Appointed to the review by Minister for the Creative Industries, Ed Vaizey, Chris Smith will chair an eight-strong independent panel of film industry experts, including Oscar® winner Lord Julian Fellowes and representatives from the new Board of the British Film Institute (BFI), which recently became the lead body for the delivery of film policy in the UK.
Lord Smith and the panel are expected to report by the end of the year. They will look across the UK film industry considering film development and production, distribution and exhibition, and inward investment.
Ed Vaizey said: “This has been an excellent year for British film at the awards ceremonies and we can be really proud of this. But this success masks the underlying problems that the industry continues to face. British film making is still not as profitable as it should be for British film makers and there remain significant challenges in getting productions off the ground.
“Though many issues are rightly for the industry to resolve the Government can play a big part in helping to make things better. Through this review, Chris Smith will bring the different branches of the industry together to identify what the key problems are and then look at how these can be tackled. We need to work hand-in-hand with the recently strengthened BFI and the industry to find solutions and make sure that the Government has a framework of policies that support successful business models, nurture our celebrated film talent, contribute to economic growth and create a flourishing film culture across the whole of the UK.”
The panel will help set the Government’s strategic direction for how the UK film industry can best be supported to develop successful business models that allow them to contribute to economic growth whilst nurturing our celebrated film talent and engaging with UK audiences.
