Introduction

Whereas several aspects of the Film Council's remit were delegated to partner agencies, one core aspect of its mission over which it retained in-house control throughout its lifetime, and which provided an essential and ongoing expression of its general approach to film support, was the allocation of public funds for film production. This chapter examines how, after taking over the administration of Lottery funding from the Arts Council of England and also incorporating film investment bodies (British Screen Finance and the BFI's Production Department), the Film Council managed and organised the allocation of public funding for film.

The Council separated the public funds available for film into three separate streams. Emphasis was placed on hiring expert professionals from industry to head each individual fund. In this way, the UKFC worked to position itself, as Tanya Seghatchian (head of Development Fund (2007–10); Head of Film Fund (2010–11)) argued, as a ‘vanguard organisation’ seeking to professionalise an independent sector that had seemingly become reliant on state handouts (Interview, London, January 2014). However, as suggested by the differing perspectives examined in this chapter, this strategy for the invigoration of the independent sector, although distinctive and in some respects effective, was by no means universally well received at all times.

Here, we trace how the Film Council's funding schemes took shape and developed over time and consider how effective these funds were in enabling the agency to satisfy its remit. This chapter examines how the wider objectives of the Film Council were translated into each funding scheme and the role that was played by the key individuals appointed to head each scheme. It reflects on how relations between the fund heads and the independent film sector developed over time. It also considers why, from an initial strategy of dividing the funding into separate streams, the Film Council eventually switched to a merged or single production fund – a model that, following the demise of the UKFC, has continued to find favour with the successor body now responsible for overseeing allocation of funds for film production, the BFI.