The Film Office Toolkit was created because most UK public bodies handle filming requests with little structure, little data, and often little confidence that they're doing it well. We set out to fix that.
We've combined quantitative data with qualitative insight to create a practical toolkit that helps public bodies of all sizes handle filming better, earn more from it, and build lasting relationships with the production industry.
Matt Gallagher runs The Call Sheet UK, a training and research company working in scripted production. He wrote Breaking into UK Film and TV Drama and has delivered training for ScreenSkills, Primer Studios, Warner Brothers, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. For this project, he conducted in-depth interviews with some of the country's leading Location Managers to understand what works, what doesn't, and what public bodies can do to attract more filming.
Stephen Follows is a film data researcher who uses large-scale datasets to understand how the screen industries work. His work has been used by Guinness World Records, the BFI, and media outlets worldwide. For this project, he submitted Freedom of Information requests to hundreds of UK public bodies to build the most comprehensive dataset on location filming fees, income, and processes ever assembled.
Everything in the Film Office Toolkit is grounded in two original research programmes conducted specifically for this project. We didn't rely on anecdotes or best-practice guides written by committee. We went to the source: the public bodies handling filming requests and the Location Managers making the booking decisions.
Freedom of Information requests submitted to hundreds of UK public bodies, covering filming fees, income, staffing, and processes. The resulting dataset reveals what comparable organisations charge, earn, and how they operate.
In-depth conversations with leading UK Location Managers covering what makes a public body good to work with, what makes them avoid one, and what they wish film offices understood about how productions operate.
The Film Office Toolkit is designed for any UK public body that manages access to land, buildings, or public spaces where filming could take place. That includes local authorities, national parks, museums, galleries, heritage sites, transport bodies, and more. It's particularly useful if filming is currently handled informally, if your responses are inconsistent across departments, or if you're not sure whether filming is worth pursuing at all.
Foundations gives you everything you need to set up or reset how you handle filming: a self-audit, operating model guidance, process templates, fee benchmarks, and a 30/60/90-day implementation plan. Growth includes all of that plus detailed organisation-level benchmarking spreadsheets built from FOI data, advanced pricing strategy, operational excellence guidance, large production readiness tools, and deeper insights from Location Manager interviews. If you want to know what comparable organisations charge and earn at a granular level, Growth is the one to choose.
Both products include 12 months of access from the date of purchase. That gives you time to work through the material at your own pace, complete the self-audit, implement changes, and revisit the benchmarking data as your operation develops.
Yes, and that's actually one of the most common starting points. Our FOI data shows that over half of UK local authorities have never charged for filming. In many cases, that's not because there's no demand. It's because there's no visible process, no published fees, and no clear point of contact. The toolkit helps you assess your real opportunity, set up a proportionate response, and make yourself findable to an industry that's spending £6.8 billion a year in the UK.