Managing in the Media

Chapter 3

British film policy

3.1 Summary

This introduction to British film policy will compare and contrast the cultural and economic dimensions of film policy. A brief comparison with broadcasting policy will demonstrate the very different relationship the state has had with the film industry. The history of policy will be reviewed considering the Eady Levy, quotas for British film exhibition, the National Film Finance Corporation and its successors, and the variety of public funding bodies (e.g. the Arts Council, BFI and Regional Arts Authorities). These will be considered in the light of cultural policy (the need to create a national film culture to prevent American films swamping the UK) and economic policy (the desire to create a thriving ...