How might Brexit affect British Film? An interesting read from the Guardian this weekend, does Brexit really mean that we will be seeing less European films in our cinema's and that British Films might disappear from European cinema's? I hope not.
If Brexit goes ahead and funds dry up, things will undoubtedly get tricky. One producer described it to me as “a critical blow”, another as “terrible news ... making the UK even more of a pariah”. The question is: will the slowdown be temporary, or are we in for a two-decade fallow period comparable to the Hollywood pullout of the early 70s? Back then, the number of UK production starts crashed under the pressure of falling audiences, competition from TV and the disappearance of Hollywood funding as studios ended their practice of subcontracting production overseas in favour of retrenching in California. Despite occasional mini-renaissances – usually around individual companies, such as Goldcrest – it took two decades for a concerted revival to occur. It could happen again.
