Pragmatic PACT Looks At Life After UK Film Council

Following the government's broadly (but not universally) unpopular decision to scrap the UK Film Council, indie trade body PACT has outlined its own vision of how public support for film should work.

Arguing that "how we invest in film is more important than which organisation invests", PACT says the distribution of National Lottery funding for film and the administration of the tax credit should go to existing public bodies, such as the BFI. In addition, it argues that it is "just as important to ensure that this funding is used more effectively to foster a sustainable British film industry that can attract private capital, create jobs and exports, and reinvest into films".

PACT says there are three crucial functions of the UK Film Council: the administration of the tax credit, encouraging inward production and the distribution of National Lottery funds into development and production of British films. It says the tax credit should return to a Government department, such as the DCMS and that the National Lottery investment in development and production should be administered by film-experienced fund heads. PACT feels that the BFI’s position as a respected figurehead for film culture make it an obvious candidate for such a role.

Furthermore, PACT says that, to facilitate big budget Hollywood films shooting in the UK, the role of the British Film Commissioner should be incorporated into an existing Government department or offshoot, as was the case before the UK Film Council took it over. "These three core functions for development and production can and should be carried out with minimal administration costs as part of existing bodies," says PACT chief executive John McVay - who has taken a pretty pragmatic line on the dissolution of the UKFC. "But what is just as crucial is that we acknowledge that funding under the Film Council was not helping to grow a sustainable British film industry."

PACT has long argued that British film production companies need to be made more sustainable by allowing them to retain IP ownership and have greater access to revenues from films they create. A summary of its position is set out in the report A New Business Model for UK Film.

More at https://www.pact.co.uk/Homepage/News_archive_results/?ListItemID=326&ListGroupID=1