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.
  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.

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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

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1

• Development fund Aims to raise the quality of
  screenplays produced

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2

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

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3

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

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4

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.