Presentation ESRC Cultural Industries Seminar Monday 15 December 2003 The Film Industry Data Issues and Challenges David

1. Presentation ESRC Cultural Industries Seminar Monday 15 December 2003 The Film Industry Data Issues and Challenges David Steele Research and Statistics Unit, UK Film Council

2. Purposes • To inform the industry about itself. • To help the industry develop economically, socially, (environmentally) and culturally. • To inform public sector policy towards film and to equip advocates for film.

3. To inform the industry about itself

4. A range of market-oriented film data is available • Box office takings. • Information about individual films (talent, budget, country of origin, language). • Distributors • Exhibitors • Audiences • Video/DVD distribution • Films shown on television.

5. Issues related to market data • International coverage patchy • Private sector subscription services • Scope and boundaries usually clear • COO and genre definitions debated • COO definition for tax purposes • Sampling issues for some datasets

6. Official Sources • Workforce size and regional location • Film exports and imports (+geography) • Workplace numbers and size • Firm numbers and size

7. Problems with official data • SIC boundaries • Companies and individuals straddle industries • Sample sizes may be too small • Lack of transparency in some cases • Shortage of economic data at 4 digit level

8. Remedies we are pursuing • SIC alignment and data transparency • Bespoke studies (labour force, post-production etc) • Tracking surveys (e.g. production) • Working with international partner agencies to improve international data.

9. To help the industry develop economically, socially, (environmentally) and culturally

10. Development strategies • Improve film product (culture/audience appeal) • Link production with distribution • Strengthen UK market position • New technology • Diversity

11. Methods of analysis: Committee deliberation • Middleton Committee on film finance • Film Policy Review (1997) • UK Film Council Board of Directors • House of Commons Culture Media and Sport Committee

12. Evidence based approach • International production cost comparisons • Advertising and film box office • Social impact of high street cinemas • Economic multipliers • Demographics of film workforce

13. Data gathering issues • Multiple sources to compile sample frames • Variety of access methods • Response rates and survey fatigue • Extra effort required to contact sub-contractors and freelancers. • Confidence intervals (sample size)

14. To inform public sector policy towards film and to equip advocates for film

15. Policy Framework • The Treasury Green Book (Appraisal and Evaluation). • Public good arguments for supporting UK film • Market failure arguments for intervention in the film industry • Key Performance Indicators – built into DCMS funding agreement. • Chancellor’s letter: the overall government objectives being pursued by fiscal policy. • The ‘public value’ framework being floated by the Cabinet Office

16. Green Book/public good/market failure (1) – Justification for action • Film culture as a ‘public good’ • Externalities • Additionality • The non-homogenous nature of film as a product. • Imperfect information • Barriers to entry • Market domination • Equity • Regional development

17. Green Book/public good/market failure (2) – Establishing the efficacy of particular interventions. • How will the proposed intervention bring about the desired outcome? • Is it better to do this than to do nothing? • Is the proposed intervention the best of the alternatives? • Is it cost-effective?

18. Key Performance Indicators • What can be measured and what is difficult to measure? • How to come up with meaningful indicators for qualitative goals? • How to avoid dreary, bureaucratic indicators? • How to come up with exciting indicators that express the ultimate purpose of the activity? • How to deal with confounding or contradictory variables in situations of multiple causation?

19. The Chancellor’s Letter (1) Each proposed intervention is evaluated according to its ability to: • Promote work and opportunity • Encourage productivity • Ensure fairness • Protect the environment

20. The Chancellor’s Letter (2) Each fiscal proposal is evaluated against the following criteria: • Likely effectiveness and value for money • Revenue implications for the exchequer • Wider macroeconomic implications • Sectoral impact • Environmental impact • Impacts on equality, health and human rights • EU and human rights implications • Distributional impact • Administrative and compliance costs • Legislative requirements

21. Chancellor’s letter: questions • How to cost a tax incentive when Inland Revenue do not sum the value of a tax incentive based on individual returns? • Are there displacement/substitution effects (offsetting fluctuations in the size of film industry activity)? • What is the environmental impact of the film industry? How does it compare with other industries? • Does government support for film make UK society more equal or more unequal? • Does supporting UK film have an effect on human rights?

22. Cabinet Office floats the idea of “Creating Public Value” • Legitimises the pursuit of the meta-outcomes of public sector activity in their own right, e.g. consumer satisfaction, trust in government and public service providers. • Prioritises the public’s own definition of what is valuable (to be discovered by surveys and other means of public feedback). • Places value on due process, fair treatment, ethos and organisational values. • Draws attention to “interdependent preferences” (e.g. a solution that works when “everybody does it.”)

23. Public Value: Questions • Outcomes that reflect process • Relationship between public value and (traditionally-defined) public goods • How to measure outcomes like satisfaction and trust that are qualitative, subjective and somewhat amorphous, though clearly desirable?

24. The UK Film Council and the academic community • Sharing research agendas • Networking • Joint seminars/conferences • Joint or supported funding applications • Presentation of research results to industry audiences • Seek advances in fundamental ideas