A Chat with Craig Heyworth, Founder at FILMD

Tell us about FILMD

FILMD is the home of filmmaking: a network and workflow platform where cast, crew and creative teams connect, collaborate and run their productions in one place. It’s a living operating system for the industry, bringing careers, collaborators and projects under one roof.

The industry still runs on a patchwork of spreadsheets, WhatsApp threads, PDFs and scattered job boards. That fragmentation costs filmmakers time, money and opportunity. FILMD pulls those pieces together so that discovery, hiring and production management can finally live in the same ecosystem, from script to screen.

On FILMD, filmmakers build rich profiles, showcase their work, map and search the community, post and find roles, message collaborators, and manage real productions through tools like the Production Suite and Screening Room.

There’s a free tier so anyone can join the network, plus FILMD Membership – a paid plan from £11.99 per month or £119.00 per year – which unlocks advanced discovery, production tools and analytics. Posting jobs and applying for work remain free; we monetise through Membership, hirer tools and institutional partnerships, not by charging people to be seen.

What makes FILMD unique?

First, FILMD is built around careers, not just gigs. Success isn’t measured by how many job ads are posted, but by how many long-term careers and productions the platform helps to shape – from first shorts to recurring work.

Second, FILMD is designed as “one home, one industry”. Profiles, projects, reputation, production workflows and, increasingly, payments sit in a single, trusted environment instead of adding yet another silo to an already fragmented landscape.

Third, trust is designed into the product rather than bolted on afterwards. Verification, accreditation, clear reputation signals and transparent states (who’s verified, who’s paid, who’s available) sit alongside portfolios and credits to help both sides – talent and productions – make better decisions.

Beyond the product, FILMD’s tone and brand are intentionally inclusive and filmmaker-first. It speaks in plain language, avoids jargon, and treats users as peers – a knowledgeable, supportive and playful friend inside the industry, rather than a detached SaaS tool.

Finally, FILMD isn’t just an idea on paper. The platform is live on web, iOS and Android, with over 14,500 filmmakers already on the network, more than 220 productions created and nearly 17,000 messages exchanged, all running on a modern Azure stack that keeps everything secure, performant and ready to scale.

How has FILMD evolved?

FILMD began with a simple frustration: talented people missing out on opportunities because their careers were trapped in disconnected pockets of the industry. Drawing on first-hand experience on set and building large-scale platforms elsewhere, we started by focusing on the independent film and TV community – the people most exposed to word-of-mouth hiring, last-minute crewing and admin chaos.

The early versions of FILMD were primarily about connection: better profiles, a members map, and tools to bring cast and crew into the same space. Over time, that evolved into a much broader operating system, underpinned by a clear vision, purpose and set of values that put “filmmakers first”, “one home, one industry” and “careers, not gigs” at the centre of every decision.

Product-wise, the platform has expanded from basic networking into a full network-and-workflow model. That now includes advanced search and filters, saved searches and alerts, the Production Suite for running shows, the Screening Room for sharing cuts and gathering feedback, and native mobile apps so FILMD travels with filmmakers wherever they’re working.

Alongside the product, our thinking about monetisation has matured. Rather than leaning on pay-to-play models, FILMD has moved towards a mix of Membership, verification and accreditation, hirer tools and institutional seat packs – all designed to make the ecosystem stronger without putting a toll gate between filmmakers and opportunity.

What can we see from FILMD in the future?

Looking ahead, the ambition is for FILMD to become the heartbeat of film: the default place where careers live, productions run and teams get paid.

Near term, that means deepening verification and accreditation, rolling out FILMD Pay to handle onboarding and payments, expanding the Production Suite and giving members richer analytics. It also means growing institutional partnerships – from film schools to production companies and festivals – so FILMD becomes part of how the next generation of filmmakers are trained, discovered and hired.

Longer term, the focus is on uniting a global filmmaking community in one home while staying true to a simple promise: technology should remove friction and increase trust, but never replace the craft. If we do that well, more stories get made, more talent gets seen, and more filmmakers can build the careers they dream of, on FILMD.