I know that it sounds strange as the argument would be that any assistance - especially financial - is a good thing for independent filmmakers. But the longer I spend with foreign filmmakers and I am sorry to say the Brits are the worst at this - the more I think that public funding bodies like the UK Film Council and the various and sundry screen agencies are=ound Britain - make filmmakers more than a bit lazy. The constant whinge from UK filmmakers is that they didn't get the money that someone else did and that money - listen up you US filmmakers - is upwards of $100,000! I mean can you imagine. Truly. I had the distinct displeasure at being involved in a seminar with some indie UK filmmakers last week where I was there to speak to the US perspective, festivals and marketing, etc. One after another filmmaker got up and whinged and whinged about the fact that the UK does not do ENOUGH to support filmmakers who are not privileged like Richard Curtis, Michael Winterbottom, Stephen Frears, etc. because THEY did not get any money from the UK Film Council for their film. I sat and sat and then just had to give them some home truths about how freaking lucky they are to be living in a country where the government not only supports the arts but funds it - to a degree that although is not to the extent of countries like France but still is substantially more than the US - the richest and most powerful country in the world. Though by no means a perfect system and one that suits everyone, it is something. I had to remind the group that had they been indie filmmakers in the US, they would have gotten nothing - not even if they were Steven Speilberg.

The laziness is so apparent is scares me to think what the future holds for these filmmakers who are looking for things - especially money - to be handed to them on a lovely silver platter. Not only do filmmakers here get help with funding production, distribution and some marketing, but they get training. There are a million and one different training orgs that teach everything from how to be a grip to editing. You be lucky if you got that for less than the price of a car in the US.

By no means do I need to say that all UK filmmakers are like this but more and more I see a nasty little trend developing where instead of the hunger and desperation - that I miss ever so slightly - there is instead a laissez faire attitude to making a film here that I do not think fosters good work. If you know that is going to be easy, you do not try as hard. You do not take any risks. Good work, especially art work, comes from risk and hunger and to be truthful desperation. You push yourself to make the scene work in any way you can. You are creative with props and with design. You work as if your life depended on it. These things, to be sure, have produced crap but in between the crap, there have been some gems.

Interestingly, this phenom of laziness does not seem to be happening in other countries in Europe where the governments are very supportive of film from funding to tax breaks to distribution. It only seems to be spurring those filmmakers to do better. Does this prove the recent theory that like the US, the UK is falling behind because it has fallen in love with itself? I hope not.

Keeping it indie,

Julie