creative industries

The report identified the key weakness of the UK film industry: the lack of a distribution infrastructure, so that although we produce good films we often do not reap the full commercial benefits.

 

The report therefore set out measures for the long-term - to help robust commercial structures to develop, so that we have a self-sustaining industry - and for the short-term - to improve the ability of our films to compete in the market.

 

As a result of the report the following were established:

 

 

 

 

To deliver a coherent strategy for the development of film culture and the film industry, derived from rationalising Government support for film.

 

The British Film Office, Los Angeles
To provide an information service for makers of feature films, television programmes and commercials interested in bringing their project to the United Kingdom.

 

The Film Education Working Group
The Film Education Working Group was co-ordinated by the British Film Institute (BFI). Its report, "Making Movies Matter" launched in May 1999, and included strategic recommendations on how to broaden the audience for film in the UK. The report calls upon education policy-makers to change their attitudes to the moving image, stressing the need to recognise that critical and creative moving image skills will be a key element of literacy in the 21st Century.

 

New Technologies
Together with the Film Council we have commissioned a report from Screen Digest to look at the implications of digital technologies for all parts of the film chain, from production through to distribution and exhibition.

 

The Skills Investment Fund
A national training strategy funded by voluntary contributions from film productions. The Producers' Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT), the Motion Picture Association of America the major broadcasters and the trade union BECTU have all pledged their support to this scheme, administered by the national training organisation, Skillset.

 

Departmental support for the film industry is mainly channelled through the Film Council, but we also fund the National Film and Television School, which is the leading centre for graduates who want to work in film and television production. It is joint-funded by the Government, and the film, tv and video industries.

 

To make our support for film more co-ordinated and effective, it was decided that control of the Film Department of Arts Council England, the Production Department of the British Film Institute and the British Film Commission should be transferred to the Film Council.

 

Although the British Film Commission is now part of the Film Council it has retained its identity, and aims to attract international film production in the UK by encouraging foreign producers to use UK studios, facilities, expertise, personnel and locations.

The British Film Institute remains a national body, set up to promote knowledge, understanding and development of the art of film and TV in the UK. It is now funded by the Film Council, and will work with the Council to help it meet its cultural objectives.

 

In addition the Film Council has taken control of British Screen Finance and the European Co-production Fund, both of which were formerly funded by the Government.