2.3 Should we protect home-grown production?

Alex Hamilton is Managing Director of a film distribution company, and you'll see much more of him during the course. In this video he argues that there is a natural capacity limit for British film-making that is purely home-grown. There are only so many resources and so much money available.

The fiscal incentives offered in the UK to film production are generous. In order to qualify for such tax relief, a film is scored in a test designed to see whether it qualifies as being a British film.

You might think that it is obvious what is meant by a ‘British film’, but it’s not as simple as that. The term encompasses a much wider range of films than you might imagine.

A film such as Gravity qualifies as British, despite its global, US studio credentials, because UK post-production played a significant part in its production. In addition to UK-specific criteria, the test is heavily influenced by European Union (EU) regulation and therefore, in certain aspects, is not just about the UK.

There is a broader cultural measure: subject matter and lead characters can be British, or from any country from the EU. Similarly, a film can qualify on the basis of its language – any EU indigenous language qualifies, including English.