Press Release
Embargo: Not for publication or broadcast before 00.01 am, Friday 12 March 1999
British Film:
FROM EALING GREATS TO £3.3 BILLION 'SMALL' BUSINESS
As Shakespeare in Love gears up for battle with Saving Private Ryan at the Oscars (21 March), the latest issue of Cultural Trends examines the current state of the British film industry.
A review of a wide range of statistics on film shows how the industry in Britain has gone from a world-famous but precarious studio system to a thriving £3.3 billion industry run by thousands of small companies.
In its post-war heyday, the British film industry boasted world famous production studios such as Ealing, Gainsborough, British Lion, Rank, London Films and British International Pictures. Half a century later, the industry consists largely of small companies with fewer than ten employees and high numbers of part-time and self-employed workers.
Cultural Trends 30 includes an examination of current official statistics on the film industry by Paul Allin, Chief Statistician at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The chapter demonstrates how difficult it is to pull together hard facts from a multitude of different sources. Some of the main findings that did emerge provide a portrait of the industry at the end of the century:
Size of industry
- By 1998 there were around 3000 businesses engaged in film and video activities (source: DTI).
- There was an 11 per cent increase in the total number of film and video businesses between 1996 and 1997 (source: DTI).
Contribution to economy
- Turnover of film and video activities increased 62 per cent, from £2 billion in 1995 to £3.3 billion in 1996 (source: ONS).
- UK earnings by film companies from overseas markets rose from £587 million in 1993 to £672 million in 1997 (source: ONS).
- The industry's contribution to the UK's GDP rose from £1 billion in 1995 to £1.7 billion in 1996, the latter figure representing 0.26 per cent of total UK GDP (source: ONS).
Turnover
- Nearly 80 per cent of all UK film and video enterprises have a turnover of less than £500,000 (source: ONS).
Employment
- Nearly nine film and video businesses in ten (88 per cent) had between only one and nine employees (source: DTI).
- 98 per cent of all film and video businesses have fewer than 50 employees, thus meeting the EC definition of a 'small enterprise' (source: DTI).
- Only ten businesses (less than 0.5 per cent) employed more than 250 people - including those involved in production, distribution and projection (source: DTI).
- The number of part-time employees increased 118 per cent between 1993 and 1998 while the number of full-time employees fell by 9 per cent over the same period (source: ONS).
- The total workforce may be as high as 53,000 people, with 45 per cent working part-time, only 32 per cent full-time and as many as 23 per cent self-employed. A sizeable number also have second part-time jobs (source: Labour Force Survey and ONS).
Location
- 79 per cent of employees in film and production industries work in London and the south-east (source: ONS).
'One of the most striking findings of this report is how difficult it is to pull together data about the British film industry' said Sara Selwood, editor of Cultural Trends. The figures confirm that the film industry makes a significant contribution to Britain's economy as well as its identity overseas. But the recent progress in improving data about the industry have not filled all the gaps in our knowledge.'