Jonathan Williams
Recent activity
Comments (19)
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Comment on: UKFC reveals latest round of development funding
The UKFC likes to present all this Lottery money as an investment, rather than charity. But each year it writes off more and more of this money - at the moment somewhere around 75%. So it is still charity, whatever they call it. Before 1970 the UK had the third largest film industry in the world. Today British films such as these, as against American films made in Britain, have considerably less than 1% of the global market. For all it hubris, has the Film Council done anything to reverse this appalling state of affairs? No. In fact things have got worse. Should UK filmmaking only exist thanks to charity?
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Comment on: Icon Entertainment takes worldwide rights to Summer Vacation
It's no surprise that Stewart Till's Icon is acquiring UK rights to US films - it's always been the nature of Mr Till's business. And he did devote those years that he spent as Chairman of the UK Film Council ensuring that Lottery and Government money were spent on subsidies to both Hollywood productions (which Mr Till kept insisting on calling 'British') and to installing 3D capable digital projection so that the US majors could make even bigger profits from their domination of British Screens. It's good to see that Mr Till now has his nose firmly back in the trough that he helped create. This is just the spirit that British Filmmakers need....Not. www.pleasedsheep.com
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Comment on: Hunting down film finance
If UK post- and facilities houses are increasingly invest in UK productions in an attempt to find an alternative to a declining market based on servicing (almost exclusively) US interests, then they will also have to campaign for measures that will give those productions some possibility of success in a box office which the US treats as its own fiefdom. Maybe there is a chance for UK film production after all..... www.bad-lad.com
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Comment on: UK cinema admissions reach highest level for seven years
It appears that Slumdog Millionaire only ended up on general release because Pathe bought the UK rights, whilst Fox bought the rest of the world. But at least FilmFour managed to get more for it than it had cost, which meant that last year was one of those rare years when they actually turned a small profit. John Woodward and the UKFC seek to find any possible way of defining films as British - just as long as they avoid the question of who owns and profits from them. Sadly everything which emanates from the Film Council is pure spin. Their strategy, based on campaigning for subsidies in order to attract foreign production companies to exploit UK facilities, threatens to implode. Individual US States are now offering even bigger incentives aimed at luring Hollywood. The Warner's Harry Potter franchise is coming to an end, 'Bond' seems to have lost its way, and there doesn't seem to be anything looming over the horizon. Maybe the only hope is that the UK facilities houses will wake up and start demanding some sensible policies! www.bad-lad.com
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Comment on: Local and 3D films drive Spanish box office growth
It just goes to show that quotas work. Wakey wakey! Hello? UKFC and the UK government, are you there?
