Overview

Financing the British Film Industry provides a comprehensive history of the financing of British film production from the origin of the industry until the end of the Second World War. It documents the growth of the film business from a cottage industry to a mature business enterprise. It considers the capitalisation of the industry and analyses the relationships between producers, banks and insurance companies. It charts the fluctuating fortunes of British film-making and the various government-backed initiatives support the production sector. James Chapman argues that the difficulties of the British film industry arose not from the extravagances of individual producers or the collapse of particular companies but from underlying economic and structural weaknesses: that the industry was too reliant on short-term finance and that the domestic market was insufficient to guarantee a profitable return for anything other than a modestly-budgeted film

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9781399540209

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Reviews

Meticulously researched and authoritatively framed, Financing the British Film Industry, James Chapman's ""prequel"" to The Money Behind the Screen, is a comprehensive account of the fiscal history of British cinema to 1945, drawing on untapped sources and offering fresh insights. The film business, it shows, was always a capital endeavour.-- ""Professor Justin Smith, De Montfort University, Leicester"" This indispensable history is packed with information about the financial underpinnings of the British film industry. Covering four key decades, it documents and explains how the fluctuations of an unstable fiscal environment influenced many classic and lesser-known British films. With compelling detail, inextricable connections between commerce and culture are proven. -- ""Sarah Street, University of Bristol""

Author Information

James Chapman is Professor of Film Studies at the University of Leicester. His previous books include Licence To Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films (3rd edition 2024) and The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985 (2022).

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