Beeb suddenly sees Brit films as good fit
BBC will double investment in local pix
The pubcaster last week cast off its historic ambivalence about the movie biz to unveil a bullish new film strategy, in partnership with the U.K. Film Council.
If all goes according to plan, the BBC will double its investment in the production and acquisition of British movies to £30 million ($52 million) a year by 2008.
But that's just the start. The pubcaster has also promised to schedule local films more coherently and aggressively across all its channels, and to use the BBC's own media outlets to build public enthusiasm for Brit pics.
The strategy will kick off in summer 2007 with a major British film season, embracing old and new movies, described by execs as the biggest such season ever mounted by a U.K. broadcaster.
The BBC will also work with the British Film Institute, training-org Skillset and the UKFC's new Digital Screen Network to nurture talent and promote the country's cinematic heritage.
Making the announcement, creative director Alan Yentob pointed out how many movie names, from Stephen Frears to Joe Wright and David Yates, started out working at the BBC on dramas, comedies, documentaries and even radio shows.
He pledged the BBC would adopt a more integrated approach to helping such talent graduate into movies. "It's not so much a new enthusiasm, as joined-up thinking about how we can make it work for everyone," he said.
This marks a victory for UKFC, which has been banging hard at the BBC's door for greater support.
"We've always worked well with the BBC in the past, but now we have a unique opportunity to put this relationship on a new footing, sharing the same mission to ensure that more British films are made and shown on the BBC channels," said UKFC chief exec John Woodward.
The cynical view is that the BBC's conversion to the movie cause has less to do with any deep conviction, and is more calculated to pressure the government into agreeing to a big license fee increase when the BBC's 10-year Royal Charter is renewed in April 2007.
The BBC cautions its new film commitments are "subject to the outcome of the license settlement."
But for once, the cynics may be wide of the mark. Yentob and director of TV Jana Bennett originally planned to announce their new film strategy without caveats, but BBC toppers inserted the note of caution at the last minute for fear of seeming imprudent.
BBC Films, the pubcaster's movie arm, will get a 50% budget rise in April 2007 to $26 million a year, with a further hike to $35 million pencilled in for April '08.
The BBC is also guaranteeing to spend an extra $8.5 million a year to buy indie Brit pics, on top of its current average acquisition spending of $8.5 million. Crucially, if that extra coin goes unspent, it will flow back to BBC Films for investment in production.
The BBC is also guaranteeing to spend at least $8.7 million a year to buy indie Brit pics, with the option of spending another $8.7 million if the right projects present themselves. Crucially, if that extra coin goes unspent, it will flow back to BBC Films for investment in production.
BBC Films has already been given an extra $870,000 for development this year, to help it gear up to make more and bigger movies from 2007 onward.
Recent movies developed and co-financed by BBC Films include "Match Point," "Mrs. Henderson Presents," "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story" and Fox Searchlight's worldwide pick-up "Confetti."
Upcoming projects include "The Other Boleyn Girl," a big-budget remake of a BBC telepic, to be directed by Justin Chadwick for producer Scott Rudin, co-financed by Sony and Focus; and "Eastern Promises," to be directed by David Cronenberg for Focus.
As those projects indicate, BBC Films is already trying to push out of its low-budget arthouse ghetto.
The new film strategy includes a mandate to develop projects not just for the minority BBC2, where movies have often languished unloved by the channel controller, but also for mainstream BBC1 and the digital channels BBC3 and BBC4, which target young and upscale auds, respectively.
New BBC2 controller Roly Keating is a film enthusiast (unlike some of his predecessors, who resented being forced to take BBC Films output they hadn't asked for). But there's also a new determination that execs from all BBC channels should engage more actively with BBC Films to produce projects that suit their needs.
