Financing the British Film Industry

Capital, Cash and Quota, 1896-1945

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by James Chapman

Type

Studies

Subject

Economics

Keywords

Great Britain, economics, finance

Publishing date

2025 (April 01, 2025)

Publisher

Edinburgh University Press

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 292 pages
6 x 9 ¼ inches (15.5 x 23.5 cm)

ISBN

978-1-3995-4020-9

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Book Presentation:
A comprehensive history of the financing of British film production from the emergence of the industry until the end of the Second World War

• A ‘prequel’ to the award-nominated The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1896-1945
• The first comprehensive account of the provision of production finance in the formative years of the British film industry
• Includes new material documenting the costs of British films, the financing crisis of the 1930s, and the attempts to establish an official film bank before and during the Second World War
• Based on extensive archival research, including the National Archives, Bank of England Archive, the Special Collections of the British Film Institute, and the archives of the Commercial Union and Prudential Assurance Company

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.

See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press