Netflix announces the return of the Documentary Talent Fund

At the Edinburgh Television Festival, Netflix announced that the Documentary Talent Fund will return for its third year in a bid to provide opportunities for under-represented filmmakers in the UK and Ireland.

Speaking on stage, Nelesh Dhand, Manager, Doc Series, UK said, “Following the success of the first two years of the fund we are thrilled to be bringing it back to continue our work supporting the next generation of documentary filmmakers. We are searching for applicants from all backgrounds but with some experience with filmmaking. This is a great opportunity for teams to get in front of the Netflix team and we will be doing everything we can to support them throughout the process.”

The opportunity will be open to everyone and will give five filmmakers, and their teams, the chance to make a short documentary film with a budget of £30,000 each. All teams will be under the guidance of Netflix and other filmmaking professionals.

In the first two years of the fund 15 short films have been produced with over 60 festival screenings. Iranian Yellow Pages, made by Anna Snowball & Abolfazl Talooni, and Black Stroke, a film by Olivia Smart have been shortlisted for Best Documentary Short at this year’s Grierson Awards – with the latter also receiving a nomination for the Broadcast Digital Award for Best Short Form Documentary 2024. Two Mothers, a film by Anna Rogers and Zlata Filipovic, won Best Documentary at FastNet film festival. Turn Up The Bass, directed by Ted Evans and executive produced by Caroline Williamson, has had seven festival acceptances, whilst Love Languages, directed by Jason Osborne made last year’s BAFTA Longlist for British Short Film. Filmmakers have also gone on to make their first features, been nominated for numerous other awards and become BAFTA Connect members.

Kate Townsend, Director Documentary Features said, “For this third year of the initiative we will be focusing our search on directors and producers who truly want to work in, and remain, in the documentary field. We are looking to nurture and empower the future generation of documentarians and help support them in the next stages of their careers.”

Townsend will lead a team of industry professionals who will form the judging panel to select this year’s recipients. This will include Aloke Devichand (Head of Documentaries, Mindhouse, Executive Producer The Final: Attack on Wembley); Andy Mundy Castle (Director, White Nanny Black Child, Founder DocHearts); Anna Higgs (Chair, BAFTA Film Committee); Danny Moltrasi (Senior Shorts Programmer at Raindance); Bao Nguyen (Director, The Greatest Night In Pop); Felicity Morris (Director, Tinder Swindler, Don’t F**k With Cats and American Nightmare), Lyttanya Shannon (Director, Sweet Bobby); Nicky Varley (Head of Production, Curious Film), as well as Cai Mason, Awards & Talent Relations; Zainab Ali Khan, Original Documentaries and Chris Hooper, Director of Marketing for Series and Docs at Netflix UK.

Elisabeth Hopper returns as Lead Producer of the fund for the third year, alongside producers Georgie Yukiko Donovan (Unit Director, Heart of Invictus) and Daisy Ifama (Netflix Doc Fund alumni 2021/22).

Throughout the year, the chosen teams will take part in Netflix hosted workshops covering all aspects of production including legal, creative, HR, production and finance. In their finished forms, each documentary must be between 8-12 minutes long and will live on Netflix See What’s Next YouTube Channel. The brief for these short documentaries is “You’re never gonna believe this…”

Molinare will be supporting teams by providing their world-class post production services at a reduced cost, plus access to their Online post facilities.

Entries will be open from 21st August to 27th September 2024. For the first round, applicants will be required to submit a logline (one sentence); a short synopsis and a creative statement about their documentary idea. Further details on how to apply can be found at

The final docs will be launched in June 2025, and will be showcased at an event attended by industry figures to help our talent expand their networks and advance their careers.

You must be a UK or Ireland resident to apply. Only one application will be accepted per person.