Beleaguered British Independent Film Sector Poised for Revival as New Incentives Come Into For

After being at the point of market failure in 2022, the smiles are back on the faces of British independent filmmakers, thanks to the U.K. Independent Film Tax Credit (IFTC) that was announced by the government in March and came into effect in April.

A 2022 report commissioned by the British Film Institute (BFI) had the key and ironic takeaway that the overall boom in the country’s film and high-end TV sector led to a corresponding negative impact on the independent sector. It found that the speed and volume of growth strained the sector so much that it couldn’t compete with larger budget international productions on several levels — from accommodating the rising cost of production to securing cast and crew, and ultimately to reaching audiences.

The new incentive is a 53% expenditure credit that equates to a tax relief of approximately 40% for U.K. productions. “What we are really, really hoping is this transformational new tax relief is going to help reverse some of those trends that we’re seen, both in terms of the kind of difficulties of financing films, but also we very much want these to have a cultural impact as well, in terms of reaching audiences,” Harriet Finney, BFI deputy CEO and director of corporate and industry affairs, who is one of the architects of the IFTC, told Variety.

The incentives were put together by the BFI, Pact, the U.K. screen sector trade body representing independent production and distribution companies, and the government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

To quality for the IFTC, films will need to have a U.K. writer or a U.K. director or be certified as an official U.K. co-production. Finney says that the IFTC will lead to talent incubation and that young filmmakers see it as a “massive opportunity” in terms of getting their films financed and made. The BFI is currently “making sure that these reliefs are implemented in a way that is really straightforward, really transparent, really easy for industry to access,” Finney added. “This will have an economic impact in terms of volume of films and opportunities. But also that means it’s going to have a really good cultural impact as well in terms of really strong British projects with U.K. writers attached or U.K. directors attached, telling British stories,” Finney said.

Finney says that there is a “huge amount” of interest in the IFTC already with indie producers planning to revive their back burner projects. “It’s great news. Suddenly there’s another part of the budget that we don’t need to find anymore. It’s guaranteed from the government if you deliver the film. It’s huge for independent producers,” British producer Alastair Clark, whose “Sister Midnight” debuts at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight this year, told Variety.

Among the first British indies that will use the IFTC are comedy-horror “The Scurry,” directed by Craig Roberts, and Rowan Athale’s boxing biopic “Giant,” both of which are in production.

“It [IFTC] just wipes out those problems that have been created by the way the markets moved, by the fact that rates have gone up and that cost of living has increased. So what it does is, right now, it adjusts the landscape to make the endeavor of filmmaking make more sense, it basically allows us to pay wages that make sense to people,” “Giant” producer Mark Lane told Variety. Lane adds that now, those who have had to leave the industry due to insufficient wages, will be encouraged to return.

“This is the lifeline the industry needed. It plugs the hole in the finance pipe, it just allows us to be competitive. We still have to try and work on making the actual wage structure here competitive, the fact is you can get cheaper labor by going and shooting elsewhere. But having done a lot of British films, we honestly feel the skill sets of crew and actors here is just fantastic. And if the IFTC makes it possible to keep making films here – because essentially there is a soft money element that that makes the argument that you can come and shoot your film here – that’s what we’re planning to do,” Lane said.

The BFI has explanatory sessions on the IFTC and the U.K. Global Screen Fund, which is designed to boost international development, production, distribution and promotional opportunities for the U.K.’s independent screen sector, at Cannes.

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Martina Birk

Update: 2024-09-20

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