Factsheet 100

1) What is the 'cultural test' to see if a film counts as British?

The Cultural Test is divided into four sections (Cultural Context, Cultural Contribution, Cultural Hubs and Cultural Practitioners). A film must score at least 16 out of 31 points to be classified as British.

2) Complete the task on the Factsheet, researching the films listed and finding out what they score on the cultural test: Sweeney, Attack The Block, The King's Speech, We Need To Talk About Kevin and Sky all.

 

  3) What is the main problem for the British film industry?

Many UK films are made but, in order to get the film exhibited, the filmmakers have to sacrifice the distribution rights by selling the film to a distribution company. Once sold, all revenue from cinema screenings, DVD and Blu-ray sales, plus sales to television companies, are lost. Even a highly successful British film is not necessarily making money that will be reinvested into British filmmaking.

4) What are three of the strengths of the British film industry?

Despite intense competition from Hollywood and the on-going issues of funding and marketing, Britain has had a film industry since well before World War I and several important film studios are British, such as Ealing Studios and Pinewood Studios. The British film industry has several strengths that make it the third biggest film industry in the world. British films take 5% of world box-office takings, which is extraordinary for such a small nation.

5) What are the two options for the future of the British film industry?

Firstly, British filmmakers could choose to rely upon co-productions with American studios to keep the industry afloat. However, the drawback would be that much of what makes the film British may be lost, such as regional accents and dialects or cultural and political
references. Since these features would make no sense to an audience outside of Britain, it is unlikely that an American company involved in a co-production would approve of them.

The UK film industry’s second option is to attempt to make low budget films targeted at a niche, British audience. Though the production costs will have to be lower and box-office taking and profits will necessarily be lower too, the filmmakers will be able to retain what it is that makes British films so distinctive without compromise. Careful sale of distribution rights could also mean that profits are channelled back into the UK film industry. For example, The King’s Speech (dir. Hooper, 2010) was partially funded by the UK Film Council and the British production and distribution company Momentum. It was intended for a British and European audience but went on to be hugely successful in America and the rest of the world too. Its content is stereotypically English and, despite costing only around £8 million to make, it went on to take over £230 million worldwide and to win the Best Picture Oscar in 2011.

6) In your opinion, which of these two options would best safeguard the future of the British film industry?

I think that the second option works better as small budget films have potential to make an extremely large amount of money as they would have only invested a small amount, so even if a film is not very successful a lot of money will not be lost. This way they wont have to merge and wont lose what makes them British. It will keep the main viewers, who are the British population, extremely happy. They may be able to include more British content which can help represent the country. They may also be able to include content which other countries may not be able to understand and include more British humour. They may also be able to create content which the whole country will find relatable by doing things such as including British Slang.