Budget ‘significant boost’ for British film
March 7, 2024
By Colin Mann
Responding to the Budget Statement from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Adrian Wootton OBE, Chief Executive of the British Film Commission, the UK Government’s national organisation responsible for international film and television production in the UK, said the announcements demonstrated “timely and welcome action” by Government, which would “significantly boost the UK’s world-class film and TV industry in the face of growing international competition”.
Wooton suggested that recent increases to studio business rates in England and Wales had threatened to impact the UK’s ability to compete globally. “The British Film Commission has worked tirelessly to reflect industry’s concerns to Government and achieve a beneficial outcome for all. The rates relief announced today will help ensure our studios can continue to thrive, planned developments proceed, and the UK continue to attract increasing levels of domestic and global production, maintaining our reputation as one of the best places in the world to make film and TV.”
“The British Film Commission will be supporting all stakeholders as the relief is rolled out. We will also continue to liaise with the studio business rates working group, the Valuation Office Agency, Government and industry to secure the best longer term outcome through the business rates statutory framework,” he confirmed.
“We are absolutely thrilled by today’s announcement of a 5 per cent increase in tax credits for VFX, and removal of the 80 per cent cap. This timely and welcome boost for our world-leading VFX sector will allow it to continue to compete in the face of increasingly stiff global competition,” he added.
In terms of independent film support measures, he described the announcement of a new tax credit for independent films with budgets up to £15 million as “a game-changer” for the whole sector. “Limited-budget films are an essential part of a balanced UK production ecosystem. They provide the space to air fresh British voices as well as the seed-bed for a workforce able to move on to major domestic and inward investment productions. We fully endorse today’s measures to support our much-loved and much-needed independent sector,” he concluded.