Video income lifeblood of UK film
July 6, 2012
Sales of video entertainment on DVD, Blu-ray and digital formats are the single biggest revenue source for the production of film and television drama in the UK, a new report has confirmed.
An Oxford Economics study commissioned by the British Video Association reveals that in a rapidly evolving market, video revenues remain critical to British film and television production.
Eddie Cunningham, President, Universal Pictures International Entertainment uses two British films to illustrate the role video revenues play in his company’s investment in original quality production:
“As the BVA’s report shows, video continues to be a critical part of the film industry’s ecosystem and a significant driver of revenue. Working Title’s Paul and Senna are two great examples of British filmmaking at its best, and the revenue generated from video – more than 60 per cent coming from home entertainment on these titles – is hugely important in helping British producers like Working Title re-invest back into production and continue to create great films.”
Channel 4’s David Root, Head of 4DVD, says: “Channel 4 understands its audience and it was because of our confidence of a healthy DVD income from the previous success of the Inbetweeners TV series on DVD that Channel 4 could budget to see a return on its investment and was able to fund the making of The Inbetweeners Movie. Without this millions of Inbetweeners fans might not have been able to enjoy their exploits on the big screen.”
Lavinia Carey, Director General of the BVA, commented: “The audiovisual industry is experiencing rapid and dynamic change as a result of digital technologies that create huge opportunities and challenges to a complex creative sector, which is shown in our report to be heavily reliant on video entertainment to generate returns on investment in film and television production. It is vital, therefore, that additional uncertainty is not introduced into the sector by simplistic copyright policy changes or hesitancy in enforcing copyright law while our industry evolves, offering more innovative digital services alongside the ever-popular DVD and Blu-ray Disc while maintaining the quality in video entertainment that is so widely enjoyed by British audiences.”