Official figures published by the BFI’s Research and Statistics Unit reveal strong signs of economic recovery in UK film and high-end TV (HETV) production following months of suspended filming in the wake of the pandemic.

The final three months have recorded a £1.19 billion spend in the final quarter of 2020, the second highest spend ever over a three-month period. Despite disrupted production schedules over five to six months, production spend for the whole of 2022 is just 21 per cent down on 2019’s record levels. Inward investment and co-production films and HETV shows have delivered 76 per cent of the production spend underlining the UK’s global reputation as the world-leading centre for film and TV production.

The spend on film and HETV production in the UK in 2020 reached £2.84 billion, a 21 per cent decrease on 2019’s levels. The year started strongly and was heading towards a record production spend for the first quarter, however by the end of March production was suspended. Some post-production, VFX and animation was able to continue, but physical production only started to resume from mid-July. It is the final quarter of the year that saw a strong resumption in production activity generating a £1.19 billion spend, 38 per cent higher than the previous three months and the second highest quarterly result on record.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: “These impressive figures show the resilience and creativity of the UK screen industries. We’re getting our screen industries firing on all cylinders again with the Government’s Film and TV Restart Scheme and £1.5 billion Cultural Recovery Fund which has awarded £30 million in lifeline grants to independent cinemas. I am pleased that the Government’s targeted interventions mean this sector is well placed for future strong growth and job creation.”

Ben Roberts, BFI Chief Executive, said: “After an unbelievably tough year, today’s figures show an incredibly vibrant and positive picture for film and TV in the UK. Last spring it was hard to imagine that we would be generating £1 billion worth of production activity in the final quarter which has been achieved by industry and government pulling together and the determination of our workforce to get back up and running. This sector is primed to grow with expansion underway in studios and production hot spots across the UK, delivering more jobs and more to the economy. It’s been a challenging year for cinemas but we remain optimistic for the day whne we can welcome back audiences and it’s brilliant to see some of the UK’s  greatest talent making big pictures such as 1917 which topped the box office before the pandemic hit.”

Adrian Wootton OBE, Chief Executive of the British Film Commission, said: “As today’s figures show, production recovery in the UK is well underway and demand for content is not only still there, but in fact greater than ever before. Our sector, like many, has faced unprecedented challenges, but thanks to the sheer talent of our workforce and the creative and technological innovation of our companies and infrastructure, we were swift in developing ways of continuing to produce outstanding content. Film and high-end TV have an important role to play in the UK’s economy, providing UK plc with billions of pounds into the nations and regions and supporting hundreds and thousands of jobs.”

The BFI’s Screen Sector Task Force brought together a coalition of professionals from every part of the film sector to drive forward a recovery programme to enable the industry to restart and recover. Priorities included Covid-safe guidelines for film and TV production, VFX and post-production, guidance for cinemas, the Culture Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas in England and the ground-breaking Film & TV Production Restart Scheme backed by Government to support production companies struggling with getting insurance against Covid-related losses.  This work has been pivotal to getting film and TV production back up and running, generating jobs and contributing to the UK economy.

Cinemas across the UK faced a difficult year with efforts to tackle the pandemic requiring cinemas to close and when they were open to operate with reduced seating capacity to accommodate social distancing.  Distributors were faced with rescheduling their films, uncertain as to when they could move ahead with a confirmed opening date, including major releases the 25th Bond film No Time to Die, Marvel’s Black Widow, Death on the Nile, Fast & Furious 9, Top Gun: Maverick, West Side Story and The Witches.  Many films, rather than having their cinema releases rescheduled, were instead released or premiered on VoD platforms, eg Trolls World Tour, Artemis Fowl and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run.

The highest grossing film released in 2020 was Sam Mendes’s UK/US film 1917, with £44 million, followed by Jeff Fowler’s Sonic the Hedgehog (£19 million) and Christopher Nolan’s UK/US Tenet (£17 million).  Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen was the highest grossing independent UK film of 2020 grossing £12 million, followed by Autumn de Wilde’s Emma (£7 million) and Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield (£6 million).

Film production in detail

The total spend on feature film production during the year was £1.37 billion, 37 per cent than the level of activity in 2019. Of this spend, £412.3 million was generated in Q4, 30 per cent of the year’s total spend.

