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UK Film Council. RIP

Started by Feralkid, July 26, 2010, 06:15:18 PM

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Feralkid


http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/jul/26/uk-film-council-axe

Mmm, yay.  I think.  The fact that they were going to consume the BFI is one of the major reasons I'll celebrate their demise.  That and the fact that every single fucking dealing I ever had with them was torturous.  I do feel bad for any honest staff who'll now be out of a job but letting the regional film bodies administer lottery cash for film projects makes more sense, they're doing that already.  And if Screen West Midland, NI Screen and so on have more Lottery money to fund things we'll at least see more cinema emerging from the nations and regions.   

Lfbarfe

Are quangos ever missed? To promote film production, the gubmint just needs to offer tax breaks to those wanting to film here, like the Irish did (but no longer do, I believe). Offering tax breaks might not seem wise or attractive in the current climate, but all you need is a reasonable hit every year or so and the whole thing funds itself and makes the UK look great, enlightened, thrusting, creative and all that old shit.

Boycey

They were ridiculously bloated (out of a 15 million budget they spent 8 million on salaries/admin) and their prints and advertising fund (basically helping out films by paying for more prints to be made and to promote them) was responisble for some baffling decisions (approx £150k went to Shine A Light because, you know, that little known director Martin Scorsese and up and coming band The Rolling Stones needs the help)

But it does somehow feel it's throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Because it will be restructuring and messing about once again when everyone had at least got a feel for the old system. Let's see what happens and it seems that the safety of the regional screen agencies are guaranteed...

Having said that, my expertise is festivals and exhibiton and they were often fucking clueless about that so in some ways hopefully they'll get someone who knows that -whilst making films are important - getting them shown is also good.

And agree with Feralkid - know some people there and will be sad for them, because I know they work really hard

Feralkid

I feel sorriest for film-makers in Scotland, who really are screwed now, what with Scottish Screen being nae more.   http://www.scottishscreen.com/  Those folk are sadly completely screwed.  But for everyone else in the Uk trying to make films things should get easier.

For the purposes of full disclosure I've been short-listed twice on UK Film Council Schemes and on both occassions they led me a merry fucking dance forcing me to listen to and rewrite my scripts according to the dictates of a totally clueless Script Editor they'd hired.   Said Script Editor hadn't seen The Searchers, Seven Samurai, Dr Strangelove or seemingly any classic movie one might mention in passing.   

Now to be fair I have had rejections and come hithers from other bodies but the UK FC were maddeningly inept on every front.   Deadlines were nebulous and strange, several key ones being brought forward without warning so that folk could take holidays.  And criticisms offered were just arbitrary, weird and frequently stupid.

Case in point.  One film-maker I know who had been given funding to make a short from them was asked to submit a picture locked cut ahead of delivery.  Because the film wasn't scored yet he used some temp music and told them it was a temp score.   He then got notes back saying he had to change the music, that it simply wasn't professional and that he should find a different composer.   He'd used music from Clint Mansell's soundtrack to The Wrestler. 

One another project they'd short-listed for development (a script I'd written about the SETI Project) I got reams of notes back explaining that I'd have to make the idea of scanning the skies for alien radio signals seem plausible.   The fact that scientists have been doing just that for quite some time was something they simply couldn't compute.   

Jack Shaftoe

#4
I was lucky enough to have my feature script picked up by them for development four or five years ago, which meant they gave me some development money in exchange for very limited rights over the script (basically if it ever went into proper development, as in got made, I'd have to pay them some cash back, but at that point I'd have to be making so much it wouldn't exactly have been a hardship).

I worked with a script editor who was lovely, but didn't have much more to offer than you'd have got from reading Robert McKee's 'Story' book, tbh, but the structure of the story did need a bit of work, and they paid (woo!), so I got on with it, and we were all pretty happy with the result. Then there was some kind of coup at the top, and every single person I'd worked with found themselves out on their arse.

The new lot didn't want anything to do with any scripts that had been developed by the old lot, so just as the script was ready to go - the drawbridge went up and I never heard from them again. So I didn't exactly weep bitter tears for their demise, to be honest.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Jack Shaftoe on July 30, 2010, 06:36:51 PM
....I'd have to pay them some cash back, but at that point I'd have to be making so much it wouldn't exactly have been a hardship)....
However, I believe that in most cases, the UK Film Council would have to be paid in full before anyone else got a sniff - so once your film was made it could take a long time since you saw a penny yourself.

Jack Shaftoe

Ha, they didn't pay me that much. My agent sorted it so I wouldn't have to pay owt untl the first day of production (when the writer gets, on the bigger budget films anyway, which this would have been, quite a large chunk of cash). Quite possibly knowing that this day would never come, although it has turned out to be a really good spec script to send around, so the time and effort wasn't a complete waste.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Jack Shaftoe on August 02, 2010, 04:32:28 PM
Ha, they didn't pay me that much. My agent sorted it so I wouldn't have to pay owt untl the first day of production (when the writer gets, on the bigger budget films anyway, which this would have been, quite a large chunk of cash). Quite possibly knowing that this day would never come, although it has turned out to be a really good spec script to send around, so the time and effort wasn't a complete waste.
The kind of deal that I mentioned was certainly to do with production companies - the person who told me about it really thought it was on bad form by the Film Council. Basically, he argued that even if you at least some money should be going back to the company to act as seed money for the next film. The same friend worked for a couple of production companies briefly and thought their practices amounted to fraud - they specialised in getting development money for projects that they never intended to do but would produce just enough to keep up the charade.

On a more positive note, nice that it was worthwhile for you!