Is the lack of support for regional filmmaking having an adverse effect on British cinema?
What has an adverse effect on British cinema is the fact that, unlike every other country with its own distinctive cinema, we have no quotas protecting British filmmaking from being 100% dominated by Hollywood. We don’t run our TV that way with 95% of the programmes being American and we make, probably, the best TV in the world. Whether meddling arts administrators hand out more or less money to anyone anywhere in the country is of virtually no relevance, and I for one have no interest in serving their overpaid vanity. Do you think the internet will play a greater role in exhibition in the future? Yes, but right now I think people are over-estimating it. DVDs are going to be here for a long time yet. Do you have any advice for film-makers from the lessons you’ve learned and battles you’ve fought to make Diary of a Bad Lad? A lot. The first is that there are quite a few people out there who are now making a living by saying that they’ve discovered the secrets of how to make it as an ind