The majority of the total spend, £1.24 billion or 91 per cent, was generated by inward investment films generally in the blockbuster budget range, and co-productions, underlining the UK industry’s world-class reputation globally as an international production hub. US-studio backed productions accounted for £1.06 billion

Inward investment films which started production include The Batman (dir. Matt Reeves),  Cinderella (dir. Kay Cannon), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (dir. Sam Raimi),  Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3 (dir. David Yates), Jurassic World: Dominion (dir. Colin Trevorrow),  The Little Mermaid (dir. Rob Marshall),  Lockdown (dir. Doug Liman), Mission: Impossible 7 (dir. Christopher McQuarrie), The Northman (dir, Robert Eggers) and Text for You (w/t, dir. Jim Strouse).

Inward investment production comes to the UK from a number of different countries.  As with 2019, the analysis of inward investment productions reveals 12 Indian films  including Bell Bottom (dir. Ranjit Tewari), The Chef (dir. Ana Sasi) and Paani Ch Madhaani (dir. Vijay Kumar Arora).

Domestic UK films generated spend of £119.5 million, £89 million less than in 2019 and a 43 per cent decrease on spend from 2019.  Films which went into production included Belfast (dir Kenneth Branagh), Benediction (dir. Terence Davies), Boxing Day (dir. Aml Ameen), The Duke (dir. Roger Michell), ear for eye (dir, debbie tucker green), The Fantastic Flitcrofts (dir. Craig Roberts), The Forgiven (dir. John Michael McDonagh), Mothering Sunday (dir. Eva Husson), Pirates (dir. Reggie Yates), Quant (dir. Sadie Frost), True Things About Me (dir. Harry Wootliff), The Score  (dir. Malachi Smyth) and What’s Love Got To do With It? (dir. Shekhar Kapur).  Co-productions included Ballywalter (dir. Prasanna Puwanarajah) and My Son (dir. Christian Carion).

High-end television production in detail

The spend on HETV production in the UK in 2020 was £1.49 million, just 11 per cent lower than the £1.67 million reported for 2019 (updated mid-year to £2.09 billion and the highest HETV spend on record). Inward investment and co-production HETV accounted for £1.13 billion or 76 per cent of the total HETV spend.  Even allowing for the impact of the pandemic on halting production activity, the 2020 spend is the second highest on record.  Inward investment HETV productions included Anatomy of a Scandal (dir. SJ Clarkson), Andor (dir. Toby Haynes), Becoming Elizabeth (dir. Justin Chadwick), The Girlfriend Experience – series 3 (dir, Anja Marquardt),  Godmothered (dir. Sharon Maguire), Hanna – series 3 (dir. Sacha Polak), Pennyworth – series 2 (dir. Danny Cannon), The Pursuit of Love (dir. Emily Mortimer), The Sandman (dir. Jamie Childs), War of the Worlds – series 2 (dir. Richard Clark), The Witcher – series 2 (dir. Stephen Surjik).

Domestic HETV productions accounted for £357 million only 4 per cent less than the £372 million for 2019 (updated mid-year to £482 million).  2019 domestic HETV productions included  Bloodlands (dir. Pete Travis), Call The Midwife  – series 10,  Cobra – series (dirs. Hans Herbots, Al Mackey), Doctor Who – series 13, Finding Alice (dir. Roger Goldby), Grace (dir. John Alexander), Line of Duty – series 6 (dir. Daniel Nettheim),  The Pact (dir. Rebecca Johnson), The Pembrokeshire Murders (dir. Marc Evans),  My Name is Lizzie (dir. Niall MacCormick), Roald and Beatrix – The Tail of the Curious Mouse (dir. David Kerr), The Syndicate – series 4 (dir. Kay Mellor) and Worzel Gummidge- Saucy Nancy (dir. Mackenzie Crook).

Film and high-end television production generates local business activity and jobs across the UK. In 2020 production locations included:

