Everyone's heard the news about cuts but no one ever thought the Film Council would be axed. Surprising enough is the story of BP's boss Tony Hayward set departure only to find he's nominated to work on a Russian BP project and so he's back in through the back door.
But what of our beloved Council. And was it good anyway? Who was it serving?And who got the help? For the many thousands of creators in the UK not many were helped and that could be down to the amount of projects the UKFC would choose to invest in.
Recently I suggested to the Film Council that a way to see the British Film Industry grow was by making funding available for Mentoring. Our problem is many creative people are just not developing purely down to the fact that they think money is an issue. I would say development is an even bigger issue than money. Having a mentor would help in the area of development and growth of new media businesses. It is surprising that even successful companies with blockbusters are threatened by this recession and may not survive.
I say let's bring back mentoring and old fashioned scholarships. But there is an enemy to this. Here's where the law gets in the way and that's the equality and equal opportunities law, it scuppers the ship of creativity. Equal opportunities does not believe in development, it wont back a winning horse. By law it is not allowed to. We have to get back to betting on the right horse, investing where we need to and favoring the new kid on the block. It is the only way forward.
