By their nature, banks are cautious, and independent producers often find it difficult to find funding. The other alternative is to go to the BBC or FilmFour, both of which were phenomenally important three years ago, explains Dearsley. Both are still very influential and tend to provide the earlier money and development funds for producers. However, everyone in the world of film financing agrees that the tax concessions have been popular with rich individuals, who stand to gain most from such tax shelters, as they pay the highest level of tax. Anthony Gostyn of niche media firm The Simkins Partnership says that his department handles about 8-10 such deals a month.
People are prepared to put in money on a risk or an opportunity basis.
Money is going in on the basis that it may be a good or bad film. This is a new thing, and it's fantastic. In fact, the scheme has been such a success that there are now more partnerships made up of of rich individuals chasing British films to invest their money in than there are producers strapped for cash. Olswang film and television partner Jacqueline Hurt says that when the sale and leaseback tax concessions were first introduced the film industry did not enjoy any significant immediate impact. As the deals only take place between completion of the film and delivery of the negative, the money due to the producer, which is a certain percentage of the cost of the film, is only handed over after the film is finished, so none of it can be used towards actuallymaking the film itself.