The ‘UK Film Council’ is vital support provider from UK films, features and shorts, ranging from helping new talent to fully established directors. It has set up a series of funds in support of new filmmakers and their films. They fund the following areas: script development, film production, short films, film export and distribution, film education, culture and archives, festivals and audience support schemes. The Council has also made new funds in order to support many areas of filmmaking, vital to providing the UK with a batch of successful filmmakers.
One of these funds is ‘The Film Fund’. It funds the production and development of both feature and short films. The website says, ‘we support filmmakers in the UK who are emerging or world class and capable of creating distinctive and entertaining work.’ This is a new fund created to specifically help and support new filmmakers. It gives £15,000,000 a year to the British filmmaking talent. Another fund is the ‘Innovation Fund,’ which was set up to support films made in the UK using digital technology successfully instead of using celluloid. An alternative fund is the ‘Prints and Advertising Fund’. This helps to create and support the distribution and marketing of films. The annual budget is £2,000,000. The fund hopes to widen the access to a range of films. It strives to provide opportunities to see films and the audience awareness of the range of films available by new film- makers. The ‘International Festivals Fund: Sales Support’ aims to ‘encourage successful distribution and box office performance of UK films around the world’ and ‘Promote UK talent, services and skills’.
As well as the mentioned funds, the ‘UK Film Council’ additionally invests £6,300,000 per year to nine ‘Regional Screen Agencies’ (RSA’s). These nine are:
- ‘EM Media’. This is the screen agency for the East Midlands. It has co-funded films such as ‘This Is England’. The overall goal is to raise the region’s profile in their ability to make films and create media.
- ‘Film London’. This is the capitals film agency and is one of the larger companies of all the RSA’s.
- ‘Northern Film and Media’. This is the agency for the North East. It aims to develop expertise in TV, Film, Animation, Multimedia and new technology.
- ‘Vision and Media’. This agency is for the North West. It has a huge database that lists 100’s of crew members in order to support new filmmakers by helping them to acquire a number of competent crew members. It also provides support and advice for people within the industry.
- ‘Screen East’. This is the agency for the East of England. It mostly focuses on TV and film production. The main focus is on providing locations and crews for new filmmakers.
- ‘Screen West’. This is the screen agency for the Midlands. It helped make ‘MySpace’s’ ‘Faintheart.’ It provides vital support and funding.
- ‘Screen Yorkshire’. This is Yorkshire and Humber’s screen agency and it again has a large database for locations, crew and educational resources.
- ‘Screen South’. It mainly focuses on digital shorts made in Surrey and Kent. This agency provides crew, locations and festivals for new short films.
- ‘South West Screen’. Is for the South West of England and it uses ‘Media Box’ for disadvantaged teenagers. It also provides post graduate bursaries.
If I were to apply to the ‘UK Film Council’ for funding there would be many different funds I could apply for. I could apply to the ‘RSA’, ‘Screen South’ firstly as it has a focus on the Surrey area. I could also apply more directly to the Council. The funds available to apply for would be the ‘Innovation Fund’, which I would apply to after autumn 2010, once the guidelines had been set, however my film would be made on DV due to a more than restricted budget. This feature is perfectly suited to this fund. Another possible fund would be the ‘Short Film Fund’. This fund however is under review and so support from this avenue may not be possible, however later in 2o10 announcements will be made to confirm the future of the fund and therefore direct my application appropriately.