• London: All The Old Knives, The Batman, Belfast, Bell Bottom, Boxing Day, Daemon Mind, The Duke, ear for eye, The Fantastic Flitcrofts, The Girlfriend Experience, The Great (series 2), Lockdown, Mission: Impossible 7, Paani Ch Madhaani, Pirates, Suspicion, Text for You (w/t), What’s Love Got To Do With It?
• East of England: Angela Black, The Batman, Britannia, Close to Me, The Fantastic Flitcrofts, The Great (series 2), Mission: Impossible 7, Motherland, Pennyworth, Professor T
• East Midlands:  As Dead as it Gets, The Great Season, Unforgotten
• West Midlands:  The Last Time you Saw Me, Time
• North-east:  Vera
• North-west: The Batman, Brassic, Cobra, The Fantastic Flitcrofts, Milo, Munich ’38, Ridley Road, Time, Viewpoint
• South-east: All The Old Knives, Andor, Belfast, Britannia, Call the Midwife, Cinderella,  The Fantastic Flitcrofts, The Girlfriend Experience, The Great (series 2), Mission: Impossible 7,  Mothering Sunday, My Name is Lizzie, Paani Ch Madhaani, Whitstable Pearl
• South-west: Becoming Elizabeth, Britannia, A Discovery of Witches, Manhunt: The Nightstalker, McDonald & Dodds, Mission: Impossible 7, The Offenders, Sex Education,  Suspicion, Trying, War of the Worlds
• Yorkshire: Ackley Bridge, Brassic, The Duke, Gentleman Jack, The Great (series2), Serena’s Game, The Syndicate
• Northern Ireland:   Awakening, Ballywalter, Belfast, Bloodlands, Frank of Ireland, Line of Duty, Mandrake, The Northmen, Puffin Rock Movie, Stranger with a Camera, Zone 414
• Scotland:  A Castle for Christmas, Annika, The Batman, Bell Bottom, Brassic, Guilt, The Brilliant World of Tom Gates, The Origin, The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star
• Wales:  Brassic, Doctor Who, A Discovery of Witches, The Pact, Sex Education, War of the Worlds

Animation television in detail

The spend on animation programme production in the UK in 2020 was £61 million which is 55 per cent higher than the total reported in January 2019 (later updated to £65.3 million).   Of the total spend £16.2 million or 26 per cent was generated by domestic productions and £44.8 million or 74 per cent by inward investment and co-production programmes.  2019’s overview showed domestic animation contributing the majority share of spend at 51 per cent. Animation titles starting production in 2020 included inward investment and co-production titles Deadlandia – series 1, Chip and Potato – series 2 and Robin Robin.  2020 domestic animation projects included Milo, Quentin Blake’s Clown and The Rubbish World of Dave Spud –  series 2.

The UK spend and production data published today are interim results which is updated in the coming period as final reporting is received.

Box office in 2020

The year started strongly with January and February with admissions to UK cinemas being 20 per cent up on the previous year driven by the continued performance of the 2019 releases of Little Women, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Jumanji: The Next Level, alongside early 2020 new releases such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Bad Boys for Life, and 2020’s highest grossing film, 1917.  In March all cinemas were required to close and only started to reopen in July, some four months later.  Christopher Nolan’s Tenet was eagerly awaited by industry and audiences and with other releases including After We Collided, The New Mutants and Bill and Ted Face the Music, attracted 5 million admissions during the July to September Q3.  The final three months of the year saw cinemas close for periods including all cinemas in England from 5 November, limiting admissions and box office earnings.  Cats & Dogs: Paws Unite!, Wonder Woman 1984 and the UK independent film Saint Maud were all released during Q4 helping to attract 3 million admissions, 94 per cent down on the same period in 2019.

Collectively, films on release in UK cinemas in 2020 attracted 44 million admissions, a long way off the UK’s consistently annual high admissions levels of between 171 million and 177 million (2017-2019) generated when all cinemas were fully open.    Total box office revenue for all titles released was £307 million, again 75 per cent down on 2019’s earnings of £1.254 billion.

Out of the new 2020 film releases at the UK and Republic of Ireland box office,seven of the top 20 box office releases had substantial UK production involvement led by Sam Mendes’s 1917, a UK/USA production, as year’s top grossing film with £44 million, Tenet, Dolittle, The Gentlemen and The Personal History of David Copperfield.  Also, ranked is the UK films Emma and Military Wives.

The top ten grossing UK qualifying independent films released in 2020 were The Gentlemen, Emma, The Personal History of David Copperfield, Military Wives, Saint Maud, The Secret Garden, Misbehaviour, Pixie, The Rhythm Section and Rocks. 

The film market share of newly released independent UK films at the UK and Republic of Ireland box office in 2020 was 14 per cent, a slight increase from 13 per cent in 2019.  When UK-made, studio-backed films are added to the picture, eg, 1917, Tenet, Dolittle, The Gentlemen, The Personal History of David Copperfield, the full UK market share increases to 46 per cent.

