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Dateline: 5th December, 2005
Tax credits to producers of 16% for large budget and 20% for small budget films (relating to the UK spend of a film which may be produced internationally) have been announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, in his annual pre-Budget speech. A points system to decide if a film qualifies as being "culturally British" will also be introduced. Films may qualify for tax relief if they meet the following criteria:
According to James Purnell, minister for the creative industries, "Films which score at least 50% of the total points available will be certified as British." And he went on to insist that "the test is not an attempt to dictate the content or subject matter of British films." The new tax incentives come into effect on 1st April, 2006. However BECTU has attacked the "culturally British" test. "We believe these proposals will act as a deterrent to inward US investment," a spokesman told the BBC News website. However the announcement has been generally welcomed by the industry which has pointed out that the British film industry has been losing out to other countries with better tax incentives. According to a report co-funded by the UK Film Council released in September, production has dropped to about £480m this year - more than 30% down on 2004. The latest Bond film will be shot in Prague and not at Shepperton, where most have been made. There will be only one week of shooting in the UK. Shepperton's half-year profits were £1.6m this year, as against £6.6m in 2004. The only big budget film planned to shoot in the UK in 2006 is Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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