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Where else to go
If Screen Sisters is not the right door, here are the others — Christian, Jewish and Muslim screen organisations, interfaith bodies, women's networks and the industry's own routes in.
The list we went looking for and could not find
Every organisation here was checked and is running. Schemes still open and close, so confirm anything that matters with them directly.
Signposting is not partnership. Nobody on this page is a partner of Screen Sisters. Listing an organisation is not an endorsement of it, and it does not mean the organisation endorses us or knows we exist. Where we do have a working relationship, we name it on Partners and nowhere else.
We have said what each one is actually good for, including where the answer is *go here instead of us*. If an entry is wrong or out of date, tell us.
Christian screen and media
The thinnest ground in the UK, and the part of this page we were asked to build first.
| Organisation | What it is, and what it is good for |
|---|---|
| Christians in Media · christiansinmedia.co.uk | Network for Christians working across news, broadcast and production. The mentoring programme is the useful part: someone already in the industry who does not need the faith bit explained. |
| Christian Creative Network UK · christiancreativenetwork.com | Local branches for Christian creatives of every denomination, filmmakers included. In person and regional, so it reaches places where screen networks are thin. |
| CTVC · ctvc.co.uk | An independent production company, charity-owned, making religion and ethics television and radio for UK broadcasters. One of the few places where religious literacy counts as a professional skill. Watch the credits and approach the people on them. |
| Sandford St Martin Trust · sandfordawards.org.uk | Annual awards for broadcasting that deals with religion, ethics and belief. The shortlists are the fastest map of who commissions this work in Britain. Read them before you pitch anything. |
| Premier · premier.org.uk | Christian media charity running radio, magazines and digital. A genuine employer and a place to get published early, aimed at Christian audiences rather than mainstream drama. |
| Church of England Digital Labs · churchofengland.org | Free webinars and training days on video, digital and social. Sound first camera and edit teaching if your first films will be made for a congregation. It is not a route into the industry and does not pretend to be. |
| Greenbelt · greenbelt.org.uk | Arts, faith and justice festival with film, talks and performance. Go to meet the Christian artists, programmers and commissioners who are hard to find the rest of the year. |
Jewish screen and culture
| Organisation | What it is, and what it is good for |
|---|---|
| UK Jewish Film · ukjewishfilm.org | The most developed faith-based screen organisation in the country: a festival, an education strand, and film funds for shorts and short documentary. The funds are a real production credit, not a bursary. |
| Seret · seretfilmfestival.org | Israeli film festival running in London and other UK cities. Programming and audience rather than training. Worth watching closely if you want to learn how a small festival is actually run. |
| JW3 · jw3.org.uk | Jewish community centre in London with its own cinema and a courses programme. If you have finished a film and need a first screening in front of an audience that will argue with it, this is a room that exists. |
| Wiener Holocaust Library · wienerholocaustlibrary.org | Archive and reading room on the Holocaust and genocide, open to researchers. For documentary research and archive questions. Go before you write the treatment, not after. |
Muslim screen organisations
| Organisation | What it is, and what it is good for |
|---|---|
| UK Muslim Film · ukmuslimfilm.org | Charity working on Muslim representation on screen, with industry consulting, networking and a talent strand. It co-authored the film and television industry's Ramadan guide with the Film and TV Charity, which is the single most practical document on this subject in the UK. Read it, then read our own practice notes. |
| Muslim International Film Festival · themiff.net | London festival for Muslim storytelling from across the world, with features, shorts and industry sessions. Submissions are open to anyone. The best place to see what is actually being made rather than what is being said about it. |
| Centre for Media Monitoring · cfmm.org.uk | Monitors and challenges how British media reports Muslims, with published research and complaints work. Useful if your film argues with coverage and you need evidence rather than anecdote. |
| The Riz Test · riztest.com | A short published test for how Muslim characters are written, modelled on the Bechdel Test. Free, and you can apply it to your own script in an afternoon. |
| Aziz Foundation · azizfoundation.org.uk | Scholarships for British Muslims, including media and communications. Aimed at postgraduate study, so it answers the fees question rather than the how-do-I-get-on-set question. |
Interfaith and community cohesion
| Organisation | What it is, and what it is good for |
|---|---|
