It is no coincidence that British Film Industry has enjoyed its greatest period of sustained growth since the inception of the UK Film Council. It is an organisation filled with passionate, hard working individuals who have achieved amazing things on a very limited budget. They have campaigned for all that is good in British Film, and have always been innovative in their support of an ever changing industry.Do such organisations grow fat over the years? Of course, but the UKFC had recently addressed that by cutting its overheads by some 25% (a saving that, I am sure, the current minister will claim as his own).
And, most importantly, who will replace them? It seems a tragic waste of resources to close down an organisation that has built up over the years an acute understanding of what is a very singular and complex business which combines both art and commerce, and has such a huge impact on our cultural life.
Ealing Studios supports the UK Film Council 100% and encourages you to sign the petition below.
'It is no coincidence that British Film Industry has enjoyed its greatest period of sustained growth since the inception of the UK Film Council.'
ReplyDeleteSince the inception of the UK Film Council...hmm, well chosen words to further foggy the field I feel.
We are still hardly an industry for British Film. We manage to release on average over the last 30 years 6 films a year. Up to the late 60's we were releasing an average two films per WEEK in British cinema's. Why did this stop? The death of the Eady Levy and the abolition of film quota's.
Denmark, a nation of 5.5 million people manage to release an average of 30 Danish films a year in their cinema's because they have a 12% film quota - they have two film studios - we have none. France? Around 130 films a year because they have a 12% Film Quota. Spain have a 30% film quota. Why? Because they have a pride in their culture that we have sadly lost over the years - our leaders should be striving to set this right, they aren't. All we seem to get film wise is an Americanisation of our film culture.
Why haven't the UKFC lobbied for film quota's somethig that would really make a difference to our film output - perhaps it's because a substantial portion of the board is American or has strong American interests...it's a scandal.
It would be nice to see a point for point response to this...
Joe O'Byrne
Thanks for your blog post Barnaby. It would be great to hear what what you make of Joe's important points above. This is something that a lot of us feel very passionately about.
ReplyDeleteScreenwriter Jonathan Gems allowed us to post his views here which has been Tweeted around the world.
http://www.pleasedsheep.com/forums/topic/9080-jonathan-gems-on-the-abolition-of-the-ukfc/
Best regards,
Michael Booth
These requests will be sent to Barnaby. His comments are based on the below news item from the Evening Standard.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23860093-arts-chiefs-up-in-arms-over-scrapping-of-film-council.do
Arts chiefs up in arms over scrapping of Film Council
Pippa Crerar, City Hall Editor
26.07.10
THE Government axed dozens of quangos today as it abolished the UK Film Council, merged UK Sport and Sport England, and halved the number of health bodies.
Arts chiefs reacted with fury and claimed they were hardest hit. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who needs to find savings of up to 40 per cent in his department's budget, announced plans to abolish or merge 55 public bodies to cut costs.
He was immediately accused of "short-term thinking and political expediency" by arts bosses.
His plans to scrap the UK Film Council and hand over its role in developing movies to the British Film Institute attracted particular criticism.
Director Ken Loach called the move "an ideological one", adding: "The UK Film Council was essentially the equivalent of a research and development department. In cutting it, it is destructive to our emerging young talent. There is no other organisation that could invest in the future as it did."
Tim Bevan, chairman of the UK Film Council, said: "Abolishing the most successful film support organisation the UK has ever had is a bad decision, imposed without any consultation or evaluation.
"People will rightly look back on today's announcement and say it was a big mistake, driven by short-term thinking and political expediency. British film, one of the UK's more successful growth industries, deserves better."
Mr Hunt insisted government and Lottery support for the British film industry, which has just had its most profitable ever year, would continue.
He announced plans to abolish the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, scrap advisory groups on libraries and historic wreck sites and merge the National Lottery Commission and the Gambling Commission. The status and role of Visit England and Visit Britain could change.
Mr Hunt confirmed the merger of UK Sport, which supports stars such as the British Olympic team, and Sport England, which funds grassroots sports. "Many of these bodies were set up a considerable length of time ago, and times and demands have changed," he said.
Shadow culture secretary Ben Bradshaw said: "We were already streamlining and reducing the number of quangos but, like so much of what this Government is doing, this appears hasty, ill-thought through and incoherent."
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley slashed the number of health quangos from 18 to nine to deliver savings of more than £180 million.
We are very proud to announce that you can now watch full length independent feature films and documentaries on the new Renderyard Free Video On Demand web page at http://renderyard.com
ReplyDeleteWe support the filmmakers by providing a unique film viewing platform for the films to be watched by the global indie film community. Whats more the films are also featured on the home page of Dailymotion and receive a limited weekend promotion that gets them seen by millions of viewers around the world. Filmmakers also make money from each film view they receive. We have a collection of over ten great films and we will be adding and screening new film each month. If you have a feature length film that you would like to add to our platform please contact us with a link to your trailer.
This month sees the release of Mancattan a comedy feature film homage to Woody Allen and the city of Manchester. By watching this film you will also be helping two fantastic charities (The Glossop Mountain Rescue Team and Neurofibramatosis UK)
Renderyard started the feature film promotional system last October and gave Diary Of A Bad Lad its global online premiere getting it seen by over 185,000 viewers in under a week and making it the 4th most watched film on Dailymotion since it was launch as a video platform that is one of the largest in the world after You Tube. Renderyard has been supporting Independent filmmakers in the UK and abroad for over 6 years and platforms such as ours will continue to be even more important to the film making community now the UKFC is to close. Working together with other groups such as Future Artists and Pleased Sheep and Dailymotion we are all able to achieve impossible possible and get your films seen by the people that matter which is the global film loving audience.
Watch Free Independent Feature Films & Documentary Films Each Month http://renderyard.com