I was totally totally unimpressed by a news story I happened to come across today regarding the loss of the UK Film Council (UKFC).
Followers of Major C Audio may remember our close friends at ‘The Butler Did It’ productions (http://butlerdidit.co.uk/) with whom I wrote the score for their short film ‘Furnace Four’ which was premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2009. This project involved ‘completion fund’ money and training to help 6 selected productions to complete their promising films which were in some way or another incomplete (i.e. vfx, sound design and music work).
It’s a film that i’m particularly proud to have been a part of and the help and advice we received from the UKFC made a huge difference! According to the cull, the UKFC handed out somewhere around £160m in Lottery funding (per year?) to fund over 900 films including the likes of ‘Bend it like Beckham’, ‘Donkey Punch’, ‘The Last King of Scotland’ and ‘Fish Tank’. The UKFC website details all the incredible work done there at http://bit.ly/djbY14.
According to the article I read, the UKFC films often go on to make £5 at the box office for every £1 of lottery money spent. It’s raised over £700m worldwide for filmmakers.
Do i have a better solution to the economic crisis? sadly, no, but that doesn’t change the fact that our cinemas will be in many ways a poorer place without the guidance, support and hope that many filmmakers will no longer be able to turn to.
There’s opinion on the web to the contrary also, some saying that the UKFC may have been stifling creativity at this guardian article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/27/axing-uk-film-council-rethink-british-film
Well, on a personal note I’d like to say I’m sorry to see it go. For me, as a composer, the UKFC wasn’t really even aimed at helping me but I was invited to mingle at the training sessions with really great directors and even got projects out of it. Let’s hope that something positive springs up in its place.
-Christopher
