BFI Chair Jay Hunt Raises Concern Over “Very Protectionist Language Around Hollywood” Since Donald Trump Returned To White House
BFI chair Jay Hunt has warned the British film and TV industry to avoid becoming “complacent” as she cites concerns over “very protectionist language around Hollywood” from the new Donald Trump administration.
Delivering an impassioned plea for continued investment in the sector, Hunt said her “biggest concern” is that the ￡4.2B ($5.2B) local industry begins to feel that it has hit a “high watermark” from which it will never fall down.
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“There is a danger that we assume this is where the industry will settle,” she told the UK parliamentary inquiry into high-end TV and film. “I look across the landscape at a challenging regulatory environment in Europe and immediately from the new U.S. administration some very protectionist language around Hollywood and I think one of the reasons the BFI has an important role to play is drawing attention to challenges and making it clear that the growth trajectory will not continue unless we invest in and support the sector.”
She was speaking as British broadcasters report that American co-pro funding has all but disappeared from the market, although this has been brewing for some time and pre-dates Trump. Trump has been very clear that he intends to place tariffs on countries that sell products in the U.S. and he met earlier this week with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, although the tariff topic was not reported to have come up.
Hunt joined the BFI in the voluntary chair role last year. She is the only UK executive to have run three different networks and is now Apple TV+’s chief in Europe, with credits including Slow Horses and Bad Sisters.
With the British broadcasters against the ropes and as many as 15 scripted productions claimed to be stuck in funding limbo, Hunt attempted to “push back on the narrative” that it is only the British networks which make “TV that speaks to British audiences.”
“Extraordinary programming is coming from the PSBs the whole time but it is also coming out of inward investment,” she added. “Look at Slow Horses, Rivals, Baby Reindeer or even what Amazon is doing in non-scripted with Clarkson’s Farm. Success from a BFI point of view is an entire ecosystem being built.”
“Staring down the barrel”
Back to the big screen, Hunt said the UK is “staring down the barrel of a crisis hitting cinemas.”
She pointed out that 45% of British cinemas are projected to be loss-leading by the end of this year and quoted the local Film Distributor’s Association describing the situation as “parlous.” As she was speaking, Soho’s iconic Prince Charles Cinema posted a petition for savior on its social media account following a disagreement with its landlord over a new lease, which has already nearly hit its 15,000 signature target.
To attempt to wrestle with the problem, the BFI is speaking directly to the UK government over capital investment in cinemas – “many are deteriorating,” Hunt said – along with grant funding for sustainability and business development.
“This is an art form that over-indexes for lower socioeconomic groups,” added Hunt. “In certain parts of the country this is the cultural provision, so protecting it is important.”
She spoke alongside BFI CEO Ben Roberts, who welcomed the “gamechanging” and “brilliantly timed” 40% indie film relief that came in last year, but he stressed this won’t necessarily help with the cinema crisis. He said interest in BFI funding has risen since the relief came in and studios have reported an increased number of indie films looking to book their stages. Pierce Brosnan boxing movie Giant recently relocated from Malta to Leeds to utilize the new credit, he noted as example.
About time too, Roberts said, as he pointed out that the local market share for British movies is at just 9%, paling in comparison to France’s 40% and Italy’s 25%. “So we have to get some way back up to the right level of market share from The Inbetweeners Movie and King’s Speech days, which was closer to 20%” he added.
To help with this, Roberts said the BFI is “planning on bringing a moment of British film” as the BFI nears its 100th birthday. “We want to remind the public in the UK and internationally just how amazing our film heritage is and just how wide-ranging and diverse our cinema heritage is,” he added.
Roberts slams “narratives in the press”
While exhibitors are in need of help, Roberts criticized “narratives in the press” for being too negative about the state of the British Box Office, which hit ￡1B last year for the first time since the pandemic started.
“I get very frustrated with narratives in the press,” he said. “One week I’ll open the Financial Times and cinemas are collapsing, and the next week they have come back with a vengeance. This is an exhausting narrative that rattles everyone’s confidence.”
Hunt and Roberts were speaking to the high-end TV and film inquiry. A number of UK TV doyens contributed to the same inquiry last year including Gurinder Chadha, Jane Tranter and Slow Horses director James Hawes. It was shelved for a while during the general election period but the newly-assembled Culture, Media & Sport Committee decided to pick it back up again several weeks back.
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