Dear All
I’m sure many of you will have heard the regrettable news from the start of this week that the coalition government has decided to axe the UK Film Council. For your information, at the permission of the authors I’m hereby re-circulating two messages from the Council which went out earlier this week.
The first from John Woodward, Chief Executive Officer of the Film Council, outlines the government decision and immediate plans for the Council. For anyone interested in registering their support for the Council, the second is from Tina McFarling, Head of Industry Relations, which provides details of an online petition and Facebook page which have been set up independently from the Council.
At Tina’s request, I’d also like to take this opportunity to alert you to the recent publication of the UKFC’s Statistical Yearbook, which is available at http://sy10.ukfilmcouncil.ry.com. Anyone familiar with previous editions will know the yearbook provides the most comprehensive data on the film business and market in the UK.
Prof. Paul McDonald
Associate Dean (Research) / Professor of Cinema
Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries
University of Portsmouth
St George's Building
141 High Street
Portsmouth PO1 2HY
From: Woodward, John
Monday 26 July, 2010 2:04 PM
Subject: The UK Film Council - from John Woodward
Dear All,
I wanted to write to the UK Film Council’s partners and colleagues across the film sector in response to today’s news that, as part of the Coalition Government’s plans to reduce the number and scope of government-funded agencies, the DCMS has informed the Board and me of their intention to abolish the UK Film Council.
The decision has been imposed with no notice and no consultation – and there appears to have been no evaluation inside Government of the strengths or weaknesses of the UK Film Council. Put simply, late last week we suddenly found ourselves on a list that will enable the DCMS to help meet the Treasury’s targets for cutting the total number of public bodies.
I think we can all agree that this is short-sighted and potentially very damaging, especially as there is at present no roadmap setting out where the UK Film Council’s responsibilities and funding will be placed in the future.
The Minister for Culture, Ed Vaizey, has said that the target is to have the organisation totally closed down with its assets and its remaining operations transferred out by April 2012. That does, at least, give us time to honour our current commitments and, as far as possible, to continue our funded support for film while the DCMS ensures an orderly transfer of remaining film functions to other Government departments and/or agencies. My one priority over the next few weeks will be to press the Government to confirm that the funding levels and core functions that are needed to underpin British film are locked-in.
It’s important to stress that the Government has said it remains committed to both the current Film Tax Relief and to the principle of Lottery funding for film. To that end, our existing funded activities will continue to operate as normal while we work with the DCMS over the Summer to identify how they can guarantee both continuity and safe harbour for British film going forward.
I completely understand that you will have lots of questions – but many of the answers will have to wait until the dust settles and the DCMS comes up with a new plan for film clearer in the months ahead. We will of course keep you abreast of further developments.
Please do call or email me if you want to discuss further.
Best wishes,
John
From: McFarling, Tina
Tuesday 27 July, 2010 10:35 PM
Subject: UK Film Council
Dear All,
We have a received an overwhelming number of emails from people in the the industry concerned about the future of funding for film in the UK and asking if they can make their views known. We thought it might be helpful to let you know that there are two social networking pages which have been set up independently of the UK Film Council. There are already 9,370 signatures to date attached to an online petition and a facebook page has received 14,771 visits.
If you are interested in airing your views the addresses are:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-the-UK-Film-Council/137240442975080?ref=search
http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/save-the-uk-film-council/sign.html
Best wishes,
Tina
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