Examination of Witnesses (Questions 460
- 462)
TUESDAY 17 JUNE 2003
MR ALEXANDER
WALKER
Q460 Chairman: I would like to put
one other question. If there is time I would like to put two,
but I would like to put one question certainly and that is this;
if one is looking at the scene in Europe—you mentioned the
Canadians and they are a factor to be taken into account—what
we have been hearing again and again and again is that countries
like the Czech Republic and Romania are attracting film makers,
not because they can offer expertise, although the Czechs are
building sound stages, but because the cost of labour is so low
that they become more competitive in terms of attracting inward
investment. Now, we cannot, and indeed I do not believe we should,
have to pay rates as low as those countries, but does that not
mean that in a very competitive market we do have to offer something
else?
Mr Alexander: Yes, we do, but
we offer already our skills. Of course, it is more expensive to
make films here than it is, say, in Romania, but then when you
make money so plentiful available, the first thing that is changed
is the price tag of the goods. Five years ago the average British
picture cost about £2.3 million, nowadays it is £4.3—£4.4
million and rising. The film studios in continental Europe, of
course, seize upon this because the labour is cheap and the labour
is skilled these days. The Barandov Film Studios outside Prague
can produce quality films every bit as good as Pinewood and Elstree.
Romania is catching up fast. The technological and the computer
generated industry that today more and more underwrites the film
industry knows no frontiers either. The hugely increased demands
of people who work in films over here has helped inflate the budgets
and we are, in fact, living in an increasingly difficult situation
in which we are pricing ourselves out of the market, much as some
British manufacturers of porcelain or indeed telephone call centres
go over to China and go over to India to find a cheaper base for
operations.
Q461 Chairman: Finally, when we went
to the University of Southern California they told us there that
the, as it were, median member of the audience for whom United
States films were made, on which billions of dollars were spent
every year, was a 14 year old male. I take it that if we are to
be competitive with the Americans, then we cannot do it by also
trying to attract 14 year old males but that we might go a little
bit higher up in the age scale and indeed appeal to both sexes.
Mr Alexander: If they could do
it, they would do it. That is the short answer to that. The film
industry is an industry without morality or without conscience.
It is a profit making industry and if that appeals to 14 or even
13 or 12 year olds, the median market will go down rather than
attempt to establish a higher, possibly more reputable, entertainment
bracket.
Q462 Chairman: Mr Walker, thank you
very much for contributing, both from your knowledge and from
your experience. Thank you very much indeed.
Mr Alexander: Well, thank you
very much, ladies and gentlemen, for having the patience to listen
to me.
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