{"id":14052,"date":"2012-01-19T23:24:09","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T23:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=14052"},"modified":"2012-02-12T12:34:10","modified_gmt":"2012-02-12T12:34:10","slug":"the-future-of-uk-film-initial-reaction-future-british","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2012\/01\/19\/the-future-of-uk-film-initial-reaction-future-british\/","title":{"rendered":"British Film 2012: DCMS Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The publication of a recent policy report<\/a> into the UK film industry sparked kneejerk headlines but is actually a detailed blue print for the future.<\/p>\n

This post is a general introduction to the report which was titled A Future for British Film: It Begins With the Audience<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It will explore who was involved in it and the wider context of British film as it stands in 2012.<\/p>\n

But it will also be the first of several dedicated ones around the different sections, which break down into the following areas: growing the audiences of today and tomorrow, the digital revolution, exhibition, how films are developed and distributed, the role of major UK broadcasters, international strategies, skills and talent development, our screen heritage, research and knowledge and the expanded role of the BFI after the closure of the UK film council.<\/p>\n

Aside from \u201cwhat is your favourite film?\u201d amongst the questions I am most frequently asked is:<\/p>\n

\u201cwhat is the state of the British film industry?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or:<\/p>\n

\u201cHas it been a good year for British films?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At this point I try to gauge whether or not they are actually interested in the state of UK film or more concerned about whether British actors are going to win an Oscar.<\/p>\n

But if they are serious it remains a question that deals with the complex\u00a0interplay between art, commerce and business.<\/p>\n

However, there is no doubt in my mind that historically as a culture the British have tended to favour theatre (going back to Shakespeare) and television (which still dominates pop culture in this country).<\/p>\n

Attitudes have changed since the advent of home video in the 1980s and a generation who have had access to DVD and YouTube, but there still lingers a sense that film is somehow inferior or less respectable.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to say British audiences dislike it as a medium but if you compare this country to the US or France, cinema is embedded in their cultural DNA in a way that it hasn’t been in the UK.<\/p>\n

Even now, releases tend to be viewed through the prism of low-brow (\u201cHollywood blockbusters\u201d) or high-brow releases (\u201cArt house\u201d).<\/p>\n

Media coverage of this very report repeated a lot of the old line about \u201ccommercial\u201d vs \u201cobscure\u201d and whilst these distinctions do exist they actually reveal a lot more about deeper cultural divisions in the UK.<\/p>\n

This is then fuelled by mainstream media coverage that can often focus on the trivial (e.g. celebrity gossip or obsession with the BBFC certificate) over the substantial.<\/p>\n

It doesn’t help that the very term \u201cBritish film\u201d can be a slippery one, which is why I wrote about the three types of British film<\/a> back in September:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Home grown productions<\/strong> financed by British companies (e.g. Slumdog Millionaire)<\/li>\n
  2. International co-productions<\/strong> financed from two or more countries (e.g. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)<\/li>\n
  3. Iconic franchises<\/strong> which are essentially funded by US studios (Harry Potter, James Bond).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Often the media coverage gets a little over the top when quality British films either win awards (Chariots of Fire, The King\u2019s Speech) or flop badly (Sex Lives of the Potato Men and Lesbian Vampire Killers).<\/p>\n

    That is because UK films are to varying degrees reliant on public money and this creates extremes of opinion: it seems every year there is an article in which British films are utter crap or totally brilliant.<\/p>\n

    This is accentuated around awards time, when Oscar success is unhealthily equated with the overall state of the wider industry.<\/p>\n

    Which is why this report is so interesting.<\/p>\n

    It is probably the most in-depth look at the British film industry in well over a decade and is actually backed up by research, hard data and facts.<\/p>\n

    Not that you would know this from some of the initial reports in the mainstream media.<\/p>\n

    INITIAL MEDIA REACTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The immediate headlines that pre-empted the actual publication were along the lines of BBC News: “UK films urged to be more ‘mainstream’ in new report”<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    So before many people had even read it, the general media framing of the argument was ‘Cameron wants British films to rival Hollywood<\/a>‘ or about the danger of losing our recent art house success<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    There were more measured and insightful pieces<\/a> by the likes of Maggie Brown in The Guardian, an experienced media reporter who probably had taken the time to read the whole thing.<\/p>\n

    Main UK industry publication Screen International reflected a range of views with key UK organisations<\/a>, such as the FDA<\/a>, PACT<\/a> and Film4<\/a> mostly giving a positive response (I suspect this was because they had been listened to in the consultation process).<\/p>\n

    Of course it was a canny, if questionable, political tactic of Cameron’s spin doctors to leak the review with the angle of “PM wants more successful films” because what director, producer or exhibitor could disagree with that line?<\/p>\n

    They were hardly going to say they wanted failures.<\/p>\n

    There was a lot of instant reaction on Twitter<\/a> (hashtag: #FilmPolicyReview<\/a>) but the whole report was pretty long, so instead of just regurgitating media angles I thought I’d read all 37,708 words and comment on the bits that stood out.<\/p>\n

    N.B. It is available as a Word Document<\/a> or PDF file<\/a> on the DCMS website<\/a> \u2013 I would strongly suggest you read it if you are in any way involved with the industry.<\/p>\n

    BACKGROUND<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Back in May, the coalition announced that former Culture Secretary Chris Smith<\/a> would head a panel of eight film industry experts to review the Government\u2019s film policy.<\/p>\n

    This came in the wake of the closure of the UK Film Council<\/a> and questions over public finances during a recession.<\/p>\n

    Their broad remit with the report was the following:<\/p>\n