One of the stated aims of the UK Film council’s policy document for the period from April 2010 to March 2013: UK Film: Digital Innovation and Creative Excellence, is that at least 25% on funding will go to “non-London originated film production” – which is perhaps as much as a fourfold increase on current levels. But what exactly does this mean?
In the first place the overwhelming majority of UKFC funding is spent in London and the South-East; so things could, in fact, remain pretty much the same: 75% for London, maybe 20% for the South-East, and the same pittance for the rest of the UK.
But let’s assume for once that this isn’t another of the UKFC’s cynical exercises in moving the goal posts, it’s still worth considering what it adds up to.
Maybe 16% of the population of the population lives in London – so it’s 75% for them. The rest of us, some 84% get a quarter. Now if you work the maths out it means that, on a per capita basis, Londoners will still get some 15x more than the rest of us.
Looked at that way it obviously is another one of their exercises in re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic….
Tags: British Films, film studies, film-funding, Media Studies, UK Film Council
