Exclusive: UK Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said the 40% indie film tax cut would bring balance to a film sector that has been tilted too far towards big budgets in recent years.
The Conservatives' budget of less than 15 million pounds ($19 million) was yesterday hailed as a “game changer” by figures ranging from Christopher Nolan to Ridley Scott to Gurinder Chadha. He revealed his relief about the movie.
Fraser expects the tax relief measures recently introduced by the government will deliver an additional £1 billion in relief over the next five years, which he says is a 'continuation' of efforts over the past decade and will level the playing field between big businesses and corporations. said. – Low-budget American films such as Bobby Filmed in the UK and small indie films.
“We support big productions on British soil and big international films, but we need to do both and help indie films too,” she said, sitting down with Deadline at the National Theater in London.
“We listened to the sector,” Frazer added. “Of course people want to make movies here, but it’s become really clear that what matters is the end result. So that's exactly what we've done. As a government, we have made the bottom line better for production companies across the country.”
Fraser rejected the idea that the relief measures would force foreign filmmakers to flock to the UK to make cheaper films, and said much of her consulting had been with UK trade bodies Pact, the BFI and key local indie producers. Pact has been calling for relief for indie films for seven years, the group said.
“We had a roundtable with small independent filmmakers in the UK and what we heard was that people wanted to make films here, but ultimately they couldn’t make it,” Frazer added. “They were going to Turkey or Italy, and their next project was in danger of falling through.”
With new business rates relief and increased VFX relief alongside measures for independent films, Frazer stressed that even yesterday's budgets for bigger films were sufficient.
She's optimistic about the sector, which has “significantly doubled in size” in the past decade since the lucrative film and luxury TV tax credits were first introduced.
A “booming” sector?
Fraser came under fire last month from broadcasting union Bectu boss Philippa Childs, who called the sector a “boom” at a time when around two-thirds of freelancers were out of work.
She added that she “recognizes the challenges” facing the freelance workforce and that tax relief is one of the best weapons at her disposal.
“I can help increase production in the industry by creating tax breaks so people can invest more here,” she added. “That’s why we’ve created a framework to improve job prospects for freelancers by allowing them to make significant investments through tax breaks.”
Fraser also said it was “working with the industry on measures to improve the lives of freelancers”. She cited Creative UK's report on discrimination in the self-employed workforce and ongoing work with the government's innovation department examining how workers' rights can be protected from the risks of generative AI.
Toothless regulator?
Dan Wooten (left) and Lawrence Fox
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Frazer has been in the position for just over a year and has a broad responsibilities encompassing all TV networks, media and sports.
She was speaking to Deadline this week when right-wing broadcaster GB News was once again criticized by Ofcom for “clearly misogynistic” comments made on air by actor Laurence Fox, which were controversial. It was the catalyst for the resignation of presenter Dan Wootton.
Ofcom has launched more than a dozen investigations into GB News over the past year, many of them into politicians from Frazer's own party who host the news programme. But she rejected the idea that regulators need more powers.
“I saw Ofcom a few weeks ago and they asked for no more powers,” she revealed to us. “I am delighted that GB News has decided to become regulated by Ofcom. [Ofcom’s] “Now it’s about getting the regulatory work done across the board.”
Frazer was also heavily involved in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's mid-year review of the BBC, which concluded, among other things, that the corporation needed “diverse thinking and opinions to be better reflected in its decision-making”.
The BBC's new chairman, Samir Shah, made this point in his first all-staff email earlier this week, calling for diversity of class and thought in the BBC's news coverage, with Fraser saying the BBC takes this responsibility “very seriously”. He said he was accepting it.
In areas such as its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, which has come under some criticism over the past month, she stressed that the BBC has “an additional responsibility to ensure the accuracy of its coverage” due to its “unusual funding model”. She established herself as a “beacon of our national values.”