Inquiry
1. We posed the question, "Is there a British
film industry?", in November 2002. The key areas which suggested
themselves for examination were:
a) the industry's contribution to the UK
economy;
b) the importance of a capacity to make British
films about Britain in Britain;
c) the relationship between the film industry
and the rest of the creative industries particularly the broadcasters;
d) the nature of support for the industry from
the Government;
e) the structure and performance of the industry;
and
f) the performance and approach of the UK Film
Council together with the British Film Institute and the Museum
of the Moving Image.
2. We received over 100 written submissions, and
a large number of other papers, from a very wide range of witnesses.
In February 2003, before commencing taking oral evidence, we had
an informal meeting with Sir Alan Parker, Chairman, and John Woodward,
Chief Executive, UK Film Council.
3. We took oral evidence from: the Writers' Guild
of Great Britain; the Producers' Alliance for Cinema and Television
(PACT); individual producers — Jeremy Thomas, Barnaby Thompson
and Michael Kuhn; the Directors' Guild; director — Gurinder
Chadha, the New Producers' Alliance (NPA), Working Title; the
Motion Picture Association (MPA); the British Screen Advisory
Council (BSAC); ScottsAtlantic; Tim Adler, the Editor of Screen
Finance; Lord Attenborough; the Association of Independent Exhibitors
(AIFE); the Cinema Exhibitors' Association (CEA); the BBC and
ITV; Women in Film and Television (WFTV); film franchises: Pathe,
The Film Consortium and DNA[1];
the Film Distributors Association, UIP and Momentum Pictures;
Skillset, the sectoral training and development agency; the National
Film and Television School (NFTS), Equity and BECTU; Stelios Haji-Ioannou,
of easyCinema; the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
and DCMS officials; Channel 4; the British Film Institute (bfi)
and the Film Archive Forum; and, finally, the UK Film Council.
4. We also took evidence from the eminent film critic
and author, Mr Alexander Walker, who sadly died on 14 July 2003
while this Report was being prepared. While we find we cannot
embrace the whole thesis presented by Mr Walker, his evidence
was valuable, entertaining and perceptive.
5. Full details of the oral and written evidence
we received are set out at the back of this Report and the evidence
itself is published in separate volumes (HC 667, 2002-03, Volumes
II and III).
6. As part of the inquiry the Committee visited Ealing,
Pinewood and Leavesden studios, and CGI post-production house,
Framestore CFC, for informal discussions and first-hand experience
of a sample of the extremely impressive, and very busy, film production
facilities available in the UK. To our regret a further visit
to Angels Costumiers had to be foregone at the last minute due
to the pressure of parliamentary business. Members also visited
the British Council to discuss the role of film in the Council's
promotion of Britain's culture. We were extremely grateful for
the preparations and efforts made by all our hosts to contribute
to our inquiry. A list of UK visits that took place can be found
in Annex B.
7. In addition to this UK programme the Committee
visited Los Angeles in June 2003 for discussions with representatives
of the US film-making community — the independent sector
and academia — as well as senior executives at the major
Hollywood studios. This visit was facilitated by the British Film
Office and HM Consul General in LA. We were very grateful to the
staff of both these offices, and to all our hosts, for an invaluable
programme of discussions which illuminated the global context
in which the British industry operates and provided important
evidence relating to the incentive value of the UK's current tax
regime. See Annex B.
8. Details of government and lottery funding that
has been available for film since 1999 (provided by DCMS) can
be found in Annex C. Two further annexes deal with two important
comparisons:
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