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The Film Council.

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The Film Council. The Film Council is the body set up to distribute direct Government subsidies for British film with lottery money and other forms of public support. – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: The Film Council.


1
The Film Council.
  • The Film Council is the body set up to distribute
    direct Government subsidies for British film with
    lottery money and other forms of public support.
    There has been much debate as to what its role
    should be and which films it should fund. Many of
    these arguments are based upon different
    definitions of what exactly a British film is and
    weather or not films funded should be profitable
    as opposed to culturally valuable.

2
Background.
  • The UK Film Council was set up in 2000 to
    centralise the various means of public support
    for film. It took over from the Arts Council that
    had previously been heavily criticised for the
    ways in which it distributed Lottery money to
    filmmakers. Funding targets different aspects of
    the film industry

3
1
  • Development fund Aims to raise the quality of
    screenplays produced

4
2
  • Premiere fund Supports bigger budget films and
    established talent. Recent examples include
    Gosford Park and Sylvia.

5
3
  • New Cinema Fund Supports short and feature
    films aims to encourage diversity in the
    industry, for example The Magdalene Sisters

6
4
  • Regional investment fund for England Supports
    nine regional screen agencies which promote
    filmmaking skills education and understanding on
    a regional level

7
Personnel
  • The current Chairman of the Film Council is
    Stewart Till who was involved with Polygram
    entertainment, and oversaw the marketing and
    distribution of Notting Hill, 4 Weddings, and
    Bean amongst others. The position was formerly
    held by Alan Parker, director of films such as
    Mississippi Burning, Fame, and Evita amongst
    others.Many saw his appointment as symbolic of
    the UK Film Councils bias towards making popular
    genre films for an international market rather
    than the quirky, independent films one would
    normally associate with British Cinema.

8
Business
  • There is much debate as to what the role of the
    Film Council should be. As a source of public
    funding for British film, what kind of film
    should it support? Some argue that it should
    operate like a business, competing within the
    International marketplace and generating revenue
    for the funding of future projects, adopting the
    model of a production company, without taking
    unnecessary risks with public money.

9
Mission Statement
  • John Woodward, chief executive for the Film
    Council made the following comment
  • The 80s are behind us, we do not want to
    finance social realist art films, nor even
    Hollywood scale mega productionsThe film Council
    will help to finance popular films that the
    British public will go and see in the Multiplex
    on Friday night. Films that entertain people and
    make them feel good.

10
Angry Responses
  • Many filmmakers, critics and actors responded to
    this comment with anger including Tilda Swinton
    and Ewan Mcgregor. They argued this kind of
    policy would deny funding to films that do not
    appeal to the mainstream the very kind which
    could not survive without public funding but are
    of cultural and artistic importance. They cited
    examples of films like Trainspotting, The Full
    Monty and East is East as films with a difficult
    subject matter that were commercial and critical
    successes. According to Woodwards policy, these
    films may not have received any funding at all.

11
Money.
  • Some argue that British film shouldnt receive
    any funding at all. Films funded with direct
    Lottery money, prior to the Film Council, were
    financially disastrous. 100 million pounds of
    lottery money was spent on 200 films with a total
    return of only 6m. The films were mostly critical
    failures as well.
  • The Film Council has funded films that have often
    been both commercial and critical successes. 13m
    invested in 20 films between 2000 and 2003
    generated 125m at the box office. Successful film
    repay their investment and help fund future
    projects.

12
Success
  • Successful film funded during this period
    include, Bend it like Becham, Gosford Park, The
    Magdalene Sisters, 24 Hour Party People, and the
    Importance of Being Earnest. This group of films
    feature a combination of established and new
    directors, British and American personnel and
    reflect a range of style and subject matter. The
    films often deal with exactly the difficult
    themes that critics had argued would be ignored

13
Summary
  • Debates about the role of the film council
    revolve around definitions of what a British film
    is, should be and weather Financial returns are
    more important than artistic and cultural
    contributions. Whatever one may think, it is hard
    to deny the fact that the Film Council has been
    successful, and that through its success at the
    Box Office, has been funding more and more
    British productions. The question is weather they
    are overlooking the projects that do not promise
    financial returns.
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