A Future for British Film

It begins with the audience.

This report  produced by the Government appointed Film Policy Review Panel and Chaired by Lord Smith is proposing a range of recommendations that will directly benefit Independent feature film producers and distributors but only if it is fully implemented.

Launched in May 2011 the Film Policy Review Panel  held an extensive consultation with all aspects of the UK feature film industry. The report published in January this year  contains much of the DNA that was in Pacts previous report “ A New Business Model for Producers “ that was published in March 2010. The mechanics, scope and processes envisaged may be different but the key principle of helping independent producers to access revenues from their films and of rewarding success are writ large in the Film Policy Review Panel's report.

Pact welcomes the proposals such as a new JV fund encouraging producers and distributors to work together , the maintenance of the ( now ) BFI producers recoupment corridor previously agreed with the now defunct UKFC , the requirement that going forward the BFO should not only support the recoupment of the Film Tax Credit as producer equity but that this should recoup pro-rata  pari-parssu with the BFI Lottery Investment  and how we can work with WGGB ( Writers) and DUK ( Directors) to share in revenues from these policies.

Pact worked hard prior to the ending of the UKFC and with the Film Policy Review Panel to explain that little had changed for independent feature film producers over a decade and the top-down policies of the past trying to engineer structures had not achieved the aim of a sustainable indigenous film industry. Too often we have been told  that this is due to a lack of talent or business acumen  when in truth it  has always been about a lack of revenues and working capital.

We await the Government's response to this seminal report and encourage Pact members  to support the report’s recommendations and work with us as we push to make sure that they are adopted and implemented by the BFI in the coming months