Bridging two screens: The 2026 producer’s guide to UK-Nigeria film co-productions, finance, intellectual property, and risk

INTRODUCTION

The relationship between the United Kingdom and Nigeria in film has never been more active, or more consequential, than it is in 2026. Last year, My Father’s Shadow, a UK/Nigeria co-production directed by Akinola Davies Jr., premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and was selected as the UK’s submission for Best International Feature Film at the 2026 Academy Awards. That a jointly produced film from these two nations could carry the UK’s standard at the Oscars speaks to the maturity of this creative corridor.  But behind the festival headlines lies a dense thicket of financial structuring, intellectual property law, immigration logistics, and cross-border risk that producers on both sides must navigate with precision.

The performance and growth of the Nigeria’s film industry highlights a growing and commercially viable market particularly for foreign investors with repeatable revenue across cinema, streaming, and digital platforms. For example, Kunle Afolayan’s multi-title Netflix partnership covering three film set in Nigeria and Aníkúlápó reaching the privileged title of number one globally in non-English films shortly after release and a cumulative 8.7m streaming hours.  Also, Funke Akindele has generated over ₦5.3 billion in three years, consistently breaking box office records and becoming West Africa’s highest-grossing filmmaker. Even, YouTube producers achieve millions of views within days of release, highlighting scalable digital monetisation.

Taken together, these trends point to a structurally maturing industry with diversified revenue streams and increasing bankability for cross-border co-productions.

This guide unpacks the essential architecture of UK-Nigeria film co-productions in 2026, covering the financing tools now available, the intellectual property regimes that govern ownership, the immigration frameworks that determine who can work where, and the practical risks that producers must anticipate and manage.

 THE STATE OF PLAY: WHY NOW

Several forces have converged to create this moment. In December 2024, the UK and Nigeria publicly committed to working towards a formal film co-production agreement, although the treaty remains under negotiation at the time of writing. The British Council’s Film Lab Africa programme returned in 2026 as a more ambitious accelerator targeting Nigerian screenwriting, storytelling, and production talent. On the Nigerian side, the government launched Screen Nigeria at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival to coordinate the industry’s international representation and attract foreign productions. Nigeria has also announced plans to launch a long-awaited production incentive scheme in 2026, alongside co-production treaties with Brazil and India.

The commercial logic is overwhelming. Nollywood is the second-largest film industry globally by volume, producing around 2,500 films annually. As of 2023, the broader entertainment industry contributed approximately 1.97 trillion naira to Nigeria’s GDP. Meanwhile, the UK possesses world-class post-production infrastructure, global distribution networks, and one of the most generous production tax credit regimes in the world.

FINANCING: ASSESSING THE AVAILABLE INCENTIVES

The financial architecture of a UK-Nigeria co-production is shaped by the asymmetry between the two countries’ fiscal incentive environments. The UK’s Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC) system offers qualifying British films a payable cash rebate of up to 25.5 percent on UK qualifying expenditure. The more significant instrument for co-productions at typical budget levels is the Independent Film Tax Credit (IFTC), available for claims since April 2025. Films can qualify either by having a UK writer or director, or by being certified as an official UK co-production. Similarly, visual effects cost benefit from a net rate of 29.25 percent. This creates a strong incentive for co-productions to route post-production and visual effects work through the UK subject to minimum cost considerations.

Nigeria’s financing landscape is transforming rapidly. Institutional lenders are beginning to treat Nigerian film intellectual property as bankable collateral, and platform commissioning from Netflix, Prime Video, and Canal+ Africa has introduced pre-buy deal structures that stabilise production financing. A landmark development is the Creative Economy Development Fund (CEDF), launched by the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism, and Creative Economy. The CEDF provides a mix of grants, affordable loans, and equity investment to creative businesses, with film and television identified as a priority sector. Notably, the CEDF introduces a transformative model that allows creators to leverage their intellectual property, such as film rights and digital content, as viable collateral for financing.

Nigeria lacks a formal production tax credit system equivalent to the UK’s AVEC or IFTC, but subnational governments are increasingly recognizing the value of film production. Lagos State has introduced reduced location fees for government properties, expedited permitting, and tax incentives for post-production facilities. Cross River State (Calabar) is developing similar frameworks with dedicated film infrastructure. These location-based incentives significantly reduce production costs and improve co-production cash flow.

Nigerian co-production budgets typically combine CEDF funding, location incentives, private equity, platform pre-buys, distribution advances, and gap financing. In this complex financing landscape, legal structuring is not merely a compliance exercise; it is central to risk allocation, revenue protection, and investor confidence.

At the outset, lawyers embed the agreed budget into the co-production agreement, clearly defining each party’s financial obligations, contribution timelines, cost-sharing arrangements, and fund allocation. This includes structuring recoupment waterfalls and royalty payment mechanisms to ensure transparent revenue distribution in compliance with Nigerian laws and industry practice. For equity financing, lawyers must ensure investor contributions are properly documented with clear provisions on ownership, profit participation, voting rights, and exit mechanisms. From a Nigerian perspective, this also requires ensuring the investment structure is enforceable locally and capable of withstanding practical challenges such as currency repatriation, regulatory approvals, and revenue collection.

