SUBMISSION 18
Memorandum submitted by Mr J Ron Inglis
IS THERE A BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY?
I am an independent arts and media consultant,
specialising in cultural and local cinema issues. I have worked
in the cinema sector for over 25 years and have experience of
a very wide range of cinemas in all parts of the UK, from Portsmouth
to Shetland.
I would like to offer my comments to the Committee
in respect of three of the questions outlined in the announcement
for the investigation into the British Film Industry.
(1) Does the film industry merit support from
Government, if so, how can existing support be improved?
CINEMA AS
ART AND
CULTURE, NOT
JUST COMMERCE
The film industry is a mixture of commerce and
culture, business and art. While much of the attention usually
focuses on the economic aspects of the film industry it is essential
that the cultural, artistic aspects of cinema are supported in
a similar manner to other artforms. The separation of cinema from
other artforms (as evidenced for example by the separation of
the Arts Councils and the Film Council) is increasingly harmful
to any consideration of the non-financial aspects of film.
My concern is primarily with cinema exhibition
and with much more than just the promotion of British produced
films. The public throughout the UK should be able to watch, in
reasonable comfort, films from all parts of the World—just
as they do for visual arts. I regularly survey cinema audiences
and work with many cinema operators—the evidence is that
there is a clear appetite for a much wider range of films than
the multiplex sector normally offer. However such "specialist"
films are rarely given the marketing push which would enable them
to compete in the market-place.
For improvements in this area to be possible,
a structure of public support for a wide range of cultural films
should be in place. In recent years the British Film Institute
has withdrawn from this sector of activity and the Film Council
has not put in place anything which addresses these issues, indeed
it gives the impression of only being interested in film production
within Britain and little else.
(2) How can the production, distribution and
exhibition of British films be improved in the UK? Is the right
balance being struck between these elements of the industry?
WHY JUST
"BRITISH"?
My comments above apply to this question as
well. It is difficult to characterise "British films"—for
example the recent output from Scotland (Morven Callar,
The Magdalene Sisters, etc) has little in common with Bend
it Like Beckham. There is an audience keen to see good quality
British films (from Notting Hill to Topsy Turvy to
The Land Girls) but that isn't all they want to watch.
So I feel that this question is incorrectly
framed and should instead change "British films" at
least into "European films" or maybe just "All
films".
ACCESS TO
CINEMAS
There is a second aspect to this question which
deserves urgent attention: the uneven availability of cinemas
throughout the UK. While Odeon, UCI and others claim that the
UK is already over-screened the truth is quite different. In cities
and densely populated metropolitan areas it can be argued that
saturation has been reached but there are a great many small town
and rural areas with no cinema provision or possibly very low
quality provision (old, poorly equipment cinemas which screen
a very limited range of films).
At the UK Cinemas Conference in 2001 (and probably
at the 2003 conference given the topics programmed) Dodona Research
stated something which many of us working in less populous areas
know all too well—there are large areas of the UK which
have woefully inadequate cinema provision, but these in these
less populous areas public funding support is required to ensure
that a good cinema service is available. Best Value surveys of
leisure provision regularly reveal that the top requirements sought
by local people are: a swimming pool and a cinema.
(3) How effectively has the Film Council contributed
to a sustainable film industry since 2000? Does the Council have
the right strategy and approach?
LACK OF
ATTENTION TO
DISTRIBUTION AND
EXHIBITION
Regrettably I am unimpressed by the efforts
of the Film Council to date. Their Board, their policies, their
funding has all concentrated on film production and given distribution
and exhibition almost no attention and no resources.
Belatedly the Film Council conducted a lengthy
consultation on the specialised distribution and exhibition sectors,
then eventually appointed a Head of Department, but even after
two years of deliberation we do not have any indication of what
the Film Council intends to do in these critical areas of cinema.
Only last year was a Board member appointed from the distribution
and exhibition sector—one member (and he is from the strictly
commercial sector and vehemently supports the "no new cinemas"
line of argument, so there is little chance that a policy for
rural and market town cinemas will be supported).
RESTRICTED VIEWPOINT
My criticism of the Film Council is that it's
attention is massively skewed towards British film production
at the expense of the much wider picture. Its concerns appear
almost exclusively to be within the M25 area and when it looks
outward it only looks towards Hollywood, never towards European
or other parts of the World, and never towards specialist cinemas
or local cinemas.
2 March 2003
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