Wednesday 11
January 2012
Colin Firth shows off his best actor award for The
King's Speech at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles last February. In all, the
British film won four Oscars. Photograph: Ian West/PA
David
Cameron will urge the British film
industry on Wednesday to make more films with mainstream
appeal.
During a
visit to Pinewood studios in west London, the prime minister will meet small
and medium businesses in the £4.2bn UK film industry, and suggest he supports
the expected findings of a review that aims to rebalance the industry's national
lottery funding in favour of supporting independent
pictures that have mainstream potential. Successful film companies would
receive greater support, rather than government funding going to unproven
film-makers.
Announcing
the review in May 2011, arts minister Ed
Vaizey said the industry was "still not as profitable
as it should be for British film-makers".
The review
is led by former culture minister Lord Chris Smith with eight industry experts
including Downton Abbey creator Julian
Fellowes, and is expected to report next week. In its
recommendations is thought to be a proposal that lottery funding support more
mainstream films with a view to ensuring such companies becoming a commercial
success. While there may also be support for what sources call "culturally
rewarding films", the critics will question whether any body can guess
which films may go on to find big audiences.
The
government believes that if film companies can grow larger they have greater
clout.
In 2010 the
UK film industry brought in more than £1bn of production investment from
overseas. The King's Speech, released last year, was the highest grossing
independent British film and was awarded four Oscars. Between January and
October, British films topped the box office charts for a total of 20 weeks.
The review
is also expected to call for the British Film Institute to develop an export
strategy to raise the profitability of the British film industry.
Cameron will
say: "Our role, and that of the BFI, should be to support the sector in becoming even more dynamic and
entrepreneurial, helping UK producers to make commercially successful pictures
that rival the quality and impact of the best international productions.
"Just
as the British Film Commission has played a crucial role in attracting the
biggest and best international studios to produce their films here, so we must
incentivise UK producers to chase new markets both here and overseas."
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