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I look forward to Pecuniam! Harry Potter never said. Unlike the UK’s creative industry, boy wizards and the stars of books, screens, stages and games didn’t want money. The government is aiming to spend £380 million to generate £14 billion in investment, it said in its proposal for Modern Industrial Strategy this week. At the very least, it targets sectors where magic wands exist and dreams come true.
The term Creative Industries ranges from advertising and architecture to books, films and virtual reality. Among the eight anointed supersectors of government, along with defence and clean energy, the perceived cultural soft power of the country, including the so-called Potterverse, is punching beyond its economic weight. However, this requires some perspective. The £14 billion target is expected to take 10 years, with the $18 billion (£13.2 billion) US streaming giant Netflix planning to cultivate content this year alone.
When it comes to identifying funding sources, the plot becomes thinner. However, some objectives focus on early stage projects in various UK hubs by providing more funding and networking help, with several objectives that could be useful. Better connections between new technology startups – hubs like the BBC’s Mediacity Complex, perhaps gathering around universities, or Salford’s BBC’s Mediacity Complex, could really drive development.
Employment is also a positive goal. UK creatives account for 7% of UK employment, but 13% of total R&D spending, the government says. It’s a kind of ratio to attract policy makers who will surprise future employment created by its cutting edge spending. Governments that create a wealth of new jobs may be allowed to band the unloved word “createch.”
Film and TV are industries where tax credits are useful. All dream-like directors are wise producers who can withstand the sun-drenched California of Barbie, with the bottom line focus, for example, Warner Bros. studio in Leffen, Hertfordshire. Netflix alone could be spending in the current UK creative sector in certain years, but some of that funding is over the pond. Over the past five years, US streamers and large studios have fired two-thirds of the total £9.9 billion spent on production in the UK, according to the British Film Institute.
Like so many stories, some elements of the UK plan will benefit from additional developments. There have been some references to “Creative Content Exchange,” but given the current congressional line over copyright that opposes the industry with big technology, details may need to wait for a sequel. That fight shows how difficult it is to formulate a group that covers a single, consistent story, from writers to lab-based engineers. However, in the meantime, continue with these tax credits.
jennifer.hughes@ft.com
