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The business of film
The business of film

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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.

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Video 4 Alex Hamilton talks about inward investment
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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.