Togra for Northern Ireland producers
A walkthrough of how Togra runs a Northern Ireland production company: Northern Ireland Screen's funds, the UK credit worked from NI spend, and the BFI and cross-border funders alongside.
What a Northern Ireland company gets
A Northern Ireland company has everything a UK company has: sterling, HMRC and Companies House, the AVEC and Independent Film Tax Credit, the BFI Cultural Test and Diversity Standards and the BFI funds. On top of that it gets the parts that are particular to Northern Ireland.
- Application bundles for Northern Ireland Screen's Screen Fund for production and development, the Irish Language Broadcast Fund, the Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund and its consultant tracker, Green Lit 2, the Documentary Fund, games development and the travel bursary.
- Budget lines tagged as NI spend, which feed both the AVEC credit and NI Screen's spend tests.
- VAT on the XI code that the Windsor Framework gives Northern Ireland, and a company profile that holds both a sterling and a euro bank for cross-border work.
- Rounds matched to a Northern Ireland project: NI Screen's own and the BFI's UK-wide funds.
- A waterfall with the BFI and NI Screen recouping pari passu, and Companies House and HMRC admin with employers' liability under Northern Ireland law.
The producer's journey
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A Northern Ireland company
The company profile keeps a sterling bank for NI Screen drawdowns and AVEC, and room for a euro bank and an Irish VAT number for work across the border. Employers' liability insurance carries a warning until a policy is recorded, citing Northern Ireland's own law: at least £5M for any one occurrence under the Employer's Liability (Defective Equipment and Compulsory Insurance) (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 and its 1999 Regulations.
Company profile: banks and VAT. 
Company profile: employers' liability. -
Northern Ireland Screen applications
Funder applications carry a bundle for each NI Screen fund. The Screen Fund production bundle fills the project, company, writer, director and finance plan; checks the 65% already-financed threshold; states the BFI Cultural Test score, 31 of 35 for the demo; summarises NI Screen's 2025–26 Code of Practice section by section, from the armourer's firearms certificate to children's licences and safeguarding; and sets out UK Subsidy Control and the Code's sustainable filming conditions, from a local sustainability advisor to HVO fuel and an albert carbon action plan. It downloads as a Word document ready for SmartSimple, with each gap marked for the producer.
The NI Screen bundles. -
The UK credit from NI spend
Budget lines tagged as NI spend roll up into the AVEC tracker. The demo qualifies for the Independent Film Tax Credit.
- £2,434,500
- NI spend tagged on the budget.
- £2,240,000
- The 80% cap on £2.8M of core expenditure, which binds.
- £1,187,200
- Gross credit at the IFTC's 53%.
- £890,400
- Net credit after corporation tax.
AVEC tracker with NI spend. -
The funder calendar
With the starter set, the NI Screen programmes and the UK funders loaded, the rounds matching the demo feature include NI Screen's Screen Fund and travel bursary, the BFI's Filmmaking Fund, Global Screen Fund and Film Hubs, and Eurimages. The funds of Scotland, Wales and England stay out of the list, and rounds for Irish-language and Ulster-Scots broadcast work appear for projects of those types.
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Company admin
Cúram's UK starter pack covers the company's Companies House and HMRC calendar, from the confirmation statement and accounts to VAT, PAYE and the Company Tax Return, dated from the accounting reference date. Its employers' liability renewal cites Northern Ireland's own law.
Cúram after applying the UK starter pack. -
Recoupment with the BFI and NI Screen
A film funded by both starts its waterfall from the BFI's terms. The BFI and NI Screen recoup pari passu, each recovering the same fraction of what it is owed at the same time, with no premium for the BFI; the BFI's share feeds its Locked Box corridor, 25% until it has recouped half its award and 50% after. With £650,000 of modelled receipts, the £200,000 distribution advance recoups, and then the BFI and NI Screen each recover half: £150,000 to the BFI, £50,000 to the Locked Box and £250,000 to NI Screen. A film without the BFI can start from NI Screen's recoupable loan, taking its rank, premium and profit share from the funding agreement.
The demo's waterfall with the BFI and NI Screen pari passu, on £650,000 of modelled receipts. -
Compliance at a glance
The compliance view shows the UK credit card and the BFI Diversity Standards. The demo's UK credit reads OK, and the diversity card names what is left to do: the Standard E accessibility statement.
Compliance scorecard.
Also in the module, not shown here
- The BFI Cultural Test and BFI bundles, as on the UK walkthrough.
- The Ulster-Scots consultant's four-stage sign-off, feeding the USBF bundle.
- Cross-border co-production with Ireland, where a project that touches Ireland brings in the S481 surfaces.
- Child performance licences and working-time audits.