10/09/2003

Today (September 10), the Uk Film Council and Skillset (the Sector Skills Council for the Audio-Visual Industries) have announced a ground-breaking initiative to encourage film training in the UK, with a total budget of around £10m a year for at least five years.
The project is called ‘A Bigger Picture’, and the skills strategy unveiled today by the Education Secretary, Charles Clarke will include the creation of Centres of excellence for film, in the form of a new national network of Screen Academies, under the supervision of the existing National Film and Television School; the creation of a new Film Business Academy to complement the NFTS’s expertise in film production, that will offer a complementary level of education in the film business; the establishment of a ‘time bank’ of industry film professionals who will make themselves available for training in schools, universities and for general advice; and among others the creation of a UK Film Trainee Network to give employers better access to trainees in technical areas.

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Commenting on the initiative, Stewart Till, the Chairman and Chief Executive of UIP, said “A Bigger Future acknowledges the size of the industry, the wide range of skills that are required and the inherent lack of a normal industrial infrastructure. With the implementation of this strategy, the UK will lead the world in film training. No other national film industry has set in place such a comprehensive skills strategy”. He will also be chairing the ‘Film Skills Strategy Committee’, the body which will manage and implement this new initiatives, and he’ll be assisted by other key UK film professionals.

The £10m annual budget will be financed by a new Film Skills Fund including contributions from the UK Film Council, investment from the National and Regional Screen Agencies, the existing Skills Investment Fund levy on film production, as well as matching funds from other European public sources for specific projects.