And finally some good news about the UK Film Industry!
“The biggest change recently with regard to the UK being a destination for co-production has been the UK Global Screen Fund,” [MacTaggart] suggests. “That has made a real difference as it’s the first money in almost 25 years that the British system has had on offer to incoming co-productions.”
The number of minority UK co-productions has leapt up since this BFI-administered fund was launched three years ago. The fund has supported recent features such as Laszlo Nemes’ Orphan and Danish director Max Kestner’s Life And Other Problems, which opened CPH:DOX in March. The fund has limited resources but, says Perry, it has already “opened the eyes of people overseas to the fact Britain was much more welcoming and could offer something much more tangible to an incoming production”.
But it is the IFTC that is cutting through to international producers. Nicky Bentham, founder of Neon Films, with credits including The Duke, says her European colleagues are “beginning to notice the UK tax credit is really competitive”.
Are you working on a co-production with a European partner? Have you noticed a difference in the market yet?
https://www.screendaily.com/features/is-the-indie-tax-credit-finally-mak...?
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This is good news, Geoff Hall. Incentives are such a vital part of the financing process right now - qualifying for incentives can make or break your project. Happy to see the UK competing like this.
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Sam Sokolow me too, Sam. The demise of the UK Film industry started before the pandemic and I think it will take a while before we see the benefits and the evidence of a recovery. But at least we are moving in the right direction.
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This is indeed good news. That said, the UK always had a very strong incentive in place, which is why a lot of content is being produced there. This expansion will increase the flow of productions to the UK, which I believe is something that works well for the UK and for Hollywood. I would, however, caution everyone considering shooting in the UK about the potentially higher production costs when shooting in the UK ( in comparison to shooting in the U.S.). I have shoot a number of projects in the UK and found that feasible budgeting can at times be challenging. This is obviously very project specific, and it also relates to the coproduction partner in the UK that you ( the US producer) would choose to work with when realizing a project in the UK. You will likely need to select a local UK producer to help you with obtaining / optimizing the incentive funds and also with realizing the physical production in the UK. On various of my projects, that I have produced there, I chose UK co-production partners to optimize the incentives and help manage costs effectively, to decrease costs wherever possible. These are my two cents and hopefully they can help a little.
If anyone is looking for professional UK production partners, feel free to reach out and I’m happy to provide you with some suggestions.
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Jeanette B. Milio thanks for chipping in to the conversation. If you stay out of London and filmed say in Bristol, that would provide you with a cheaper option. Films@59 have great post-production services and workstations. https://filmsat59.com/