Examination of Witnesses (Questions 253
- 259)
TUESDAY 20 MAY 2003
MR JASON
WOOD, MR
DICK PENNY,
MR IAN
CHRISTIE FBA, MR
JOHN WILKINSON
AND MR
BARRY JENKINS
Chairman: Gentlemen, thank you very much
for coming to see us as we continue with this inquiry.
Q253 Derek Wyatt: We have heard a
lot of evidence in the past couple of weeks about distribution
and the problems of distribution in British films. We have heard
terrific criticism of the way in which films are exhibited in
the UK. Would you like to make a comment about it or any of the
evidence you have read through or heard or read in the newspapers?
Mr Christie: There is an historic
problem in British exhibition and distribution which is that until
the 1980s we had very much fewer screens than equivalent sized
countries. The exhibition business was rescued in Britain by a
massive building and investment programme in the 1980s which was
very successful at pushing admissions up but it was successful
for mass-market films. What has failed to happen since the 1980s
is investment in the smaller complexes, screens that are suited
to the showing of British films and European films and that is
where a lot of the problem lies. If you compare the number of
prints of an average European or British film release in Britain
compared with, say, France, Germany or Italy, you will find that
it is about a half or a third of the number, so there is a non-virtuous
cycle.
Q254 Derek Wyatt: But that was 20
years ago, the eighties. Are you telling me that you are all incompetent
and cannot manage to change the world or cannot lobby effectively
or just do not care about British films?
Mr Jenkins: It is not a case of
incompetence. It is a case of distributors having their own agenda
and as far as exhibitors are concerned, and I talk for the major
circuits, we always ask for the specialised products, we ask for
prints, and we are told, "It is going out on a limited release.
There will just be so many. I am sorry; we cannot supply you".
Q255 Derek Wyatt: Who says that?
Mr Jenkins: Distributors.
Q256 Derek Wyatt: So they are the
difficult people in this relationship?
Mr Jenkins: I think everybody
has their own agenda. To be honest, in fairness to distributors,
when you have a specialised film it is very difficult before the
event to work out whether it is going to be successful or not
and whether you should spend X amount of money on producing the
prints and doing the marketing behind those. They like to go out
on a small release. If word of mouth gets out and yes, it is going
to be successful, then they will lay on more prints, but that
may be some time later.
Q257 Derek Wyatt: Do you think that
the planning legislation should change at a local level and that
any multiplex permission that is granted should have a part of
it that it has to show art films and British films but not at
2.30 on Tuesday afternoon?
Mr Wilkinson: That has happened
already, has it not? The planning has changed in that for all
cinemas now you have to start at the centre if you are building
or seeking permission for an edge-of-town, then out-of-town and
the larger cinemas now are all showing some more (in some people's
opinions) interesting films, both British and foreign.
Q258 Derek Wyatt: I must confess,
I have multiplexes to the left and right of me at home. I am not
conscious of any change whatsoever to what is shown on my multiplexes
at Rochester, Maidstone or partly in Canterbury. You will tell
me differently.
Mr Christie: I have made a list
of the places where you could not see a more specialised film.
It starts with Leeds. Leeds is the most seriously under-screened
city in the country for specialised film. It has also one of the
largest potential student audiences. In most of the south east
and in Birmingham you would have difficulty, the London suburbs,
the Cotswolds, most of the south coast; all of those are areas
where there are not the kinds of cinemas of three to six screens
which will show the range of films that you are primarily interested
in in this inquiry.
Q259 Derek Wyatt: That is my issue,
though, that the planning legislation could be changed to make
sure that if you have a multiplex you must show these films, not
at your will but at the will of the local planning authority.
You do not think that is possible?
Mr Jenkins: Then you are putting
that restriction on the cinema owner. If the cinema owner is unable
to get prints from the distributor how can he fulfil that obligation?
Mr Penny: It is a very interesting
concept but all of the research in this country and in other countries
demonstrates that what we term a specialised film plays better
in specialised houses. The key difference is that the specialised
houses are very much seeking to promote film as a cultural form.
They have localised marketing. They build and sustain audiences
for product that is seen as more difficult. It is not necessarily
always more difficult. It is just that it has not, for whatever
reason, broken through into the mainstream. There are many instances
of film makers who are now playing very happily in the mainstream.
Last week you took some evidence from Gurinder Chadha and we have
got Bend It Like Beckham, which has played quite well.
I note that she complained about how much the distributor gets
of the tickets.
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