Northern Alliance - BFI

emove the perceived element of command and control, and create a
customer/supplier relationship between the strategic partners and Lifesize. We think
this would be particularly helpful for those agencies that may lack the human
resources to meet the increased demands of the NCF for high quality short films.
Recommendation:
Management and control functions should be brought back in house, with
greater co-ordination and integration of functions in areas such as data
collection and monitoring. Lower tier schemes should be managed at the level
of the scheme, rather than at the micro-level of the films they support
including, for example, the UK Film Council ceasing to take a right of final cut
on Digital Shorts.
We also found in section 4.5, that there is a need to consider the efficiency and
effectiveness of the UK Film Council‟s short film activity and re-assess whether that
activity is optimally balanced.
There is a strong consensus that it takes time for talent to develop to the point at
which it is clearly of feature film calibre. We would therefore strongly recommend
that the UK Film Council proceeds with caution in any re-arrangement of its support
for short film, as a reduction in the effectiveness of programmes may take many
years to become apparent. In particular, we believe the existing configuration of
programmes, especially the relationship between Digital Shorts and Digital Nation,
should be retained for the short to medium term, though within this core
framework, resources should be reallocated to promote greater effectiveness and
efficiency.
Recommendation:
The concept of a clear pathway for directors leading from lower tier schemes
(eg Digital Shorts) into UK-wide higher programmes (eg Digital Nation) should
be retained.
For that reason, the UK Film Council should continue to adopt the National and
Regional Screen Agency footprint as the primary means of allocating funds to the
lower tier for the short term, but with clear advice as to the extent of success
expected and therefore the level of expertise required. Agencies should be
encouraged to consider forming consortia or sharing resources to deliver
programmes where the level of activity is not cost efficient, or the agency is not
equipped to support filmmakers within its area of responsibility.
Recommendation:
Agencies lacking the scale, resources or experience to deliver improved levels
of effectiveness in short filmmaking should be encouraged to consolidate
with, or sub-contract, responsibilities to agencies or third parties that do.
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