Last month, we were lucky enough to be invited to the Q & A screening of The Correction Unit hosted by the folks at cinema collective Lounge Trip. From there, we mingled with the cast and crew of the film as well as local filmmakers to find out just what Nottingham needs in terms of funding for films, plus one big question: could Nottingham become the UK’ next indie film capital?
For Charlie Sharp, one of the friendly faces behind local cinema collective Lounge Trip, one of the most favourable aspects of film creation in Nottingham is collaboration. A smaller ecosystem of filmmakers, who are all friends of friends, has led to a totally unique creative sphere in which indie films tend to flourish.
“Nottingham is a smaller city than Manchester or Birmingham,” he said. “That means everyone knows each other’s projects, and there’s a large interconnected community here. Nottingham is an exciting place at the moment.”
What’s more, is that unlike those larger cities Nottingham doesn’t play host to major studio productions or large television shoots. However, some would argue that this absence has paved the way for a different kind of filmmaking, where cast and crew can work on their own terms.
“There are a lot of independent filmmakers here who are excited to create work,” Sharp said. “That energy is what’s building the scene.”
Derry Shillitto, fellow filmmaker and writer of Notts-made 2025 dystopian thriller The Correction Unit, agrees that the smaller size of Nottingham always offers many strategic advantages when it comes to shoot days.
Whether you’re seeking out familiar suburbs, Victorian side-streets, or open green spaces, the city offers a huge variety of locations within minutes of each other. This is a massive logistical advantage when you’re trying to shoot films, and when you’re working on a shoestring, those logistical advantages make all the difference.
The ideas are here. The stories are here. What we need are opportunities
“As the first assistant director, I saw firsthand how having Nottingham as a location supported our budget constraints,” Sharp said. “We’d have struggled to get this particular film made at the same budget level in another city.”
Another enormous advantage of shooting The Correction Unit in Nottingham was having a network of local contacts, all a stone's throw away from the action.
“We were fortunate to ask for a lot of favours from local people,” he explained. “That helped us access locations and resources that wouldn’t have been possible elsewhere.
Pair this with the city’s compact nature, and you instantly get a streamlined filmmaking process which makes production much simpler than in larger cities.
According to Shillitto, a substantial pool of local talent is by far the biggest advantage of shooting in Nottingham. The city is known for producing some serious cinematic heavyweights, particularly from the Television Workshop – for example, Samantha Morton, Vicky McClure, Bella Ramsey, Jack O'Connell, Joe Dempsie, and Aisling Loftus.
And beyond actors, many impressive filmmakers have made Nottingham a professional home, like Shane Meadows, whose work has long drawn from Midlands stories.
When asked how the city can attract bigger projects, filmmaker Luke Radford didn’t hesitate.
“Writers – every element. Broadway is amazing. Confetti is amazing, but there’s still more to build,” referring to amazing opportunities provided by the Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies, offering courses in film, television, and media for young people.
For Shillitto, issues when it comes to feature film funding are clear: “There is simply no infrastructure in Nottingham for feature films,” he said. “You can get support for short films through BFI Film Hub Midlands, which is great. But funding a feature here is almost impossible, especially if you’re an emerging filmmaker.”
He believes that the solution to this lies in smaller-scale private investments.
“There’s an opportunity for finance capital companies to invest between £50,000 and £500,000 into independent films here,” he suggested. “If you build a slate of micro-budget films shot in the city, you could really grow the industry.”
One of the other major themes surrounding the evening was talent retention. We produce so many skilled filmmakers, actors and technicians yet so many of those talented individuals eventually leave to find work in larger hubs like London.
“The ideas are here,” Radford said. “The stories are here. What we need are opportunities.”
Sharp had similar concerns. “There’s always that push towards moving to London,” he said. “But Nottingham could retain a lot of that talent if there was a bigger emphasis on promoting projects being made in the city.”
For Shillitto, a solution to this is hiring more Nottingham-based crew members to work in senior production roles.
“At the moment most local crew make their money doing corporate video,” he said. “It’s rare to have consistent paid work on narrative film here.”
We’re very lucky to be home to two fantastic universities, both producing successful graduates in film, media and performance. “Having two local universities means there’s always new filmmakers coming through,” states Sharp.
Through Lounge Trip, he has been working to connect those students with the wider industry.
“As part of The Correction Unit, we helped over thirty young filmmakers get work experience on set,” he said. “For many of them it was their first production role.”
Universities also supported the film in practical ways. Both NTU and Confetti provided filming locations, including at Metronome, plus other studio spaces.
“Confetti and NTU educated a lot of the filmmakers involved in The Correction Unit,” said Shillitto. “Some of those relationships go back more than ten years.”
Despite the challenges and lack of funding, the mood at Broadway was anything but pessimistic. If anything, the crowd gathered for the Q & A seemed excited in the face of such a challenge.
“I think Nottingham is uniquely positioned to become an indie feature powerhouse,” Sharp said. “We’ve got strong talent, bold ideas and supportive communities.”
“There’s momentum here,” Shillitto agreed. “There’s no money for features right now, but people are still making them anyway.”
It’s that quintessential rebellious and determined Notts attitude which he thinks will catch the eyes of investors and production companies.
“There’s an opportunity to make Nottingham a city like Manchester or Birmingham where big companies come to shoot,” he said. “But we need to keep making great films and making noise about them.”
Lounge Trip are hosting their next screening at Broadway on April 21. Head to Broadway’s website to find out more.
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