Producer David Puttnam quoted Bette Davis at the British Screen Forum’s annual conference this week in London when he said: ”It’s no time for sissies” in reference to the challenges facing the industry heading into 2025.
Some shifts in business models may feel like a return to familiar and comfortable ground for the industry. However, rapidly advancing AI technology, soaring production budgets and persistent issues surrounding inclusivity mean there is plenty of work to be done, said speakers including Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy, Sister co-founder Jane Featherstone, USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative founder Stacy Smith, Bafta CEO Jane Millichip and Caroline Dinenage, Conservative politician and chair of the parliament’s cross-party culture, media and sport (CMS) committee.
Rewinding to reset
Anayst Ben Keen, the author of the ‘Show Me The Money’ report highlighting the struggles of the UK independent film sector, emphasised there has been a “pivot to refreshed versions of old business models”. Streamers are moving from a subscription economy back to the old TV advertising model, with 50% of new subscribers to Netflix now choosing the ad-tier.
The global all-rights deals Netflix and its fellow US streamers previously favoured are also going out of fashion – Mark Duplass’ self-financed series Penelope being case and point. The show was sold to Netflix for the US and Fremantle for the rest of the world. US studios, including Disney, are now returning to the marketplace and, while retaining first -window rights, selling on second-window rights, including to rival streamers.
With the return to ad-supported models, Sister’s Jane Featherstone also anticipates a return to mainstream, long-form returning series, akin to fan favourites such as Suits, Hustle and Spooks, and with that, a return to the distinction between film and TV on-screen talent.
US heads to the UK
Humming throughout the day was the sense the UK is poised for a renewed influx from US productions, and with that, a fear this could leave the UK’s own producers shut out of access to crew, studio space and talent, again. Featherstone confirmed the US appetite following meetings in Los Angeles last week. “They’re [US studios] coming here [to the UK]. They’re going to come here and spend more money,” she said.
“There’s a real push to getting work done here in the UK,” noted California-based Smith.
Lucasfilm US producer Kennedy, whose credits include the Star Wars films, the Jurassic Park films and Warhorse, noted: “Much of Hollywood has left. So much of the talent resides here [in the UK]. We have our largest footprint of digital effects in this country. We have people here permanently.”
“My concern is the work here is not always investment in British IP, we’re becoming work for hire, and that’s a danger,” noted Bafta’s Millichip, who takes issue with the term inward investment, preferring “inward spend”.
Indie film and TV inquiry
Dinenage, chair of the CMS committee, confirmed it is to re-group for two or three more fevidence sessions for the film and high-end TV inquiry in December, following its pause after summer’s general election. It has a new line-up of MPs, and will publish its findings to the government early next year. Dinenage explained the committee will explore whether the Independent Film Tax Credit, formally introduced in October, will be enough to help revive the ailing indie film sector; whether the UK TV sector has been left behind when it comes to tax support; the skills crisis; ethical use of AI in filmmaking; and the work of the BFI.
She revealed the committee will once again be open to submissions of evidence, as much has changed in the industry since the initial call-out for evidence a year ago.
Dinenage also used the forum to soft-launch a system she’s calling “state of play” – an invitation to sections or sub-sections of the creative industries to bid for one-off evidence sessions with the CMS committee, to focus on areas of acute challenge.
Inclusivity progress is intentionally slow
USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative founder Smith pointed to several factors that have prevented the film and TV industries from achieving a gender and racial balance, at every level. According to her own research, films with male leads receive three times as much money for production as films with women of colour in the lead. An investigation into 1700 films from 2007 to 2023 revealed only 6.5% of film directors are women, 13% screenwriters are women and only 22% of producers are women.
Across the major media companies in the US, less than 25% of top-level executives are women, and only 4% are women of colour.
Barriers include too much dependence in the industry on short-term implicit bias training with little impact; attributes traditionally associated with men are seen as being important for those in leadership roles; and there are too many pipeline programmes for women and people of colour to receive training, without any meaningful route to then get projects off the ground and earn a living in the industry. She also noted that women of colour who do get to make films tend to only get funding for small budget productions, and rooted in their own life experiences.
There is also a lack of evidence to suggest that films with significant input from women and people of colour are any less popular or successful with mainstream audiences. Smith drew on the controversial comments made recently by Camerimage festival director Marek Żydowicz in which he took umbrage with the growing number of women cinematographers and directors, stating: “Can we sacrifice works and artists with outstanding artistic achievements solely to make room for mediocre productions?”.
Smith responded with a reference to her research: “Films with women cinematographers have higher average critical review scores than with male cinematographers.”
The slowness of progress regarding inclusivity, she believes, is intended. “If Hollywood wanted to make money on inclusion, they would have done it.”
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