UK culture secretary Maria Miller has visted Los Angeles to meet a number of senior executives from the US film and TV industry.
Miller met with representatives from Disney, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros and HBO during the week-long visit, exploring different avenues of collaboration.
The Conservative MP listened to industry suggestions on ways to further incentivize US productions shooting in the UK, on top of the existing tax reliefs for film, animation and high-end TV ventures.
According to the DCMS, Miller was keen to acquire first-hand knowledge from HBO as to how the UK TV tax credit is working at ground level.
She also discussed how the Game of Thrones production model could be replicated in other areas of the UK outside London and spoke to Lucasfilm about Star Wars: Episode VII, which is due to shoot in the UK next year.
Studio capacity in the UK has increased by approximately 50% in the past five years, largely due to the new Warners Bros Leavesden studios, the Northern Ireland extension of Titanic studios and two new stages at Pinewood.
Inward investment accounted for 80% of total UK production spend in 2011.
US features which have shot in the UK this year and are currently in post-production include Muppets Most Wanted (Walt Disney Studios), Monuments Men (Sony/Twentieth Century Fox), Jupiter Ascending (Warner Bros) and Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel).
US-backed films currently in production in the UK include QED’s Fury, Fox’s Ex-Machina and Exodus, Universal’s Dracula Year Zero, Lionsgate’s Mortdecai, Disney’s Cinderella, and Warner Bros’ Man from UNCLE and Heart of the Sea.
In 2014, films are set to include Star Wars: Episode VII and The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
US TV shows shooting in the UK over the next 18 months include Sony’s Outlander and Fox’s 24 respectively.
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