Northern Heart Films

What Northern Heart Films does

Northern Heart Films is an independent documentary production company founded in 2014 by Natasha Hawthornthwaite and Scott Bradley, headquartered at Studio 23 and 24 in The Old Courts building in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The company produces short-form and feature-length documentaries, branded content, and commercial films centered on working-class voices and Northern England narratives, with a documented portfolio spanning social impact campaigns, heritage documentaries, brand commercials, music content, and children's programming.

The underlying technology stack consists of standard filmmaking equipment, cameras, and editing software rather than proprietary platforms; the company's differentiation is editorial and relational rather than technical. Production output includes original documentary shorts such as 'Joy Uncensored', 'Finding 'Appiness', 'The Seaweed Forager', and 'Ocean Greens', branded campaigns for Co-op and Persil, broadcast work for BBC, CBBC, CBeebies, and WaterBear Network, and documentary series for Historic England, the Daily Mirror, Ribble Rivers Trust, Samaritans, and Global Action Plan.

The business model is professional services revenue generated through commissioned production fees from broadcasters, charities, brands, and cultural organizations, delivered via direct sales relationships and industry referrals. The company is sales-led with established commissioning connections to BBC, Creative UK, and BFI Doc Society, and it operates the Doc North not-for-profit initiative and Northern Heart Doc Fund as talent pipeline and reputational assets. Pricing is project-based and not publicly disclosed.

Name

Northern Heart Films

Legal name

Northern Heart Films

Website

https://northernheartfilms.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Northern Heart Films is a Wigan-based independent documentary production company creating short-form and feature documentaries, branded campaigns, and broadcast content centered on working-class and Northern England narratives for broadcasters, charities, brands, and cultural institutions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Film Production Services

NAICS

Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries (512)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts & Culture Documentaries (MPADADAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Historical, Biographical & Archival Documentaries (MPADADAE)

Keywords

• Documentary film production
• Branded content creation
• Commissioned film services
• Short film production
• Social impact filmmaking

Headquarters

HQ city

Manchester

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Commissioned Film Production: Production company creates commissioned documentary and branded content films for clients including broadcasters, charities, brands, and cultural organizations. Revenue comes from production fees for creating documentary films, commercial content, and branded campaigns.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Northern Heart Films is an independent film production company that creates commissioned documentary films, branded content, and commercial productions for broadcasters, charities, brands, and cultural organizations. Their portfolio spans original documentaries, social impact campaigns, music event films, and documentary series for clients including the BBC, Daily Mirror, Samaritans, Historic England, Co-op, and Richard Ashcroft. The company also operates the Doc North not-for-profit initiative to nurture emerging working-class documentary talent from the North of England.

Product overview

Northern Heart Films is an award-winning independent film production company founded in 2014, based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The company specializes in creating high-quality documentaries and short films that celebrate stories from the North of England. Their portfolio includes original documentary films (Joy Uncensored, Finding 'Appiness, The Seaweed Forager, Ocean Greens), commercial work for clients (Richard Ashcroft Homecoming, Co-op Christmas campaign), social impact films (The Ones Who Care for We Care Campaign, Building Resilience for Samaritans), and documentary series for broadcasters and organizations (Working Class Histories for Historic England, Real Britain for Daily Mirror, Ribble Life Together for Ribble Rivers Trust, Dirt Is Good for Global Action Plan). The company also operates Doc North, a not-for-profit initiative nurturing emerging documentary talent from working-class backgrounds, and runs the Northern Heart Doc Fund providing mentorship and grants to emerging filmmakers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Doc North
• Northern Heart Doc Fund
• Joy Uncensored

Quantifiable outcome

• The Ones Who Care film generated thousands of new supporters for We Care Campaign and was screened in Parliament and on SKY Together TV
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Thick Skin (theatre company)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Award-winning theatre company partnering with Northern Heart on a unique project supporting emerging creative talent.
• Sheffield DocFestcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 December 2023World-leading documentary film festival partnering with Northern Heart Doc Fund to provide each winner with an industry pass to the festival. Part of Northern Heart's mission to support new documentary talent in the North.
• Doc North (not-for-profit)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Northern Heart's not-for-profit Doc North initiative nurturing the most promising documentary talent from the North of England. Provides mentorship, cash grants for production, kit hire, and big screen premiere opportunities for emerging working-class filmmakers.
• The Gate FilmsminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2023Creative agency that approached Natasha Hawthornthwaite as a candidate for the Co-op Christmas campaign, facilitating the directing opportunity.
• Co-opminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2023Major brand for whom Northern Heart co-founder directed the 2023 Christmas campaign commercial featuring real community members.
• Doc SocietycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Partnership to deliver the Northern Heart Doc Fund program supporting emerging Northern working-class documentary voices. Doc Society is the primary independent funding source for documentary in the UK.
• QuornminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Commissioned Ocean Greens documentary as part of the Pioneers Film Fund in association with planetSHINE, bringing filmmakers together to explore the future of food.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Pulse Films: London-based independent production company producing feature documentaries, branded content and music films for global brands and broadcasters (Nike, Apple, BBC). Directly comparable as a UK indie working across documentary and commercial/branded commissions.
• Rogan Productions: UK-based indie producer behind Louis Theroux documentaries and other premium non-fiction for BBC. Comparable as a small UK indie that wins high-profile BBC documentary commissions and trades on creative-director reputation.
• Grain Media: London indie production company specialising in documentary, branded content and commercials for broadcasters, brands and cultural institutions. Closely matched business model: commissioned documentary work plus commercial partnerships.
• Story Films: London independent production company producing documentary and factual content for UK broadcasters and streamers. Comparable UK indie footprint focused on documentary commissions.
• Blakeway Productions: UK indie documentary and factual producer with a long BBC track record. Comparable as a small-to-mid indie winning BBC documentary commissions and producing narrative-driven factual work.

Broad incumbents

• Dogwoof: UK-based documentary sales, distribution and production company working with indie producers on theatrical and global rights. Comparable through its role as a UK documentary ecosystem incumbent Northern Heart Films could partner with or sell into.
• RSA Films: Established Ridley Scott-founded UK production house spanning commercials, documentaries and feature films. Comparable as a long-standing UK incumbent that competes for branded and documentary commissions at larger budgets.
• BBC Studios Documentary Unit: In-house production arm of the BBC producing flagship documentaries (Storyville, Natural History Unit output). Comparable broad incumbent in UK documentary commissioning against which Northern Heart Films competes for BBC slots.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NorthernHeartF
• Facebookfacebook.com/NorthernHeartFilms
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/northern-heart

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Northern Heart Films