Source: advanced-television.com

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As Create Central transitions to their next phase, the trade body is evolving the way our membership model works. Create Central will be creating a streamlined Executive Board that will help to steer a broader membership of industry Working Groups and Member Champions.

Their first steps are to recruit five new industry leaders to join the Executive Board that have the skills, drive and commitment to help grow West Midlands’ creative businesses.

In addition to their membership’s  existing skills, they need experienced individuals working in high-end TV, virtual production, animation, digital media, games, VFX and those businesses directly in the supply chain. They’re also keen to increase our expertise around sustainability, diversity and inclusion.

As a commitment to the diversity and youth of the region, they are particularly seeking applications from under-represented groups, to help the, turbo-charge the West Midland’s creative content sector.

As an Executive Board Member, you will have the opportunity to accelerate the growth of the West Midlands screen sector through dynamic private-sector leadership and to provide your expertise to promote the region as a vibrant creative cluster to attract inward investment, new talent and to retain existing talent.

To Apply

Applications close on 19 February 2021. Interviews will take place online on 5 March 2021.

Source: www.createcentraluk.com

The documentary delves into punk history and follows The Nightingales and The Prefects frontman Robert Lloyd, who has gone “under the radar for four decades”.

Set to premiere on Sky Arts on February 6 at 9pm, the film features the likes of Lee and a host of well-known faces including Frank Skinner, Duran Duran‘s John Taylor and Samira Ahmed. In it, the comedian journeys with Lloyd as the latter reflects on his legacy and underground status in comparison to his fellow musicians. Watch a trailer here.

The official logline reads: “The anti-rockumentary King Rocker weaves the story of Birmingham’s undervalued underdog autodidact into that of the city’s forgotten public sculpture of King Kong, eschewing the celebrity interview and archive-raid approach for a free-associating bricolage of Indian food, bewildered chefs, vegetable gardening, prescription medicines, pop stardom and pop art.”

Lee himself teased King Rocker during an interview with NME last year, revealing he had worked on the project before the coronavirus pandemic.

“In the year before lockdown I worked on a film with Michael Cumming, who directed Brasseye and Toast Of London,” he said. “It was called King Rocker and was about Birmingham post-punk band The Nightingales. They used to be The Prefects and were on the White Riot tour with The Clash. They’re still going. We funded it ourselves and only the crew got paid, everyone else volunteered.”

During his chat with NME, Lee also spoke about having his Snowflake/Tornado tour pulled due to coronavirus.

King Rocker also features the likes of John Peel, Nigel Slater, Robin Askwith, Gina Birch, Marc Riley, Danny Fields, Paul Morley, Fuzzbox, Kevin Eldon, Nish Kumar, Bridget Christie, Andrew O’Neill and Seann Walsh.

King Rocker premieres on Sky Arts on February 6.

A filmmaker is celebrating winning an award for his work that’s been compared to Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror. Luke Collins was born and raised in Bedworth and studied at Coventry University before going on to win critical acclaim.

His short film, Swiped, has won a Royal Television Society award in the Breakthrough (off screen) category. The film examines the modern dating conundrum and Luke explained how he wanted to disconcert people by showing how their online behaviour could be construed if the interaction was face-to-face.

“When you’re using an app, people often act in certain ways that would be quite bizarre in real life,” he said. “I wanted to visualise that process – swiping people – by using VR.”

Luke, 28, said online dating has its positives. “It’s harder to meet people now, people work so much and it can be difficult,” he said. “It has its positives. I think it’s just perhaps when people use it in different ways, not everyone goes online with the same kind of intentions. That’s when conflict can happen.”

Luke, who has recently moved to Leamington Spa, watched the award ceremony live online. He said he was “really chuffed and surprised” that he had won. Describing himself as a “massive film nerd” growing up, Luke said he had no clear idea of what he wanted to do for a career.

“I picked media production at Coventry University and it was there that I really fell in love with writing and making films,” he said.

His passion grew and since graduating in 2014 he has gone on to win critical acclaim.

The coronavirus pandemic has proven a challenge this year, but some filming for his more recent projects was carried out in between lockdowns, when restrictions were eased. He is hoping to move into producing longer form work for television and dreams of working on feature films. He is currently trying to find funding for a feature documentary on organised crime in Europe, and he has some advice for those who dream of working in the industry.

“The best advice I can give is just make films,” he said, “It doesn’t matter what kit you have got – Smartphones now are so good. It’s about making your film, you only get better through doing it.”

