Cameron in deep water over demand for UK blockbusters

TO THE FURY of some filmmakers and cinema lovers, David Cameron has let it be known that he wants UK lottery funding to be steered away from smaller, independent movies and directed instead to big-budget and potentially big revenue films. 
 
He has his eye on more films like The King’s Speech and Slumdog Millionaire (above), and fewer like Fish Tank and We Need to Talk About Kevin.
 
Cameron was due to make his pitch during a visit to Pinewood Studios today. “Our role should be to support the sector in becoming even more dynamic and entrepreneurial, helping UK producers to make commercially successful pictures that rival… the best international pictures,” The Guardian reports him as saying.
 
After overseeing the widely criticised abolition of the UK Film Council, the coalition has been under pressure to produce a consistent, tangible strategy for the industry. 
 
This announcement, however, has met with derision from figures within the film industry, where the maxim “Nobody knows anything” – first coined by screenwriter William Goldman - is regarded as a golden rule of film production. 
 
Most vocal has been Ken Loach (pictured above), the veteran filmmaker responsible for movies such as Kes and Looking for Eric. He called the proposal a “travesty” on BBC Breakfast, saying it was impossible to guess what films would do well. “If everybody knew what would be successful before it was made, there would be no problem.” 
 
A report by the BBC’s Today programme found that Cameron’s changes would leave filmmakers like Mike Leigh “finished” and unable to attract funding.  
 
Journalist and screenwriter Charlie Brooker has reacted furiously, tweeting: “Am now determined to write most commercially successful British film ever about a walking perineum being elected PM.” 
 
The big questions now lighting up the blogosphere are: what makes Cameron think the  commercial film industry, with the huge financial risks it entails, can be a viable revenue source for the country? 
 
And has he considered how the public will react to the news that millions of pounds of public money have been lost when one of his big-budget UK films tanks, as it inevitably will? 
 
In the meantime, Twitter is alive with spoof film titles that Cameron might deem fundable, under the hashtag #fundablefilms. Favourites so far are:  
 
Withnail and I Robot
 
The Kings Speech 2: It’s Stammer Time
 
Brief Encounters of the Third Kind
 
Mary Poppins… with guns! ·