| Faith & Belief Forum · faithbeliefforum.org | School workshops, school linking and the ParliaMentors leadership programme for students from different faith and belief backgrounds. The most substantial interfaith education infrastructure in England. |
| St Ethelburga's · stethelburgas.org | Centre for reconciliation and peace in the City of London. Training in facilitation and conflict work. Take their course if you are going to put people who disagree in a room together on camera. |
| Near Neighbours · near-neighbours.org.uk | Small grants and support for local projects run jointly by people of different faiths. The most realistic first funder for a community film with a cohesion purpose. |
| Council of Christians and Jews · ccj.org.uk | The long-standing body for Christian–Jewish engagement, with branches, education and study programmes across the UK. |
| Nisa-Nashim · nisanashim.com | Network of local Jewish and Muslim women's groups. Closest in spirit to what we do, and a good route to women who will appear in a film about their own community. |
Women-led screen organisations
| Organisation | What it is, and what it is good for |
|---|---|
| Women in Film & TV (UK) · wftv.org.uk | Membership body with mentoring, awards and events. The mentoring scheme is competitive and worth the effort; membership alone is not a strategy. |
| Reclaim the Frame · reclaimtheframe.org | Builds audiences for films by women and marginalised genders, and runs talent development alongside it. Start with the screenings; the development strands follow. |
| Raising Films · raisingfilms.com | For parents and carers working in screen. Research, residencies and practical guidance for productions. If childcare or eldercare is the reason you cannot take the job, this is the organisation that has written it all down. |
| Rise · risewib.com | Women in broadcast technology: mentoring cohorts, a job board and a bursary. The right door if you want to be in the gallery, in engineering or on the technical side rather than on the floor. |
| Primetime · primetime.network | Free directory of women working behind the camera. Put yourself on it. Producers genuinely search it when they are told to find a woman for a role. |
| Illuminatrix · illuminatrixdops.com | Collective of women shooting as directors of photography, with a development strand for those coming up. Camera department specific and small, which is the point. |
Industry routes, training and the union
These are the mainstream entry points. Most people who get employed in UK film and television come through one of them, and we will always say so.
| Organisation | What it is, and what it is good for |
|---|---|
| ScreenSkills · screenskills.com | The national skills body. Trainee Finder places people on productions but is a pool, not a job offer. The bursaries are the underused part: they cover course fees, travel, care costs and kit. Apply before you book anything. |
| Bectu · bectu.org.uk | The union. Branch meetings, grade definitions, rate cards and somewhere to take a problem on a production. Join before you need it, not the week you do. |
| CIISA · ciisa.org.uk | The Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, the industry's independent standards body, with a reporting and whistleblowing service for bullying and harassment. Where to go when the production itself is the problem. |
| The Film and TV Charity · filmtvcharity.org.uk | Support line, grants and wellbeing services for people who work in production, plus the industry Ramadan guide. For people already in, including those about to fall out. |
| BFI NETWORK · bfi.org.uk | Funding and support for first-time writers, directors and producers through partners in every nation and region. Find your regional talent executive; that relationship matters more than the application form. |
| Equal Access Network (Film London) · filmlondon.org.uk | Free to join, for new entrants, returners and career changers in London. Masterclasses, events and introductions to productions shooting in the capital. |
| MAMA Youth Project · mamayouth.org.uk | Free television production training for young people, running in London, Birmingham and Manchester. You make a programme that is broadcast, so you leave with a credit and a reel rather than a certificate. |
| Channel 4 Production Training Scheme · c4productiontrainingscheme.com | Paid entry into scripted production, recruited across the UK. A broadcaster-backed route where the salary is real. It opens in cycles, so set an alert rather than checking hopefully. |
| GBCT · gbct.org | Guild of British Camera Technicians. If the camera department is where you want to be, this is where trainees, clapper loaders and focus pullers are actually found and vouched for. |
| National Film and Television School · nfts.co.uk | Best known for its MAs, but it also runs short courses and diplomas, some funded and some regional. The short courses are the part most people miss. |
A word on how to use this
Apply to more than one. The faith organisations will tell you who is making work you should see; the industry bodies are the ones that lead to paid days on a set. Most people need both, and the two lists rarely talk to each other. Closing that gap is the reason Screen Sisters exists.