| MUMBAI:
A film co-production treaty between India and the UK was signed last year. 10
films are expected to be made in the first year..
This announcement was
made Britain’s secretary of state, department of culture, media and sport
Tessa Jowell at Frames. “Last year, I signed the main body of the Indo-UK
co-production treaty. The treaty will enable both our film industries to take
fuller advantage of the new opportunities of the digital age.
"We
estimate that in the first year around 10 films would be made. This will benefit
UK and India by around 155 million pounds. Cineworld cinemas in the UK are showng
Indian films. There were 2.6 million visitors to Hindi films in the UK last year.
Indian films accounted for 16 per cent of all releases in the UK last year, taking
in 12 million pounds at the UK box office last year.
“The treaty will
benefit both nations’ creative skill sets. There will be creative and technical
collaborations from film festivals and marketing to production management services
and the sale of cinematography equipment. It has been fantastic to the UK Film
Council distribution and exhibition Fund to support The Rising. Veer
Zaara took in 2.3 million pounds at the UK box office. “We have
just completed a White Paper on the BBC where a key theme is bringing the world
to UK and UK to the world. Coupled with developments in the BBC Asian Network
and the Window of Creative Competition which will open BBC production to a wider
range of creative talent, we will surely see further collaboration between the
two cultures and countries.” She noted that this kind of progress is
important not just in the film contest but as part of the UK government’s
aim to nurture the creative sector. “The global market value of creative
industries has increased from $831 billion in 2000 to $1.3 trillion in 2005. This
represents more than seven per cent of the total GDP. In the UK creative business
contributes 11.4 billion pounds to our trade balance. This is one pound in ever
12 pounds in our GDP. My job is to ensure that the creative sector is the first
to benefit from the economic changes wrought by globalisation. For the film industry
we know that digital technology is enabling better production, distribution and
access. “It is starting to fully examine the potential of this new
technology in the ciontext of games, animation, individual and producer platforms
as well as providing opportunities for areas like multiplex development.
Indian
innovation is making waves across the world being the first to stream a film on
mobile for instance,” said Jowell. Jowell says that the UK government
is encouraging the creative sectors to work together and share best practice and
skills. “We have encouraged the BBC to work with organisations like Visit
Britain and the Tate galleries. We have recently launched a flagship Creative
Economy programme which is getting together luminaries from the creative sectors
of film, music, fashion, advertising, publishing and computer games.” The
result, Jowell says, is that the UK is seeing regional clusters of creative business.
In the film industry, the UK is seeing investment in regional production firms,
visual effects firms, post production houses and film financiers. | 
