There has been an outcry from filmmakers on the news released on Monday 26 July that the UK Film Council is to be abolished as part of a cost-cutting drive by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
Instead Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he aims to establish a “direct and less bureaucratic relationship with the British Film Institute”.
John Woodward, CEO of the UK Film Council, told staff on Monday morning of the plan to scrap the UK Film Council.
Responding to the announcement by the DCMS, Tim Bevan CBE, Chairman of the UK Film Council, said:
“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.’
The UK Film Council was founded in 2000 under the Labour government to develop and promote the British film industry. It had an annual budget of £15m to invest in British films and employed 75 people.
Funded by the National Lottery, it channelled about £160m into more than 900 films over the last 10 years, including such commercial successes as Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold), In The Loop (Armando Iannucci), Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh), This Is England (Shane Meadows) and The Constant Gardener (Fernando Meirelles).
Other initiatives included the Digital Screen Network, which invested in 240 digital cinema screens across the UK giving the UK more digital cinemas than any other European country.
Bevan said that it was a priority now “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.’ He said the film body would work with the DCMS in the coming months “to identify how they can guarantee both continuity and a safe harbour for British film’.
The UK Film Council is one of 55 public bodies, which are facing closure in accordance with the government commitment to increase “the transparency and accountability of its public bodies, while at the same time reducing their number and cost”.
