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TV firms told to back UK film - BBC

The movie 28 Days Later was a rare British hit
TV firms should spend more money supporting and promoting the British film industry if it is to compete in the global market, a group of MPs has said.
The MPs, sitting on the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, particularly called on the BBC to invest more in British film.

The committee's report into the UK film industry also said tax breaks introduced to encourage British film-making should be kept in place.

Film such as Bend it Like Beckham and 28 Days Later were used as examples of British movies that have pulled in big audiences, bucking the trend of the majority which fail to secure cinema releases.

The report said just 3% of films shown on terrestrial channels were British movies made in the past eight years.

The MPs said: "We would like to see increased levels of support for film production and exhibition of British product from the public service broadcasters."


Lord Attenborough has backed tax breaks
They also pointed the finger at BBC director general Greg Dyke, accusing him of being "almost cursory about the BBC's approach to investment in British films", and that the corporation did not have a strategy for supporting the industry.

'High quality'

Committee chairman Gerald Kaufman said: "We're not implying for a moment that the BBC's prime activity should be the making of cinema films and support for the film industry, but at the same time the BBC does have some record of making films of high quality, like Mrs Brown.

"We're worried that record is not going to be continued in the same way.

"We would like them to have a co-ordinated, structured approach in the same way Channel 4 did with FilmFour."

The committee also called on BSkyB to consider supporting British film "as a wide long-term investment in content which must be in that company's interests".

Committee member Frank Doran said broadcasters had a "pretty appalling record" on financing and screening British films.

He said there was "a lack of strategy anywhere in broadcasting" and he questioned why "endless third rate American imports" were screened on TV.

"Why not second and first rate British movies? It all comes down to costs and that's very depressing," he said.

Tax breaks

The report also said the government should continue to provide tax relief.

A leading proponent of tax breaks is Lord Attenborough, who recently said hit films such as Billy Elliot and Notting Hill would not get made if they were lost.

The report said: "It was absolutely clear to us that the current system of tax reliefs, while not solving the industry's problems, was of indispensable importance in maintaining a healthy through-put of large productions from overseas (with clear advantages for the domestic industry) and of equal importance in promoting a critical mass of indigenous film-making."