Screen England was shocked and surprised at news of the proposed abolition of the UK Film Council, which has strengthened the British film industry both economically and culturally over the past ten years and makes a hugely valuable contribution to the creative industries sector.
The Film Council has been responsible for the growth of extraordinary filmmaking talent in the UK and the rejuvenation of the British film industry. Its core funding has been invested in filmmakers, festivals and community film projects, with every pound spent generating a five-fold return at the box office. At grassroots level, support from the Film Council underpins the work of the Regional Screen Agencies in developing regional creative business and talent whilst continuing to widen the reach of film.
The creative industries are a crucial growth area for the UK economy in this digital age, and film is a core industry within it. We recognise that public sector spending has to be reassessed in the current climate, but we strongly feel that this capacity for economic growth must not be jeopardised.
We welcome the Government’s plan to continue Lottery support and the maintenance of the Tax Credit for film and we will positively contribute to further discussions during this time of consultation.
Screen England chair, John Newbigin, said:
“The screen agencies play a vital role in nurturing creative businesses and individual talent in every corner of England. Maintaining this activity will be key to the country’s economic recovery and future prosperity, and we aim to continue to play this role.”
Vision+Media CEO, Alice Morrison, said:
“The UK Film Council has enabled us to support quality film production in the North West including BAFTA nominated ‘Nowhere Boy’ and the highly acclaimed ‘Looking For Eric’, we have also been able to innovate in the industry with UK firsts such as Drafted, an eight week training programme for scriptwriters in the region. Looking to the future, there’s no doubt that there are huge opportunities in the North West for the film industry, as well as the wider digital and creative economy, thanks to the arrival of MediaCityUK and BBC North, we believe that continued specialist support is vital to ensure that the region fulfils its potential as a world class creative hub.”
Screen England is a network comprising the nine regional screen agencies, set up by the UK Film Council to help distribute funds to deliver film culture and nurture talent across the country.
The nine regional screen agencies are:
- Vision+Media
- Screen Yorkshire
- Northern Film and Media
- Screen WM
- EM Media
- Screen East
- South West Screen
- Film London
- Screen South
A DCMS spokesperson yesterday said:
“The screen agencies do an excellent job promoting film production, video games development, skills and more. For a relatively small investment, they have encouraged investment of over £50m in the audio-visual creative industries across all regions. Retaining this level of support is important and we are considering how the important function they perform fits in with the planned Local Enterprise Partnerships.”