Nick Moran, who starred in the BAFTA winning British Film Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and is the co-writer and director of critically acclaimed British Film, Telstar, speaks of the need to support British Hollywood, or 'Brollywood' as he calls it, by enjoying the ‘real deal’.
Nick Moran said: "In Britain, in what I call 'Brollywood', we have to work much harder on much smaller budgets to make films that can compete with Hollywood. I know from directing 'Telstar' that all those hundreds of people you see on the titles at the end of a British film have worked tirelessly and flat out for months for love more than money.
"That's why our films are so special. That's why they’re bursting with wit and quirk and energy and diversity. For want of a better word: with ‘Britishness’.
"Our films are unique, bespoke and often wonderful, but we rely completely on the film-loving British public for our survival and without your support British films simply wouldn't happen.
Nick gives his top five reasons to support legal film and TV content:
1. You support 150,000 people working in British film and TV
Each time you choose to go to the cinema, buy a genuine DVD or Blu-ray disk or pay for a cable, satellite legal download service, you help to support 150,000 hardworking, talented people that work in Britain’s film and TV industry. Your money goes to everyone from the carpenters and electricians to the script-writers and stunt performers.
2. Workers get rewarded with repeat fees
One way you directly support film and TV workers when you buy the real deal is through the repeat fee system. Many of those working in film and TV rely on repeat fees to make a living. Someone working on a TV show, for instance, will often receive his wage in two parts. Firstly, he’ll get a sum up-front for his work on the show.
After that, he may well receive a small repeat fee each time someone chooses to buy the DVD box-set of that show, for instance or downloads it legally. The up-front sum he receives takes into account any potential repeat fees, so when people buy the real deal he gets his full wage. Repeat fees can be a lifeline for people working in this uncertain industry and can help keep an income coming in, even between jobs.
3. You help to fund future films
Making films is a high risk, high cost business. Around one in thirty films covers its costs at the box office, so you need a few very successful ones to help to pay for the debts created by the majority. Every time the public chooses to pay to enjoy a film, they put money back into the pot available for funding future films.
4. You keep Britain’s film industry unique and diverse
Because film-making is financially risky, finding investors to fund projects can be really tough. If people continue to download illegally at the current rate, there’s a real risk that all our films in Britain will follow very mainstream, popular formats because they’ll be seen to be the least risky by investors. When you choose the real deal, you help the British film industry to keep making the diverse mix of flicks that it is famous for.
5. You help to fund new film and TV formats
Today film and TV fans increasingly want to get their favourite flicks and shows in digital formats like online streaming services or as downloads. If you choose to get this digital content from unauthorised websites, it makes it much harder for the film and TV industry to get its own legal digital services up and running.
Viable digital models need significant investment to guarantee high quality and a reliable service. It’s hard to secure this investment if demand from the public is low because others online are giving your content away for free.
Nick Moran is supporting the 'Connected to British Film and TV' campaign, which celebrates Britain’s world-class film and TV industry and the public’s vital connection to making it so successful.
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