After a few months of building, we’re back. Void Films - a new kind of film company.
We develop stories in public, shaped by audience interest from day one.

This newsletter is your inside track.
Development updates, early looks, and decisions from inside the process.
An insight into what’s moving, what’s changing, and what’s coming next.

Manchester Film Festival

In March, the Void Films team attended Manchester Film Festival - partly to meet new writers and producers, and partly to see what’s emerging.

It’s a large programme spread across venues in the city, with a clear focus on northern independent cinema. Opening night networking drinks can be a bit nerve-racking - a lot of pitching ideas to strangers - but this felt welcoming and warm.

We spoke with Baldwin Li, an Oscar-nominated producer and writer, who’s started the Breakthrough Short Film Fund, financing one £5k short film every couple of months. Similar in structure to the Slick Film Fund in London, but more approachable and according to Baldwin - better!

Our highlights from the programme were Psychopomp, the punchy directorial debut of Kit Harrington, Box of Frogs, the funny and heartfelt short starring Matthew Horne  and Don’t Worry About Me, a powerful short film directed by Jamie Yuan and written by ex-copper Steve Arnold.

The Void Films team will be attending Kraków Film Festival, Hay Festival, and Cannes in May. If you’re going and want to meet for a coffee, let us know.

A Void Films feature documentary teaser

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing a new feature documentary currently at rough cut.

It explores an ancient community in the English Channel, its inhabitants, and how divisive change plays out in a small, ancient island.

Subscribers will get early access to the rough cut next month, alongside conversations with the heads of department on their experiences making the film - and the wider changes happening across film and television.

The film is directed, produced and written by Louis Moir, whose debut A Brush with Comedy aired on Sky Arts to critical acclaim.

Documentary recommendations from the Void Team

Whilst we get ready to share our rough cut next month, here are some recent documentary favourites from the team.

Dynasty: The Murdochs (2026, Liz Garbus)
We don’t usually lean towards Netflix documentaries - they tend to feel overly polished, clinical and usually predictable. This four parter is different. Tell-all master interviews with those close to the family, a zippy pace, and more contemporary in its storytelling.

High & Low: John Galliano (2023, Kevin Macdonald)
Available on MUBI. Still one of the strongest documentaries of the past few years. A detailed portrait of Galliano’s rise and fall, handled with restraint.

The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft (2022, Werner Herzog)
A tragic but fascinating story, told by one of the best of all time.

Company Profile - Etched

A lot of value in development is created before anything is formally protected.

Scripts, treatments and decks are shared early and move between people as projects take shape. That process is necessary, but it can make authorship and ownership harder to evidence later. There’s no consistent way this stage is handled - most of it sits across emails, shared drives and informal records.

We’ve been looking more closely at that part of the process, and at how it’s currently handled in practice.

Etched is one of a number of tools attempting to address it.

What it is:

A platform that creates a time-stamped record of creative work.

It establishes when something existed, and who created it, before legal processes begin. It sits alongside contracts and formal protection, rather than replacing them.

How it works:

• Upload material (script, treatment, artwork, etc.)

• A permanent timestamp is generated

• The record stays attached as the project develops

Over time, this builds a clear history of drafts and changes.

Where it fits:

Most early-stage material sits outside formal protection but still carries value.

Etched introduces a simple, verifiable record without changing how people work. For writers, it provides a way to evidence authorship earlier. For development teams, it creates more clarity around incoming material.

It’s one approach to a part of the process that isn’t currently standardised.

Worth being aware of if you’re sharing work early in the process.

https://www.etched.xyz/

Coming up

Next newsletter, we’ll share:

• An exciting update on our body-horror ‘Hungry Joe’

• A rough cut of our new documentary

• Industry insights

• More development news from across our slate

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