British film production down €287.8m
Money spent on film production in the UK fell by more than £200m (€287.8m) to £807m (€1.2m) last year, according to figures released today.
Research by the UK Film Council also shows a substantial drop in the number of smaller scale British films made in 2004.
The number of UK feature films made in Britain, such as Shaun of the Dead and Vera Drake, fell from 44 in 2003 to just 27 last year.
Spending on UK productions has also dropped since 2002 and 2003 to £117m (€168.4m) last year.
The number of films with UK involvement in their production fell to 132 last year, from 173 in 2003, but still up on 2002.
The Film Council said it had expected a fall since 2003, a record year when £1.15bn (€1.7bn) was spent in the UK.
It said last year was still the second biggest year for spending on film production in the UK.
But films which were solely British productions have fared worse than those which were co-productions with other countries.
The UK Film Council pointed to financial reforms and a trend toward co-production for the drop in British productions.
Last year, the British government moved to close a number of funding loopholes in the UK film industry.
British Film Commissioner Steve Norris, head of the UK Film Council’s International Department, said: “While lower than the record film production spending of 2003, these figures show that the wealth of talent in the UK film industry, together with our outstanding studios and facilities and our fiscal incentives, continued to attract a huge amount of international production in 2004.
“The reduction in indigenous film production is the product of a number of factors, including the long-term trend towards co-production of films in more than one country, and changes to financing arrangements during the year undoubtedly had an effect.
“While indigenous film production levels in 2004 were lower than in 2002, both the number of and spending on co-productions was higher.
“If we are to continue to develop the UK’s film industry we need to ensure that we continue to offer the skills, infrastructure, and incentives necessary to encourage and attract both UK and overseas film-makers to make their films in the UK.”
