Camera Ready: UK film industry hits a five-year high

Recent statistics published by the UK Film Council show that total UK spend value for the first half of 2009 was £535.1 million – indicating a level of production activity not seen since 2004.

Of that £535.1 million total, £436.2 million was accounted for by inward investment films such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1), Clash of the Titans (both Warner Bros) and Gulliver’s Travels (20th Century Fox). These figures build on a strong 2008 for the UK film industry.

Last year, The Dark Knight (Warner Bros) was the best performing UK qualifying film at the worldwide box office, earning almost $1 billion; while in Europe the top British film was the UK/USA production Mamma Mia! (distributed by Universal), which attracted more than 34 million admissions.

The healthy return of inward investment and the increase in the number of indigenous productions in the first half of 2009 show the underlying health of the British film industry

John Woodward

CEO

UK Film Council

“The healthy return of inward investment and the increase in the number of indigenous productions in the first half of 2009 show the underlying health of the British film industry,” says John Woodward, Chief Executive Officer of the UK Film Council.

Film Minister Siôn Simon agrees: “It should be clear to anyone from recent awards and box office successes that we are in the middle of a bumper time for British film, and (this) remarkably buoyant set of statistics is clear evidence of that. We should all be proud of how well UK film is doing on the domestic and world stage at the moment; but the greatest credit should of course go to the production and acting talent that make this possible.”

Colin Brown is British Film Commissioner at the UK Film Council, and works to ensure that the UK remains an attractive place for US producers and studios to make movies. He points to a recent inward investment success - Gulliver’s Travels, from 20th Century Fox – as an example of the British film industry’s pulling power.

Electric mobility

He says: “Gulliver’s Travels is a film that from inception to completion made a chunky contribution to UK inward investment. In recent years 20th Century Fox has opted to film in Canada. However, after discussions with their Head of Production we gave the script to a UK line producer who got a budget together which impressed Fox so much they decided to bring the production to the UK. A Fox executive was in the UK on a familiarisation trip, and was able to vouch for our skills, infrastructure and general suitability. Plus, London is an attractive destination for above the line stars - as Jack Black discovered when he came here to start making the film. London is a major world capital and a very attractive place to work. And of course, locations-wise, the UK can provide every kind of backdrop from cityscapes, countryside and coast to castles and stately homes.”

[…] California may be the centre of the movie-making world, it doesn’t offer a tax break. Plus the UK has fantastic craft skills

Colin Brown

British Film Commissioner

UK Film Council

American producers are also attracted to the UK as a film base because of the current favourable exchange rate and uncapped tax relief.

For films costing up to £20 million, producers can claim an enhanced deduction of 100% with a payable cash element of 25% of UK qualifying film production expenditure (defined as ‘expenditure incurred on filming activities - pre-production, principal photography and post-production - which take place within the UK, irrespective of the nationality of the persons carrying out the activity’).

For films costing over £20 million, producers can claim an enhanced deduction of 80% with a payable cash element of 20% of UK qualifying film production expenditure.

Brown states: “One senior executive at a major studio told me that it would be fiscally irresponsible of him to make a film in a jurisdiction where there was no tax break – and while California may be the centre of the movie-making world, it doesn’t offer a tax break. Plus the UK has fantastic craft skills. The quality of the talent in the UK is second-to-none in areas such as picture editing, sound editing, assistant direction and line production. Our in-front-of-camera talent is world renowned. The British acting tradition is the stage where actors have one chance to get it right – so they hit their marks and know their lines. For filmmakers, working with British actors is a bonus on so many levels, not least their ability to continuously deliver award-winning performances. Then there’s our unsung glory: the world-beating talent of our visual effects organisations. At present, audiences want a rollercoaster ride of exciting visual effects in the movies and we have the world’s best visual effects people working in the UK. It’s something we should cherish and nurture.”

Future inward investment in the British film industry is looking promising, including from John Carter of Mars (Walt Disney Pictures), which is about to go into production and will be one of the biggest movies ever made in the UK; the next two Harry Potter movies; and the second half of 2009 sees filming on Warner Bros’ Inception, Universal’s Your Highness, HBO/BBC’s The Special Relationship, and Focus Features/Film Four’s The Eagle of the Ninth.

Brown adds: “The amount of investment that goes into a blockbuster is huge – towards $200 million. There’s a conscious aim by studios to maximise that over two or three movies - which means that, if they have a good shooting experience, they’ll come back for more to make sequels. We have a really good combination of factors which positively encourage US filmmakers to come to the UK and use the skills and facilities we have here. We’re getting the benefit in terms of jobs, money and investment. There’s a lot to be optimistic about.…”