Film producer Roger Shannon , a recipient of 海角视频 Film Council funding, laments the planned scrapping of the organisation and looks at the implications for regional film support.
The announcement on Monday earlier this week that the 海角视频 Film Council is to be abolished sent a jolt right through the film sector.
Ouch. I was gob-smacked to get the news.
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The abolition of the 海角视频FC leaves a bad taste in the mouth; it smacks of traditional cultural aloofness. The cultural industries of opera, ballet or drama would never have been treated with such brazen arrogance.
I have never in 30 years of professional engagement in the media industries seen an action of such ideological spite as this - the axe wielded, seemingly, without any consultation, evaluation or back lift.
The bulk of the film industry anger since the DCMS announced on Monday of this "cull of the quangos" has centred on the national industry, and the central role that the 海角视频 Film Council has played in recent years in fashioning a remarkable architecture of production, both commercial and cultural, which has harvested both box office highs and award acclaim.
Yet, crucially and damagingly, the Culture Minister, Jeremy Hunt, has not come forth at this time of
quango decapitation with any kind of road map for how the "scorched earth" of the 海角视频 film industry will now be navigated, or indeed irrigated for the future.
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The fact that I have mashed up at least five metaphors in that last sentence - and me, the maestro of the metaphor - shows how flabbergasted I am by the situation.
What needs to be factored into this discussion of the 海角视频 Film Council is the regional question.
And a very pertinent discussion for Birmingham and the West Midlands.
One of the singular achievements of the 海角视频 Film Council, straight off the bat in 2001, was the regional strategy, whereby a national network of regional screen agencies was established, including for this region, Screen WM.
Without a shadow of a doubt, the regional screen agencies have delivered, culturally and economically, introducing many more people to the benefits of the screen industries, putting regional stories directly onto the world’s cinema screens and showcasing previously underused rural and urban locations. Crucially for film makers, film producers and audiences in the West Midlands, Screen WM has been to the fore in these developments.
Pre 海角视频FC, there were partial successes in the regions - notably, in Liverpool and Sheffield - but nothing stitched together encompassing the country as a whole.
The 海角视频FC’s annual contribution significantly underpinned the robust growth of these agencies; and allowed for a wider engagement with more partners - for example, Advantage West Midlands - keen to participate in a growing and bustling regional film economy.
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The stark issue now facing such regional screen agencies is that the two main funding pillars that held aloft this screen industry edifice have now - Samson like - been pushed aside by the Coalition’s cull : AWM and 海角视频FC, now both binned.
As there is no road map yet laid out for the industry post the 海角视频FC - though it does seem that the Lottery Film Fund will continue - there is similarly no regional road map; and how could there be?
Expectations at the very end of last week were that the 海角视频FC would still be funding Screen WM in the coming years, albeit at a recession recalibrated level, and that future arrangements would be worked out with the public/private bodies - the local enterprise partnerships - that will replace the regional development agency AWM.
It’s vital for the region’s film culture and film economy - and also for the wider health of the region’s creative industries - that a new architecture of screen funding is put in place at the earliest opportunity, so that the gains achieved for the region by Screen WM/海角视频FC/AWM in recent years are not lost.
No doubt this process will have to take in the competing demands thrown up by the LEP’s priorities, and the prospect of there being a number of LEPs across the span of the old AWM terrain, while at the same time it will be important to take stock of the digital future of the screen industries, as well as the type of film production/making that is considered most appropriate to pursue in this region in a climate of austerity.
It is only in recent years that the film culture/economy of Birmingham and the West Midlands has been able to contribute to and benefit, visibly, frequently, positively, from a direct participation with the 海角视频 ‘s vibrant film industry.
The means by which the region can continue to do so relies on an at times fragile pattern of partnerships, the like of which has only been in existence for a limited number of years.
It’s not that long ago that the only funds available to film makers were tiny grants from regional arts boards; since then, it’s always been a struggle to establish film making and film producing as an integral, and potentially beneficial, part of the region’s wider creative economy.
For me, as an active partisan for regional film for the past three decades, it’s vital that regional film support be secured swiftly in the coming months, so that the continuity of Screen WM’s good practice is ensured via new funding partnerships, a new generation of creative film makers from this region is brought into the light, and the region participate fully in the bigger picture.
* A personal view from Birmingham based Executive Producer and Professor, Roger Shannon, who has Executive Produced films for both the 海角视频 Film Council, Lawless Heart, and Screen WM, The Gloaming, and Made In Birmingham.