DB7

John Plunkett
MediaGuardian
Tuesday September 14, 2004

The BBC has come under attack for spending less than £10m on buying British films - out of a total movie budget of more than £70m.

Film-makers today accused the corporation of being biased in favour of US movies over homegrown releases. In the last financial year, out of 912 films shown on BBC1 and BBC2 only 180 of them were British, of which two-thirds were more than 25 years old.

"It has become a self-fulfilling prophecy," said John McVay, the chief executive of Pact, the trade body for independent producers.

"The BBC says it would love to show a great British film at 9pm, but can't find the talent to make it. But we are not going to find that talent if we are not investing in it. The BBC has to be called to task on that.

"At this year's Edinburgh TV festival, Mark Thompson acknowledged US films should play a limited part in the BBC's schedules. We wholeheartedly agree with this view and urge the BBC to balance its feature film expenditure by increasing its support for the British film industry."

Producers are also calling on the BBC to increase its funding of British feature films through its BBC Films arm, run by Alan Yentob. The corporation spent around £10m on UK film investment in the year to April 2004 - less than 0.4% of its licence fee income.

Mr McVay, who was addressing a committee of MPs chaired by Gerald Kaufman, also reiterated Pact's demand that the BBC's in-house productions should be limited to 50% of its TV output, with 25% reserved for independent production companies and the rest open to all.

"What we are concerned about is the BBC making great programmes for the licence fee payer," he said. "I don't see how you can say that if you are always giving 70% of your programmes to in-house producers. It's about a level playing field."

The BBC spent £9.9m buying UK films in the 12 months to April 2004, down from £13.8m in the previous 12 months, according to research commissioned from David Graham & Associates.

Spending on American films rose by more than 50% over the same period, from £39.3m to £61.5m. Spending on films from the rest of the world amounted to £1.8m.

A poll for the UK film council last year showed that four-fifths of viewers wanted to see more recent British films.

Four of the top 10 films shown on terrestrial TV were British-made films, led by Billy Elliot. MPs accused the then-director general, Greg Dyke, last year of "an almost cursory approach to investment in British films". Pact wants a minimum of 50% of the BBC's expenditure on films to be on British projects. It also wants the BBC to "more explicitly recognised its obligation to support British film talent".

"The BBC should invest far more in the great wealth of talent available within the British feature film industry," said Margaret Matheson, the chair of Pact's film policy group. "This should form a key element of the BBC's new charter."

Wolfgang

It seems that when they do show British film it is some old war time classic. I must say, I am slightly sick of seeing my country's integrity called into question, and my people portrayed as barbarians every lunch time, so I would welcome some newer films.