First draft to Gerald Kaufman!

[deckard]

Hello all! Well as a starting point to lobbying the Beeb, here's the first draught of a communication to Sir Gerald Kaufman M.P. See what you think.....is this the way you want to go? Is this what you had in mind? Feel free to rip it to bits if you like, we need to get evryone's opinions or ideas here if we can, please add anything you want, after all we are a forum and open to dicussion. Regards. Decks.



Sir Gearld Kaufman, M.P.



Dear Sir Gerald,

I am writing to you in your capacity as the Chairman of the Culture,Media and Sports Select Commitee. I have been asked to write to you by the members of the Britmovie.co.uk forum, Britmovie.co.uk is a website dedicated to all things relating to British film, classic or modern and has a lively forum with many members and much to discuss.

For some time now one of the regular topics is the lack of British film shown on the B.B.C. We understand that you take a keen interest in the Corporation, so after some discussion on our forum, we decided to write to you to see if you can help.

As you are undoubtedly aware, the B.B.C. have a huge archive of British film, probably one of the most comprehensive anywhere, so why don't they screen more of these highly important gems of the British film industry's heritage? The excuse that the viewing ratings may suffer is a little hollow now that there are more B.B.C. channels available digitally, that are not, shall we say, so dedicated to ratings.

So, how can you help us, Sir Gerald? Well, in the first instance, we would like to know if the B.B.C. has any plans for any long-term regular screening of British films and if not why,oh why not? Secondly, does the B.B.C. plan to make a list of their archive publically available? Is this covered by the Freedom of Information Act? With a list at our disposal we could possibly compile a "most wanted to see" register of British film and communicate this to the B.B.C., so at least they would have some form of half decent viewing figures.

There are, obviously more questions our forum would have, but at this time the most important are the aformentioned.

We on the Britmovie forum still believe that the B.B.C. are at the forefront of British T.V. programming, continuing with high quality entertainment, where perhaps, some of the many other channels available have tapered off in quality and after all, it is the "British" Broadcasting Corporation, so we should be able to see much more of our heritage, more frequently and regularly.



So, Sir Gerald, can you help us in anyway? We at the forum are genuine lovers of this artform and feel the history of British film is slowly being lost and forgotten, which I'm sure you'll agree would be a desparate shame and a tragic loss, if the trend continues. We all at the Britmovie forum would be most grateful and highly interested in any information or help you could give us and please feel free to visit the site at www.britmovie.co.uk I'm sure you will find it interesting!

Yours in anticipation,



[ 16. January 2005, 20:00: Message edited by: DB7 ]

[deckard]

Erm... that should read "draft" ! doh Decks.

[mysteriesofedgarwallace]

Errr....yeah!



'Draught' either comes in a glass or under a door!!!





hysteric hysteric hysteric hysteric :)

[Hugo]

Perhaps we should include some figures to back up our case. I am sure Gerald Kaufman will be aware of these but they are nevertheless worth quoting. From the 'UK Film Council Statistical Yearbook 2003/04' the most recent figures available.



The number of films shown on BBC1 during 2003 was 432, of these only 76 (18%) were British.

(56 of these (13%) were more than 8 years old, 20 (4.6%)were less than 8 years old).



On BBC2 448 films were shown. 91 (20%) were British.

(76 (17%) were more than 8 years old 15 (3.3%) were less than 8 years old)



The corresponding totals for the other channels are:- ITV1 showed 20% British films, Channel 4 showed 38% British films (222 from a total of 587 films shown, all but 15 were new films) and FIVE managed to show only 56 British films from a total of 562 i.e. 10%.



So the BBC is not showing the lead it should, as the state sponsored broadcasting organisation.

[deckard]

Yep! Good one Hugo, we should include that! Regards, Decks.

[smudge]

Good men, Hugo & Decks !



From a wholly selfish point of view, could we also point out the wealth of documentary material the Beeb hold on the subject that they rarely rescreen ?



With film they could argue that they only hold the rights to so many screenings, but they can't do that with their own product...



Ta



SMUDGE



P.S. I think first draught is a BRILLIANT start ; if we buy him a pint first in the Strangers Bar, he's sure to be that bit more amenable, eh ? :)

[DB7]

Also Decks, point out the cultural significance of these films and the long-term knock on effect to our own film industry. (chuck in a bit of flannel about Labour being supportive our film industry wink )



Could you also ask for clarification/progress on an amendment to the Communications Bill giving Ofcom powers to censure broadcasters who do not show more British films. (it had cross-party support and was backed by the Film Council and Alan Parker).



This is already law in many other European countries (notably the French) and at least then we can take our complaints straight to Ofcom.

[deckard]

Ok folks here's the second Draught!(draft) What do you think?Are we getting there?

deckard:





Sir Gearld Kaufman, M.P.



Dear Sir Gerald,

I am writing to you in your capacity as the Chairman of the Culture,Media and Sports Select Commitee. I have been asked to write to you by the members of the Britmovie.co.uk forum, Britmovie.co.uk is a website dedicated to all things relating to British film, classic or modern and has a lively forum with many members and much to discuss.

