This was originally posted yesterday under discussions on our new www.facebook.com/macmillionproductions page:
I am starting this subject in fear of falling out with all of my colleagues in the UK film industry. However, I am not sure that it is such a bad thing to abolish the UK film council. Please do feel free to disagree.
From my impressions and please note opinions; I don't think that the UK Film Council was set up to cover anything but the "elite" in UK Film-making. Granted, they did rightfully tick some boxes in order to cater for minorities, but more often than not, that only just stretched to short films. And IMHO they completely failed in getting Digital Cinema out to a wider audience in the UK. It took at least 3 years longer than it should have done, and it is debatable whether they in the end choose the right display technology. In any case, the political confusion helped put the breakers on High Definition in the UK for at least 4 years, and we are still playing catch-up. This wasn't helped either by then Chancellor Gordon Brown deciding to get rid of all foreign co-productions by making it near impossible to get co-funding under the new tax regime.
Yes, the UK Film Council has supported some financial successful movies, but out of the £160 million spent and over 900 films supported - how many actually made a decent return on investment.
So I say, scrap the UK Film Council. Encourage more micro budget film making. Only support movies with a strong business plan and bring back the tax-breaks for overseas producers (maybe just the Europeans) - this will help to get English co-productions to a wider audience and thereby bring money back into the industry. And one thing I never thought that I would hear myself say; lets remove VAT on Digital Cinema projection and sound equipment - this will hopefully help to re-vitalize cinemas and UK Digital Film Production. I.e. with the right Digital Equipment investment a micro-budget movie can be in the cinema on a slow Monday evening and out on DVD and download on a busy Friday there after.
Obviously I am a stake-holder in all of the above, but I also think that we shouldn't run to the defence of a film council that by my estimate hasn't delivered a proper commercial nor an artistic proposition to the UK film market.
However, I'm more interested in your opinion? Don't hold back :-)
Tuesday 27 July 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
If you consider TV Comedy, for example, the first series was finding its feet, then all subsequent series were an improvement. Think "BlackAdder"!
ReplyDeleteThe UKFC's role in supporting uncommercial ventures was understandable, as projects with "strong business plans" often don't need help. While it was providing funding for obscure subjects, the army of technicians involved were learning their craft, enabling them one day to work on "blockbusters".
Films which set out to make a loss, in the style of "The Producers", should be banned, as it skewed the Government's perception of Producers wanting to go out and make films.
Paul White.
Hey Paul,
ReplyDeleteSorry for the late moderation - I hadn't ticked the "email me box". I hope you accept my apologies for not realizing sooner.
I agree with you about "BlackAdder" which incidentally was produced long before the Film Council came to be. I also agree with the sentiment that when it comes to funding, "profit" shouldn't necessarily be the driving factor for making good films and there is a lot to be said for all the other benefits, such as training a potentially under-developed work-force.
However, what would happen if you gave £18,000,000 straight to the film makers based on covering up to 66% of a film production up to £100,000? If you actually offered that money on the completion of the first 180 feature length projects a year, a producer should be able to borrow it in the bank based on having the other 34% + the state could ask to own 66% of the revenue until 135% of the finance has been paid back.
In any case, it would be rock'n roll for the film-industry, young people would get trained, actors would be able to act and all the expensive projects would look for professional funding :-)