How Bradford is doing its bit to bring in cash at the box office

Made for about £8m, the comedy, based on the nude calendar created by ladies of the Rylstone and District WI, near Skipton, and filmed in Ilkley and areas of the Dales, grossed more than £250m at the box office worldwide.

David Cameron has said the British film industry should support more “commercially successful pictures” and acknowledged that its contribution to the UK economy was £4 billion a year.

It’s a daunting thought, but another man named Cameron – the US director James Cameron – made that amount of money with just two films, Avatar and Titanic.

The cost of making Oscar-winning British films such as The King’s Speech and Slumdog Millionaire, about £8m, would not begin to match the sums of even promoting James Cameron’s biggest-selling blockbusters of all time.

The King’s Speech, a scene of which was shot here in the UNESCO City of Film at Odsal Stadium, was partly funded by the UK Film Council, a body which, at the Government’s insistence, has been subsumed by the British Film Institute, a decision which dismayed many in the UK movie business.

The Government would point to the pledge of National Lottery funds of £43m a year by 2014 to the British film industry.

For that money the equivalent of five Slumdog Millionaires could be made; but how many of them would be likely to make more than £200m at the box office worldwide, as the 2008 film written by Keighley’s Simon Beaufoy did?

Andrew Craske, of Screen Yorkshire, the agency that promotes film-making in the region, said: “Screen Yorkshire would support the call for films to be commercially successful. Of course this all depends on the definition of ‘commercially successful’ and how this is measured.

“All films should be aiming to find an audience and at least cover their costs – and preferably make a profit. It’s worth noting, though, that all sorts of films can be commercially successful, this doesn’t just mean blockbusters.

“In many ways, smaller-budget niche films can often find it easier to be a commercial success by breaking out. It’s all about producing the right film at the right cost for the right audience.”

Mr Craske hopes that Lord Chris Smith’s forthcoming report into Government policy and the film industry will take into account how more risky films from new film-makers may be supported as well.

“In the past, Screen Yorkshire has been able to look at the overall benefits a film can bring to the region – jobs, profile and inward investment. The future return on an investment is likely to be of a higher priority,” he added.

The importance of film-making to the wider economy was emphasised right here in Bradford in 2009, following the announcement of the City of Film status at the National Media Museum.

Steve Abbott, the Bradford-born producer of films such as A Fish Called Wanda, said: “I want to see the citizens of Bradford being a part of it – whether it means making film equipment, whether it means having screenings in Centenary Square with people having picnics... that’s where it will have to work, not just putting on another obscure film course.”

Both David Cameron and James Cameron may not know that as far back as the 1890s Bradford was a pioneer in Britain’s burgeoning movie industry.

Two film companies, Captain Kettle Film Company and Pyramid Films Ltd, shared premises in a converted ice rink at Towers Hill on Manchester Road.

Bradford has been a popular location for major movie and television film making for more than half-a-century and is home to at least three Oscar winners.

Bingley-born director James H Hill won his for the black-and-white short film Giuseppina; Shipley-born director Tony Richardson’s 1963 adaptation of Henry Field’s novel Tom Jones won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director; and Simon Beaufoy, writer of The Full Monty, wrote the screenplay for Slumdog Millionaire and won an Oscar, a Bafta and a Golden Globe.

The Bradford International Film Festival does indeed have an international reputation, as do the city’s annual festivals for short films and animated films.

Bradford is doing what it can to help. Somebody should tell the Prime Minister.