For some time now one of the regular topics is the lack of British film shown on the B.B.C. We understand that you take a keen interest in the Corporation, so after some discussion on our forum, we decided to write to you to see if you can help.

So, how can you help us Sir Gerald? Well firstly, we would like to know if the B.B.C, has any plans for long-term regular screening of British film and if not, oh why not? Secondly,does the B.B.C. plan the make a list of their archive publically available? Is this covered by the freedom of information act?With this list at our disposal we could compile a "most wanted to see" register and communicate this to the B.B.C. so at least they couild have some half decent viewing figures.

As you are undoubtedly aware, the B.B.C. have a huge archive of British film, probably one of the most comprehensive anywhere, so why don't they screen more of these highly important gems of the British film industry's heritage?These films are extremely significant educationally, historically and culturally, if budding young directors and filmographers are not exposed to the technical and visual creativity of past masters the enevitable lack of knowledge will have even more of a knock-on effect on the quality and World-wide importance of the industry.They could also screen some of the wealth of film documentary material to further enlighten us all.The present Labour Government has been wonderfully supportive of the film industry so if the B.B.C. can go the same way the effects would surely be wide ranging and culturally expanding.The excuse that the viewing ratings may suffer is a little hollow now that there are more B.B.C. channels available digitally, that are not, shall we say, so dedicated to ratings.

The most recent viewing figures available from the U.K. Film Council state that number of films shown on B.B.C.1 in 2003 was 432 and only 76(18%)were British and on B.B.C.2, 20% were Bitish, whereas,correspondingly on Channel 4 38% of all films shown were British. As the state sponsored broadcasting organisation the B.B.C. is really not showing the lead it should.

Also, could you please give us more information, i.e. clarification or progress on the amendment to the Communicatins Bill that gives Ofcom more power to censure Broadcasters for not showing more British films, we understand it had cross-party support and was backed by the Film Council and is already law in many European countries.

We on the Britmovie forum still believe that the B.B.C. are at the forefront of British T.V. programming, continuing with high quality entertainment, where perhaps, some of the many other channels available have tapered off in quality and after all, it is the "British" Broadcasting Corporation, so we should be able to see much more of our heritage, more frequently and regularly.



So, Sir Gerald, can you help us in anyway? We at the forum are genuine lovers of this artform and feel the history of British film is slowly being lost and forgotten, which I'm sure you'll agree would be a desparate shame and a tragic loss, if the trend continues. We all at the Britmovie forum would be most grateful and highly interested in any information or help you could give us and please feel free to visit the site at www.britmovie.co.uk I'm sure you will find it interesting!

Yours in anticipation,

Regards, Decks.(mine's a pint!)

[deckard]

There are a few spelling errors, but I'll sort those out! Decks.

[smudge]

Occurs to me... (now - Doh !)



Could you bring in the contrast of ABC Australia, who seem to show LOADS of old Brit B&Ws ? If they're good enough to export, why can't we have 'em ?



It seems that the film sellers love to engender the spirit of Old England for the ex-pats, whilst not giving a stuff for the indigenous ones still left here...



SMUDGE

[deckard]

Hi all! I'll leave the letter posted for a few days to see if any more ideas or objections arise and if not then I'll post it. Let's hope something good comes out of it, you never know, stranger things have happened!! Regards, Decks.

[deckard]

Ok folks, letter being sent today, in much the same format as posted above(with just a few additives and corrections!) Regards, Decks.

[DB7]

Go get em tiger thumbs_u

[deckard]

I'm ready for 'em! Regards, Decks.

[deckard]

Oh! do you think we should send the letter to his constituency address or the select committee address? I was just thinking that if we send it to his constituency addy it might get quicker attention.

[DB7]

Not really a constituency matter. You could always email him c/o cootesn@parliament.uk

[deckard]

Unfortunately their is a restriction on the amount of words in an e-mail(600 characters- I think) it's ok I'll send it to the House of Commons addy! Thanks, Decks.

[deckard]

smudge:

Occurs to me... (now - Doh !)



Could you bring in the contrast of ABC Australia, who seem to show LOADS of old Brit B&Ws ? If they're good enough to export, why can't we have 'em ?



It seems that the film sellers love to engender the spirit of Old England for the ex-pats, whilst not giving a stuff for the indigenous ones still left here...



SMUDGE

By the by Smudge, I have included your suggestion in the letter, Thanks mate! Regards, Decks.

[Gibbie]

Well done. It will be good to voice this concern to the MP. Perhaps they will send you up to Westminster and have a chat with them. This is obviously an ongoing concern with home nationals regarding home films.



All the best,

Gibbie

thumbs_u

[deckard]

Thanks for all the support Gibbie, DB7, Smudge, Hugo and all you good chaps out there. Yeah it may be a bit pie-in-the-sky, but we got to start somewhere and if the ball starts rolling I, for one, will certainly be there to give it a good shove!! thumbs_u