Policy Roundtable to discuss British Screen Forum response to CMS Committee HETV and Film call for evidence

On: Tuesday 22 August 2023 from 11.30am – 1.00pm

At: Central London location (EC4N) AND via Video Conference

For: British Screen Forum Members and Associate Members only

After a significant period of engagement during which British Screen Forum has urged them to take a detailed look at independent film for the first time in twenty years, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee recently gave British Screen Forum members advance notice of a new inquiry examining British film and high-end TV, with a call for evidence to be provided by 19th September. The areas of focus highlighted by the Committee in the call for evidence are: how to maintain and enhance the UK as a global destination for production; how the independent film production sector can best be supported; issues around skills and retention in the industry; what needs to be done to ensure the sector can adapt to challenges such as the rise of artificial intelligence; and the challenges for British cinemas, following the recent Cineworld restructure and the collapse of the Empire chain.

Members are invited to participate in a policy roundtable to discuss a potential British Screen Forum submission to the call for evidence. With the exception of the rise of AI and recent developments regarding the Cineworld and Empire cinema chains, the issues under consideration have been covered in some depth across a number of British Screen Forum workstreams in the recent past. Consequently, any such submission is expected to draw on evidence, analysis and policy positions previously developed in consultation with members and set out in our major 2022 report ‘UK Screen Sectors: A Prospectus for Growth in an Age of Change’ and in our 2023 submission to the HM Treasury consultation on the Audiovisual Tax Reliefs. It is also expected to include evidence from our 2023 research on project development, Hell And High Water, and from, as yet unpublished, research commissioned from Ben Keen in relation to the state of film finance in the UK. In order to help facilitate discussion at the roundtable, we intend to circulate in advance a draft outline of a potential submission. Please note that in-person places at the roundtable are limited in number and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

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