BUISSNESS OF FILM

The economic contribution of the UK’s film, high-end TV, video games and animation programme sectors

Film is one of the most well known and influential parts of the worlds media. Film has a huge contribution in UK’s economy, recently making around £3.67 billion towards the UK economy. UK film has also received over £1,233 million from overseas investment, not forgetting television and animation, making an extra £292 million. The film industry doesn’t just raise a lot of money but also has a positive impact on the viewers, through films targeting personal and political messages. They can also make people reflect on controversial subjects in today’s society and learn about different cultures. Not forgetting it is an extremely popular leisure activity for all ages.

Why film is important to the economy

The spend of UK domestic films has been more or less constant for the past 20 years and many of the UK’s independent films have been extremely successful, with many being awarded BAFTAs and some US Academy awards. Overall the amount of money spent on the film industry has had an increase of around £1130 million over the past 20 years. This is a huge increase and we can see from the graph that the amount of expenditure is still increasing.

One of the most increasingly popular activities is film tourism. This is where people who are a fan of a specific film will travel to an area where the film has been filmed or set. Approximately £840 million of tourism spending by overseas visitors has been due to film tourism. This re-enforces the idea that film is the leading, creative part of the media industry.

UK films are increasingly making more money, however independent British films only recive 16% of the money from UK Box Office. Part of the reason for this low intake is that all major production or distribution companies are based in the US. American films distributed by American distributers take almost all the cinema-goers money, however online streaming sites allow us to watch these programs all over the world. E.g. Netflix.

Film relies hugely on mass profit from their audiences therefore we must not forget we must create strategies of control to keep the profit ongoing.

The benefits of inward investment

As I previously mentioned a lot of investment for films in the UK come from the US, however the UK does have ways of creating a lot of investment within the UK. The investment from other big production companies outside the UK does give us many skills and training to work with, allowing us to improve our film industry. Inside the UK we get money from the lottery, tax returns and from two broadcasters who regularly contribute. We also train up film makers, actors and producers so that they feel comfortable working within studio and independent films, giving us a lot more flexibility.

Film Business Value Chain

The term ‘value chain’, in the film industry, is used to describe the whole course of making a film from creating an idea for a film to the final distribution stage. The chain begins with development . This is an important stage in filmmaking, where the first idea for the film is created as well as the script.

Next is the finance stage. Independent films will have to find their own way to raise money for their film, which can be difficult. Studio films can fund themselves or have long-term investments.

The last of the development stage is pre-pre-production, this refers to when the film is being made under very small timeframes. At this point the film won’t be financed however people such as the crew need to be paid. This is also where the producers begin to look for locations to film.

Production is one of the main stages. This is the point is divided into pre-production, the official ‘prep’ period, principal photography, when the camera is rolling, and post-production when the editing and sound and visual effects and music aspects are incorporated.

Distribution is the process in which the film is passed onto the broadcasters, theatre chains, video on demand operators and video stores.

Exploitation is where the audience can experience the film. At first it will be shown at the cinema as this is the most important exhibitors.