Iannucci is left reeling as UK film fund body faces axe

0 Comments | Herald, The; Glasgow (UK), Jul 27, 2010 | by Phil Miller

ARMANDO Iannucci, the Scottish creator of the Oscar-nominated movie In the Loop, has hit out at the “mad move” of scrapping the UK’s main film funding body.

The UK Film Council (UKFC), which funded In The Loop, is to be shut down by the Westminster Government to cut costs, leading to outrage in the movie making community.

It has funded features such as Bend It Like Beckham, The Constant Gardener, Gosford Park, Happy-Go-Lucky, The Last King Of Scotland, Man On Wire, Touching The Void and the Scottish movie Red Road.

Pauline McNeill, Scottish Labour’s culture spokeswoman, said Scottish film could be harmed if commitment to the industry was “diluted”.

Writing on twitter, Iannucci said: “Hearing of end of UK Film Council. Mad move by macho number-crunchers. It made UK a gargantuan load of money.”

He described the decision makers as “wangpots”.

Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, wants to close the organisation to ensure greater value for money. Hunt said the changes were being proposed as part of his department’s “responsibility to take its share of reducing the deficit inherited from the previous government”.

He went on: “That does not reflect our commitment to the Government investing in UK film, or the Lottery investing in UK film.

“But in the very constrained circumstances that we find ourselves in, we want to make sure that every penny is used on frontline services and not on back office bureaucracy.

“The UK Film Council spends pound(s)3 million per annum on administration – we want to ask whether that money can be better used for film-makers.”

Although it is a UK body, the UKFC has funded a number of Scottish movies. It previously financed the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Film producer Tim Bevan, chair of the UKFC, whose credits include Notting Hill, Atonement and Bridget Jones’s Diary, said it was a “bad decision imposed without any consultation or evaluation”.

He said the axe had fallen as British film-makers needed more support than ever.

“People will rightly look back on today’s announcement and say it was a big mistake, driven by short-term thinking and political expediency.

British film, which is one of the UK’s more successful growth industries, deserves better.”

Speaking about the Scottish context, McNeill added: “There has always been a challenge for Creative Scotland in terms of the film industry and losing the branding of Scottish Screen. There is potential in Scotland but it needs nurtured and we have good people in the industry who need support from the enterprise agencies to grow potential.”

The UKFC was created in 2000 and has invested over pound(s)160m of Lottery funding into more than 900 films, which have helped generate over pound(s)700m at the worldwide box office.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said the main activities currently carried out by the UKFC, which employs 75 staff, would continue through other organisations.

Martin Spence, the general secretary of the Bectu union, which represents technical and backstage workers, said: “This decision is economically illiterate and culturally philistine.

“Film is an export success story – we sell British production skills throughout the world.”

The UKFC receives pound(s)30m a year of Lottery money and around pound(s)25.5m from the Government
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