1 of 1

Write now Article Tools

According to the Film Council's own statistics film production in Britain fell by 30 per cent to 800 million as the number of indigenous films that started shooting in the country dropped from 45 the previous year, to 27.' (Hopkins, 2005) Hopkins sees the problem as Labour's move to stop tax breaks that encourage foreign investment in British films.
Britain's film industry last night gave warning that it will suffer a severe fall in income this year because of confusion over lucrative tax breaks that persuaded Hollywood studios to spend almost 500 million in the UK last year.'

(ibid.)

Britain will become a no go area for filmmakers' said executive producer Russ Smith (BBC Online, 2004) The issue is not the government's initiatives to support indigenous films through Lottery Funds and the Film Council, indeed contrary to popular opinion, ploughing money into the production side of British cinema is not and never has been the main problem' (Wayne, 2002. pg 9) but largely the need for American investment, meaning such measures that discourage such investment are largely unhelpful to the industry.

British film as the British Film Institute (BFI) define it deriving its cultural and financial impetus from Britain' (Beckett, 2001) is one that simply does not guarantee success on a financial level seen in such examples as Stephen Poliakoff's Food of Love' making only 1507 at the box office having cost 2.1 million. (imdb.com, 2005) The government's initiatives via the Lottery fund only recouped 20% of its funding between 2001 and 2004 (BBC Online, 2004) because as Working Title's co-chairman Tim Bevan sees it The contemporary British condition is just boring for a mainstream audience' (Beckett, 2001) However, as this suggests that Britons simply do not want to see films about their country it is interesting that such successful British films as The Full Monty' and East Is East' have exampled the possibility of breaking this trend. The key to their success it seems lies in their distribution, as The Full Monty' received full backing from 20th Century Fox, and Film Four used a very expensive advertising campaign to promote East Is East'. (Wayne, 2002. Pg 10) Comparatively, Brassed Off', a film similar in plot and aesthetic to The Full Monty' did not receive strong U.S backing or well-funded British promotion and was financially unsuccessful. The quality of the three films is largely subjective but all are regarded as good British films (all received critical praise

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about The effect on the British Film industry of American investment since 1945?
We want to hear your view. Write now!