Northern Alliance - BFI

Few data are published, but where revenue figures for publicly funded short film
schemes are available, they tend to show a very low rate of return. For example,
British Screen has recouped under 5% of its investment to date. Data on recoupment
of the UK Film Council‟s investment in short films do not appear to be collated
methodically, 84 but what is available suggests a minimal return on the slate with only
a very few titles achieving any recoupment at all. 85 It is highly unlikely that returns to
private investors in short films are significantly different, in total.
Financial returns to the individuals who make short films appear similarly low.
Anecdotally there are accounts of individual shorts earning (comparatively) high
returns, usually through international sales to broadcasters. However, published
examples of such coups appear extremely rare and broadcasters seem unlikely to
reverse the trend of reduced expenditure on short films that has persisted
throughout this decade.
“Shorts are generally unpopular to finance because they are considered to offer very
limited returns. For a broadcaster they are difficult to programme. Our challenge is
to maximise the impact we can have with limited resources… we hope to continue
limited, targeted investment in the production of short films.”
Jack Arbuthnott, BBC Films
Given the almost certain losses facing investors, it is extremely difficult to raise
private funding for the production of short films. Private finance consists
predominantly of filmmakers self-financing their projects, or sourcing budgets
through family and friends. Rare exceptions include small-scale sponsored initiatives,
usually competitions, where brand owners 86 commission individual short films or a
series of short films. Facilities and equipment houses often provide discounted
products and services, and crew and cast often work for below their usual rates or on
a pro bono basis.
“Production companies, such as Working Title, also give occasional development
grants to shorts. The amount of in-kind support for short films is huge. Many
filmmakers have day jobs in production and other film-related companies, that let
them use the company‟s facilities and equipment and other resources – the impact of
this kind of subsidy should not be underestimated.”
Sally Thomas, Mayavision International
84 The scarcity of reporting figures means that we cannot get an accurate overview of UK Film
Council revenues for all short films made; and in any case, there is no industry-wide framework of
recoupment data to compare them with.
85 The collapse of the TV sales market for short films is one possible reason behind low
recoupment figures. It should also be noted that British Screen’s short film slate has had more time to
recoup its investment than the UK Film Council’s slate.
86 Diesel and Carolina Herrera are two examples.
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