The number of co-productions in the first half of 2011 has risen, according to figures released by the BFI’s statistical unit; 70% of domestic productions shooting in UK in last six months had budgets of less than £500,000.

Inward investment in the UK is up 16% in the first half of 2011, with the amount spent between January and June totalling £699.6m compared with £601.7m in the equivalent period last year, according to figures released for the first time by the BFI’s statistical unit.

It is the first time the BFI has been responsible for compiling the annual statistical yearbook which was previously put together by the UKFC before its demise last July.

But while the total UK spend on production was up from £643m to £771m, the number of inward investment productions shooting in the UK in the first six months of the year is down from 14 to 9, according to the figures.

Those features include Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus and Marc Forster’s World War Z.

The total number of productions made in the UK is also down signicantly from 61 in the first half of 2010 to 46 this year. In 2009 the figure half year figure was at 68.

The downward trend for homegrown production also continues with the number of domestic productions made (for over £500,000) at a record low of 20, compared with 36 this time last year. The UK spend on domestic productions (made with budgets over £500,000) is also at the lowest level since the records began in 2003 at a significantly reduced £38.9m, compared with £82m last year, which was in itself the lowest figure recorded. The record spend on domestic features was in the first half of 2009, when that figure reached £139m.

For the first time the statistics also included films made for under £500,000 and the figures reveal that 70% of UK domestic productions shooting in the first half of 2011 had budgets of less than £500,000. The statistics also revealed that 60% of the domestic productions to shoot between 2008-2010 were under £500,000.

Domestic titles to shoot in the last six months include The Inbetweeners Movie, The Iron Lady and Cockneys Vs Zombies.

The UK spend on co-productions for the first half of the 2011 is up on this time last year, from £18.9m to £32.9m, with the number of co-productions shooting in the first six months also up from 11 to 17.

Co-productions in the first half of 2011 include Streetdance 2 3D and Ken Loach’s The Angels’ Share.

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