He estimates that he has worked on about 20 short films ‘of which three or four have been decent’.

“You learn things with every film,” he added. “That’s how you keep improving.”

Source: www.coventrytelegraph.net

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JOB VACANCY: Film Birmingham Assistant

£20,903 – £27,041

Various Locations

Permanent

Working 36.5 hours per week

Film Birmingham is Birmingham City Council’s Film and Television Office and founding member of the UK’s network of film offices – Film Offices UK (FO:UK). Our team who handle over 1,500 film enquiries a year from domestic and international productions and we are committed to making filmmaking as easy and efficient as possible by providing a comprehensive, one-stop-shop for filmmakers.

In recent years the West Midlands have played host to award-winning directors including Steven Spielberg and Steve McQueen and attracted a host of high-profile film productions including Ready Player One, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, The Girl With All the Gifts and Stan and Ollie, as well as long-running TV shows like Peaky Blinders, Man Like Mobeen and daytime drama, Doctors.

Film Birmingham is looking for an Assistant to join our dedicated team full-time. The job role requires knowledge of the current screen industries sector and previous experience of working in production is essential. To be successful, you will be an effective communicator and have strong administrative and organisational skills. Daily tasks will include facilitating filming, issuing permits, scouting locations and helping to promote the region as a destination for film and TV.

The role will also require you to attend production shoots, meetings and events during evenings, weekends and Bank Holidays as necessary, along with the ability to travel across the region in order to scout and/or be on set for filming locations and productions. A full driving licence is essential. We welcome applications from people with caring responsibilities and flexible working options will be considered.

Read more about this role and apply here.

Essential Skills:

• Previous film/TV production experience
• Knowledge of the screen sector
• Excellent planning, organisational and administrative skills
• Experience of creating and managing online content

Person Specification:

• Enthusiastic, proactive and hard-working
• Excellent attention to detail
• The ability to work well as part of a team
• Able to work evenings and weekends at events, where necessary

Previous applicants need not apply.

Interviews for this post will take place virtually via video conferencing. Shortlisted candidates will be provided with further information.

For informal enquires please contact Sindy Campbell, Head of Film Birmingham on 0121 464 9305 and email sindy.campbell@birmingham.gov.uk

Read more about this role and apply here.

Film Birmingham: Festive Opening Hours

The Film Birmingham office will be closed for the festive break from 23rd December – 5th Jan (inclusive). No filming applications will be processed during this time.

Filming request forms can still be submitted online here. We will process your request as soon as we return in the new year.

Resources

Please keep up-to-date with national guidance for filming here.

If you are searching for filming locations, view our online location database here. You can also register your property as a filming location.

To search for local crew, visit our crew database, or register yourself as crew here.

To view current industry opportunities, view our news page.

We wish you a safe and enjoyable holiday season, and may your 2021 be prosperous!

Film Birmingham Team

Netflix is launching a Documentary Talent Fund to identify and support emerging documentary filmmakers from the U.K.

Working from the brief “Britain’s Not Boring And Here’s A Story,” 10 filmmakers and their teams will get the opportunity to make a short documentary film. The budget is between £20,000 ($27,000) and £40,000 ($54,000) each. All teams will be under the guidance of Netflix and other filmmaking professionals, to ensure that filmmakers and everyone involved in the production are fairly paid. This is done with the view to open doors to those most under-represented in the industry.

In their finished forms, each documentary must be between 8-12 minutes long and will be available on Netflix U.K.’s social channels, with the potential for further development in the future. Entries will be open Jan. 4-31, here for U.K. residents.

Kate Townsend, director of original documentaries at the streaming giant, said: “We’re really excited to open up this opportunity to ambitious documentary filmmakers in the U.K. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never picked up a camera before, we want to encourage anyone with a great story to tell, to go for it. We are on the hunt for the bravest, wittiest, most surprising stories out there and we can’t wait to see what you’ve got.”

The initiative is part of Netflix’s Hardship Fund, which aims to support creatives hardest hit by COVID-19 in the TV and film industry around the world. So far, the fund has donated £2.25 million ($3 million) in the U.K. to the Film and TV Charity’s Emergency Relief Fund and the Theatre Artists Fund led by Sam Mendes. Netflix recently doubled its U.K. production budget to $1 billion.

Read more and apply here.

Source: variety.com

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