libby Page.
Producer: Charlotte Walls (Catalyst Global Media)
Associate Producer: Emily Barttelot (Catalyst Global Media)
