Lottery Funds Aid Rise of UK Independent Films
News Report by Daniel Laverick
The UK Film Council’s Prints and Advertising Fund is beginning to bear fruit of the financial kind. Created to help foreign language, independent and special interest films gain a wider audience in the U.K, the fund has allowed a number of recent productions to top the £1 million mark at the box office.
Some of the releases that have benefited from contributions include Guillaume Canet’s Tell No One, Chris Atkins’ Tony Blair documentary Taking Liberties, Moliere and a number of screenings for British classics (Billy Liar, Brief Encounter, Withnail and I, Henry V and The Dam Busters). The success of these films has helped to indicate that the British cinema going audience are hungry for alternative options to the Hollywood product. Given more scope for promotion, it seems that independently produced films and foreign features would fare better against their American cousins if given the opportunity.
Essentially, the fund allows the films to gain exposure and compete alongside the Blockbusters. With advertising and marketing costs at a premium, the average cinema spectator is often unaware of good quality, diverse films that slip by unnoticed. Tell No One, for example, was able to increase its release from 35 sites to 70, doubling it’s exposure to a wider audience. The award allowed Paris Je T’aime to secure both a digital and a 35mm release, while Moliere doubled its number of venues and released a selective television campaign.
As one of the most expensive countries in the world in which to release films, UK cinema audiences are often limited in their choice of what they can watch. While films such as Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean have the budget to release more than 1,000 film prints, the average number of prints for a foreign language or independent film is under 10. In comparison, the difficulty in competing against such odds leaves the struggle for the independents box office success eternally difficult.
With the fund currently set at just £2 million per year, it highlights the potential of increasing the choice of film across the UK with just a little investment in the marketing and advertising side of a films promotion. A film may be superbly shot, directed by an unknown visionary with acting performances to rival the greats, but without significant exposure and screening venues the risk is that they fall by the wayside.
The UK Film Council’s Prints and Advertising Fund is designed to assist independent films, foreign language films and commercially focussed 'British' films that are notoriously difficult to market in the UK. For more information please visit www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk.
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