The new British film policy
Film policy is key to the functioning of one of the largest fields of cultural production, distribution and consumption in the UK. The British film industry contributed £2.9bn to GDP in 2012. In 2013, UK box office revenues exceeded £1bn for the first time. And in the international market in 2013, UK films earned just over 11% of global box office receipts; the UK’s filmed entertainment generated over £4bn in revenues that year.
This research will analyse the rationale and implementation of the new film policy set out in 2012, with a particular focus on the relationships between film policy, film production business models, access to finance, and intellectual property.
This two-year research project, led by Professor Philip Schlesinger, and part of the RCUK-funded CREATe programme on copyright and new business models in the creative economy, will focus on the making and implementation of film policy since the closure of the UK Film Council in 2011. This initiated a new phase of intervention under the British Film Institute (BFI), Film London and Creative England in a marketplace and audiovisual ecology that is rapidly changing. To what extent are new distribution models shaping producers’ concerns? How have institutional changes since the closure of the UKFC affected the functioning, priorities and consequences for film production and copyright?
Project contact:
Professor Philip Schlesinger (Lead Investigator)