This comprehensive legal approach deploys investor capital within a clear, enforceable framework that supports predictable recoupment and reduces exposure to cross-border risk, ultimately transforming creative concepts into bankable and commercially viable assets.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CONSIDERATIONS

The intellectual property dimension is where the real complexity lies. Producers are reconciling two distinct legal regimes that must be harmonised contractually ─ the Nigerian Copyright Act 2022 and the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

To efficiently reconcile the two legal regimes, lawyers must navigate local IP registration requirements, draft and review writer agreements, option agreements, and assignment documents to eliminate ownership gaps and incomplete chain of title, as well as negotiate stakeholders agreements with a goal of preventing future claims from disrupting exploitation or revenue streams pledged to financiers.

Beyond ownership, lawyers oversee rights clearances for commercial exploitation across platforms, including securing music rights, artwork, trademarks, and third-party content. Location agreements and permits must address property rights, privacy concerns, and regulatory approvals particularly important in Nigeria where state-level regulations vary. Where culturally significant areas are involved, lawyers ensure all required governmental and community consents are obtained, benefit-sharing arrangements are structured, and there are safeguards against misappropriation.

Ultimately, the lawyer’s role is central to converting a creative project into a legally secure, financeable, and commercially exploitable asset capable of attracting international investment.

RISK ALLOCATION

Every co-production carries risk. A UK-Nigeria collaboration carries standard production risks plus cross-border risks specific to the jurisdictions involved. Due to currency fluctuations which can dramatically alter the effective cost of production, producers should consider hedging strategies, fixed-rate provisions in co-production agreements, or denominating the budget in a single currency with conversion points agreed in advance.

Digital piracy remains a persistent threat to revenue recovery in Nigeria, with estimates suggesting that up to 40 percent of Nollywood income is lost to unauthorised copying and distribution, and producers should factor this reality into their revenue projections and build robust anti-piracy provisions into all distribution agreements.

Regulatory risk is also present. Nigeria’s anticipated production incentive scheme remains unlegislated at the time of writing, and producers should not build finance plans around incentives that have not been formally enacted. On the UK side, the IFTC is operational, but some producers have reported that BFI certification turnaround times can extend beyond the target six-to-eight-week window, and fees charged by private gap financiers to cash-flow the credit have drawn criticism for eroding its benefits on lower-budget productions.

A completion bond should be considered essential for any co-production of meaningful scale, providing assurance to financiers that the film will be delivered on time, on budget, and to specification. Dispute resolution should be addressed upfront, with arbitration in London typically the preferred mechanism, governed by English law.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

Production insurance must cover both jurisdictions, including cast and crew coverage across territories, equipment in transit, third-party liability, and errors and omissions insurance for the finished film.

Cultural sensitivity and creative governance equally deserve early attention. Producers should establish clear structures for creative decision-making and be mindful that Nigeria’s National Film and Video Censors Board and the UK’s British Board of Film Classification apply different classification and censorship standards. Data protection compliance is also a growing consideration, with cross-border transfers of personal data needing to satisfy both the UK GDPR and Nigeria’s Data Protection Act of 2023.

Cross-border movement of cast and crew is a key but often overlooked issue in UK–Nigeria co-productions. Nigerian creatives working in the UK typically require a Creative Worker visa sponsored by a licensed UK entity, with set salary and financial requirements, while UK crew working in Nigeria must navigate the Expatriate Quota system or short-term permits, alongside mandatory residency documentation. Recent reforms in both jurisdictions have tightened compliance, increased costs, and emphasised local hiring and skills transfer, making early legal planning and adequate budgeting essential.

UK crew will typically be covered by Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union agreements setting minimum terms and conditions, while on the Nigerian side, the Association of Movie Producers and the Directors’ Guild of Nigeria exercise influence over production standards. Finally, every co-production agreement should include a clear exit strategy governing what happens if one party withdraws or becomes insolvent.  This legal certainty is essential to preserving downstream revenue streams across cinema, streaming, and digital exploitation.

CONCLUSION

The UK-Nigeria film co-production corridor in 2026 represents one of the most exciting opportunities in global independent cinema. The creative talent is extraordinary, the institutional support is growing, and the financial tools have never been more generous. But the opportunity comes wrapped in complexity: two legal systems, two tax regimes, two immigration frameworks, two copyright traditions, and two sets of cultural expectations that must be harmonised in practice, not just on paper. The lawyer, working at the intersection of these jurisdictions, becomes the essential architect translating creative ambition into enforceable commercial reality. The producers who succeed will be those who treat the legal and financial architecture not as an afterthought but as a creative discipline in its own right, one that deserves the same ingenuity, care, and attention to detail as the story being told on screen.

Christian Aniukwu is the Sector Head in the Technology, Entertainment, Media & Sports (TEMS) Sector at Stren & Blan Partners, Omonefe Irabor-Benson is a Senior Associate while Stanley Umezuruike, Rebecca Sojinu and Linda Daramola are Associates in the same sector.

Stren & Blan Partners is a full-service commercial Law Firm that provides legal services to diverse local and international Clientele. The Business Counsel is a weekly column by Stren & Blan Partners that provides thought leadership insight on business and legal matters.

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