Author:  Robert Jones President, Material Entertainment, Jenny Borgars Head of the Development Fund, UK Film Council

Overview of the Work of the UK Film Council

The UK Film Council is the strategic body for film in the UK and provides an interface between the industry and the Government. The creation of the UK Film Council in 2000 brought together all of the support mechanisms for film production (bfi Production, British Screen Finance, Arts Council Lottery funding, regional production funds) under one roof and put decision making into the hands of individuals not committees. It also brought under the same roof responsibility for the British Film Commission and funding of the British Film Institute. The UK Film Council has two overarching aims of equal importance: (1) to help create a sustainable UK film industry and (2) to develop film culture by improving access to, and education about, the moving image culture.

Different departments within the Film Council look after the following areas: training, development, production (split between the Premiere Fund and New Cinema Fund), distribution and exhibition, the regions, international development and export promotion, and research and statistics.

In practice, there is a great deal of interaction between the departments to co-ordinate their efforts as effectively as possible. Including the three National Lottery franchises, the UK Film Council has committed production funds to thirty films in the past year.

The Development Fund

The UK Film Council's Development Fund is the biggest of its kind in Europe with £15 million available over the next three years. Their aim is to develop films which can be successful commercially whilst also being positively received by the critics. The UK Film Council currently has 100 films in development. Their normal terms are to take 50% of the copyright in any project that they develop. Projects often pass from the Development Fund to one of the Film Council's production funds, but this is not an exclusive relationship and they can take projects elsewhere. Given the length of time taken by the development and production process, it is too early yet to say how successful their early projects have been - they expect to be able to assess their impact in years four and five of the fund.

The Development Fund also supports 20 slate deals with production companies to help them develop their projects and businesses. These three year deals range from around £50 thousand a year to £250,000, and involve a range of producers from the experienced to the relatively new. The slate deals are reviewed each year and the level of funding may be increased, reduced or stopped altogether. The deals are intended to cover direct expenditure on developing specific projects and some part of the producers' overheads. Although the UK Film Council tries to take as light a touch as possible with these companies, they are not allowed, under National Lottery distribution rules, to delegate funding decisions entirely and have to have some involvement in projects on the companies' individual decisions.

New Cinema Fund

The New Cinema Fund also has £15 million to spend over three years. The aims of the fund are to: identify and support new talent using a variety of schemes, invest in films that would not otherwise get off the ground and support new and cutting edge filmmakers working across all genres. The fund has a strong commitment to supporting work from the English regions and to stimulating diversity.

The fund generally works with films that have budgets below £3.5 million. They also operate an initiative to identify new talent through funding 100 short films a year and created the World Documentary Fund with the BBC and the National Film Board of Canada through which they fully fund up to four feature documentaries a year.

The level of budgetary contribution is decided on a project by project basis, but they do stipulate that each project needs to have a UK theatrical distributor and sales agent in place. They currently receive around 300 applications a year and finance approximately 10-12 films per year. Applications are turned around in a maximum of four weeks so that people are not left hanging around waiting for the outcome of their application.

The New Cinema Fund sometimes liaises with the Development Fund to make sure that projects are properly developed before they go into production. They will also send directors on specific training courses to boost their skills and proficiency if they feel that this will help the project and run a pilot scheme.

Premiere Fund

The Premiere Fund is designed for those films that have a chance of making a dent in the market - they aim to help such films to find their audience. The fund has £30 million available over three years. There are no upper or lower budget limits set on the films that they will get involved in, but in practice, they are unlikely to support a film with a budget of more than $40 million. They are happy to work with partners in Europe and around the world (the UK Film Council employs a European executive to work across development and the two production funds) and can co-fund with pretty well anyone in the UK apart from the Lottery franchises.

The fund generally takes an equity stake in the films they support and look to recoup as much of their investment as possible. They will not usually invest in films that do not have UK distribution.

They will support projects across all genres provided they feel that there is a market for the film. They still receive too many drama applications, which tend to be difficult to sell theatrically, and too few films based on straightforward, big ideas that will appeal to a wide audience at home and abroad. The British films that tend to work best are those that do things that Hollywood cannot do and retain a British or European sensibility. The Relph Report looks at ways that lower budget films can be produced cost-effectively in the UK.

Distribution and Exhibition

A number of initiatives have now been developed for the specialised (ie non-mainstream)distribution and exhibition sector supported by £18 million and these comprise:

a capital fund for the creation of a 'digital screen network' using high-specification digital equipment for the wider exhibition of specialised film in all types of cinemas across the UK
• a Specialised Prints and Advertising (P&A) Fund to support the wider release and exploitation of specialised films
• a UK Film Distribution Programme to underwrite the wider release of new British films with significant commercial potential
• a fund for a pilot project in cinemas providing equipment to project soft-titles onto regular screening prints for the benefit of people with hearing impairments, equipment to transmit on-screen action descriptions for people with visual impairments, support for the production of more subtitled copies of films on limited release and a research fund to assess future needs and requirements of cinema goers with sensory impairments
• a fund for digital equipment for film societies and mobile cinema operators to increase access to films in rural and remote geographical areas
• a fund for small-scale capital building and renovation Projects
• a fund for educational activities aimed at improving knowledge and appreciation of film and cinema

There is a structural weakness in the British film industry in that the production process is too far removed from distribution/marketing and the audience. It is vital that producers understand their market and have a clear idea about who is going to see their films. The UK Film Council's interventions into distribution and exhibition can only do so much to make non-mainstream cinema more accessible - the onus rests on the production community to make sure that they know what is the audience for their films and ensure that they are marketed accordingly.

Top Tips

• The UK Film Council is the strategic body for film in the UK and provides an interface between the industry and the Government. It brings together responsibility for all the national funding streams for film under one roof.
• The aim of the Development Fund is to develop films which can be both critically and commercially successful.
• The New Cinema Fund aims to support new filmmakers, established auteurs and diversity, across all genres including documentary.
• The Premiere Fund is designed to help films with commercial potential to reach their audience. The British films that tend to work best are those that do things that Hollywood cannot do and retain a British or European sensibility.
• The UK Film Council's interventions into distribution and exhibition aim to make non-mainstream cinema more accessible - but the onus rests on producers to understand their audience.