BBC plans to invest £100 million in U.K. film industry

BBC plans to invest £100 million in U.K. film industry

	Published : Fri, 24 Feb 2006 02:15 By : Paula Demarzio Print this Story

LONDON: The BBC will invest at least 100 million pounds in the U.K. film industry over the next 10 years. This amount will be spent in undertaking homegrown movie projects and acquiring films to be telecast on UK TV, the corporation announced Wednesday.

However, the investment is subject to a "favourable" licence fee settlement with the government, which is to happen later this year.

The BBC has entered into a partnership with UK Film Council, under which the BBC's film production budget will increase by 50 per cent from 10 million pounds to 15 million pounds a year.

BBC Films has successes like Billy Elliot, Iris and Mrs Henderson Presents to its credit. Projects in the pipeline include Shooting Dogs and The History Boys.

UK Film Council chief executive John Woodward described the corporation's decision as a real boost for the British film industry. "We've always worked well with the BBC in the past, but we now have a unique opportunity to put this relationship on a new footing, sharing the same mission to ensure that more British films are made and shown on the BBC channels," he said.

The BBC's director of television Jana Bennett said films play an important role in the mix of content on offer to TV viewers in the country. The corporation, by investing in films, is ensuring that television viewers will have access to movies, which are the very best.

The corporation has recently acquired the Bafta-winning Wallace And Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit.

Head of BBC Films David Thompson said the corporation would try to avoid the pitfalls such as Channel 4's flopped attempt to establish a British film studio to rival Hollywood with FilmFour. "We are not going to replicate the FilmFour model, which took too many commercial risks," he said.