Reinventing the British film industry: the Group Production Plan and the National Lottery Franchise Scheme

Abstract

This article is a comparative analysis of two analogous attempts to restructure the British film industry: the Group Production Plan of the early 1950s and the National Lottery Franchises of the late 1990s. The Group Production Plan brought together key industry figures such as Michael Balcon and John Grierson, who endured a fraught working relationship. The Plan failed, largely due to indifference from the major combines, Rank and the Associated British Picture Company (ABPC). Forty‐five years later, the Lottery Franchises were criticised for failing to produce enough films, although the example of Pathé Pictures suggests that expectations were too high and resources too low. The economic theory of path dependence problematises the policy drive to create vertically integrated companies. This article concludes that historical precedent plays an insufficient role in British film policy discourse and that academic research in cultural policy should aim to improve the dialogue between the past and the present.

Keywords:

• film policy
• British cinema
• National Lottery
• vertical integration
• historical precedent

Acknowledgements

I am extremely grateful to Jonathan Balcon for permission to use the extensive special collection drawn from the personal papers of Sir Michael Balcon held at the BFI National Film Library at 21 Stephen Street, London. I also kindly acknowledge the invaluable contributions of my interviewee, Andrea Calderwood.