Brexit: The End of British Indie Films?

Successful independent UK films such as Slumdog Millionaire and The King’s Speech are much less likely to be made in the future because of the loss of funding from Europe after Brexit, according to a leading film producer.

Zygi Kamasa, the chief executive of London-based Lionsgate UK and Europe, warned that the UK’s withdrawal from the EU would mean that a significant source of investment funding would be lost to British filmmakers.

In a six-year period to 2013 more than 100m Euros (about £90m) was invested directly by the EU in British productions, and harmonised investment and production rules fuelled a heavy flow of private investment. “It is a big amount for indigenous British productions,” Kamasa said. “The concern is that, with Brexit, we will lose that funding.”

He warned that the film industry was already struggling to attract financing as more and more people opted to remain at home, watching box sets or movies on large-screen TVs.

“Hollywood is moving towards a smaller number of films with massive budgets, like X-men and Star Wars,” he said. “So when you go to the cinema, you are tempted to choose a big spectacle. If you add to that the impact of Brexit, it adds to the downward pressure. Slumdog Millionaire got over one million Euros of EU funding and so did The King’s Speech.”

Stepping Stones

The British Film Institute has formed a new commission to examine the state of Britain’s independent film sector and is charged with making recommendations on its future prospects following Brexit. Kamasa (left) has been asked to chair the commission and says that even small-budget “indie” films are crucial to the British industry because they act as “stepping stone to more films.”

UK movies have received funding from the EU through its Creative Europe programme. Kamasa (left) runs the British arm of the company behind the Hunger Games series and La La Land. He said the sudden loss of funding for an already-struggling film industry would have obvious effects. “It means those films are not going to be made, which is a huge loss culturally and economically and a huge loss for skills and creative talent,” he said.

The squeeze had already started, he said. “We pledged to make 25 British films in four years and managed just 19 to 20 over the first three years and are struggling in the final year,” Kamasa said. “It is already October and we have only made one. I am fearful that the great films of the past 20 years like Slumdog Millionaire and The King’s Speech will struggle to be made in the coming years unless something is done.”

Karen Bradley, the Culture Secretary, has acknowledged the film industry’s concerns. “Clearly this is part of a negotiation but we are looking carefully at the areas in which it is important that we continue membership,” she told the Commons in September.

Waiting for a Deal

Amanda Nevill, the chief executive of the BFI, said she was confident that film would be of “valued importance” when Brexit negotiations got under way but stressed that the industry would like the UK to continue to participate in the Creative Europe programme.

“I remain optimistic that creativity will always find a way through, but funding and free movement of people is something that we will be arguing for and defending all the way,” she said.

The Creative Industries Federation says the Government must avoid any new restrictions that could hurt other sectors of creative media. It said the sector generates £87b of annual economic activity and that was at risk if immigration was hit. The sector relies heavily on freelance staff, many of whom are from the EU, and the CIF is urging the Government to negotiate free movement of UK and EU workers for short-term projects.

“We need an immigration system that enables our extraordinary sector to continue to grow,” said the federation’s chief executive John Kampfner. A survey of 250 firms conducted by the CIF found that three-quarters employed EU workers and two-thirds said they could not fill those jobs with British recruits.

by Bob Graham

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