grants
In the last instalment of this series, I examined how British movies would get funded and released when faced with extensive government cuts. Now it is time to ask an even more important question: with those cuts in place, will it affect the types of film that are getting produced?
Under the last government, the UK film council (which supported the funding, production and distribution of British films) was scrapped, as prime minister David Cameron cited that the initiative “wasn’t supporting films people British people want to see, like Harry Potter”. Subsequently, we have been told this has made it far harder for British filmmakers to get their movies made. As David Cameron’s Conservative government have recently been re-elected into parliament (this time as the sole governing party; last time they were part of a coalition), it is time to examine what effect this will have on British filmmakers, both in terms of how they will be able to get their films made now there is a tighter grip on funding, as well as how it will effect the kinds of films they make.
A lot of indie filmmakers talk about how they’re going to find investors to fund their next film. These mythical “angel investors” will supposedly swoop down with bags of cash and make all your filmmaking dreams come true. But the reality is that these investors generally don’t materialize.