The Rise and Fall of the UK Film Council
£19.99
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About this book
A unique study of UK film policy set in its political, economic and international contexts
- Examines the objectives the UK Film Council pursued over time
- Provides a thorough analysis of the agency's success as a model of public support for film
- Suggests what lessons for strategic interventions in film policy can be drawn from the council's experience
Drawing on interviews with leading film executives, politicians and industry stakeholders, including Alan Parker, Stewart Till and Tim Bevan, this book provides an empirically grounded analysis of the rise and unexpected fall of the UK Film Council, the key strategic body responsible for supporting film in the UK for over a decade. As well as offering a critical overview of the political, policy and technological contexts which framed the organisation’s creation, existence and eventual demise, the book provides a probing analysis of the tensions between national and global interests in an increasingly transnational film industry, not least underlining how both US and EU interests and pressures have played themselves out. It therefore provides a timely and significant investigation into the contemporary policy environment for film in the 21st century.
Reviews
Far more than a study of one British institution, this book is a major contribution to studies of film policy, and indeed cultural policy more generally. Its analysis of tensions between creative and commercial rationales is revealing and extremely insightful.
An in-depth study of the only period when the UK had a government for whom film policy did matter...A cogent, lucid account of what the Film Council achieved in its short life, how it did it, under what constraints.
‘A highly readable academic study has arrived to assess the birth, life and death of the UKFC… It’s a logical approach handled with crisp thoroughness.’