
The UK Film Council is to be axed as part of a cost-cutting drive by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), it has been announced.
The organisation, founded in 2000, had an annual budget of £15m to invest in British films and employed 75 people.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he wanted to establish a “direct and less bureaucratic relationship with the British Film Institute”.
UK Film Council chairman Tim Bevan called it “a bad decision”.
He said the announcement was “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,” he said.
The DCMS said film funding would continue but would be distributed through other bodies.
Current lottery funding for film is £26 million per year. This is expected to increase to £32 million after 2012.
Direct government funding, currently about £25m a year, is being considered as part of the ongoing spending review.
In a statement, the DCMS said it was “clear that culture and creative industries will not be singled out as a soft target, and that the government will champion the value they bring”.
Digital screens
The Film Council was set up by the Labour government to develop and promote the British film industry.
Funded by the National Lottery, it channelled about £160m into more than 900 films over the last 10 years, including Bend It Like Beckham, The Last King of Scotland and Streetdance 3D.
Other initiatives included the Digital Screen Network, which invested in 240 digital cinema screens across the UK – meaning the UK now has more digital cinemas than any other European country.
In a letter to the British film industry, John Woodward, Chief Executive of the Film Council, said he had been informed that “the target is to have the organisation totally closed down with its assets and its remaining operations transferred out by April 2012″.
“That does, at least, give us time to honour our current commitments,” he added.
Mr Hunt said 16 public bodies, including the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) would lose their funding as the government committed to “increasing the transparency and accountability of its public bodies, while at the same time reducing their number and cost”.
“Many of these bodies were set up a considerable length of time ago, and times and demands have changed,” he added.
“The changes I have proposed today would help us deliver fantastic culture, media and sport, while ensuring value for money for the public and transparency about where taxpayers’ money is spent.”
Shadow Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw has accused the government cuts of being “hasty, ill thought-though and incoherent.”
He added: “The UK fllm industry has just had its best year ever, earning millions for our country, but the Government is axing the UK Film Council without saying what or who will do its important work.”
The MLA is also to be wound up by 2012, in order to “focus efforts on front-line, essential services and ensure greater value for money”.
Responding to the announcement, chairman Sir Andrew Motion and chief executive Roy Clare have pledged to “continue to deliver a vibrant and effective expert service for the public who rightly expect excellent, sustainable museums, libraries and record offices in their local neighbourhoods.
“Stormy seas call for cool heads and steady hands,” they added.
Selected films funded by the UK Film Council
- The Last King of Scotland
- Vera Drake
- Fishtank
- Bend It Like Beckham
- In The Loop
- Nowhere Boy
- Gosford Park
- The Constant Gardener
- Vera Drake
- This is England
- Man on Wire
- Streetdance 3D
- Tamara Drewe
Figures from the British film industry have given their reaction to the government’s decision to scrap the UK Film Council.
Tim Bevan, Chairman of the UK Film Council
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, which is one of the UK’s more successful growth industries, deserves better.
Our immediate priority now is to press the government to confirm that the funding levels and core functions that are needed to underpin British film are locked-in, especially at a time when filmmakers and film companies need more support than ever as they make the challenging transition into the digital age. To that end, we will work with the DCMS over the summer to identify how they can guarantee both continuity and safe harbour for British film.
Ben Bradshaw, Shadow Culture Minister
The Labour government was already streamlining and reducing the number of quangos, but, like so much of what this government is doing, this appears hasty, ill thought-though and incoherent.
For example, the UK film industry has just had its best year ever, earning millions for our country, but the government is axing the UK Film Council without saying what or who will do its important work.
Chris Atkins, documentary film-maker
UK FILM COUNCIL ABOLISHED! Fabulous day! I wonder what 70 incompetent overpaid bureaucrats are going to do? I could use a couple of runners.
[It had] far more misses than hits. Funded Sex Lives Of Potato Men, U2 3D, 4321, Rolling Stones, St Trinian’s, I could go on… (via Twitter)
Lord Puttnam, President, Film Distributors’ Association
Today’s announcement proposing the abolition of the UK Film Council, which would appear to have come out of the blue, will take some time to digest fully.
Over the past decade, the Film Council has been a layer of strategic glue that’s helped bind the many parts of our disparate industry together. It is sure to be widely missed, not least because the UK cinema industry is in the midst of a fundamental transformation at the heart of which is digital roll-out.
On the welcome premise that government and lottery support for film will continue, I look forward to discussing ways in which a new, coherent plan for film can be developed and implemented to benefit audiences throughout the UK
Mike Goodridge, editor Screen International
It is a stunning blind side and a shocking blow. It feels like a terrible betrayal of the industry. The UK Film Council has done a good job of slimming itself down so it is a disturbing day.
The UK Film Council has spent the last 10 years establishing the value of film to the economy and this feels like a dismantling of that by the government.
Abolishing the UK Film Council means there is no coherent funding strategy and it leaves an industry at sea for the next six months. How will funding continue without the structure and how much money will be available? Is the government talking about cutting funding as well?
The UK Film Council does a lot more than just distributing funding. It has done a lot for expanding the distribution of of British films and the advancement of new platforms. It has been a big supporter of digital cinema.
This decision is a shock to everyone at the Film Council, it feels like a political manoeuvre and does not show commitment to the film industry by the British government.
Daniel Barber, film director, Harry Brown
I think this decision is a retrograde step, but then I think there hasn’t been a great history in this country of helping British filmmakers make films.
Successive governments don’t seem to have thrown themselves behind the industry in any significant way. They may like the glamour of it, and hanging out with the stars at parties, but for a filmmaker to get the money to make actually make a film is very difficult. The UK Film Council is one place for young filmmakers to go to and get support, and if this decision means that support is going to disappear then I think it is real blow to film in this country.
Harry Brown was my first feature, and the funding I received from the UK Film Council really helped us get the rest of the investment we needed. As an artist, this decision doesn’t fill me with belief that the government is keen to back the UK film industry.