The UK Film Council (UKFC)'s envisaged facelift (subject to a three month public consultation) will look to cut its budget by £25m to make way for more funds for the 2012 London Olympic Games and loose 20% of their staff. "We're operating in a very different environment and we need to adapt to meet the needs of a new generation of audiences and filmmakers," acknowledged Tim Bevan, Chairman of the UKFC and co-founder of the UK leading production outfit Working Title, currently developing two English language projects by Tomas Alfredson and Baltasar Kormákur.
Among the biggest changes suggested is the merger of the existing three production funds (Premiere, New Cinema and Development funds) into one single Film Production Fund with a £15m budget, focused on first and second-time filmmakers, plus world established filmmakers. A new £5m Innovation Fund will promote the UK's successful transition into the digital age, and a renewed emphasis will be put on attracting inward investment to the UK via film tax incentives.
In terms of international relations, a £83,000 annual fund will be dedicated to co-production activities and £358,000 to MEDIA Desk UK and other EU related activities. However imported foreign films will suffer from the halving of the existing UKFC Prints and Advertising Fund from £4m to £2m. Recent Scandinavian films that benefitted from this initiative include Jar City, The Boss of it All and Flame & Citron.
For more information on the document ‘UK Film: Digital innovation and creative excellence' see the website: http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/consultation2009