Filmmaking in the UK

　　Jo:  I'm Jo Reffin and on today's entertainment programme on

　　bbclearningenglish.com, we're talking to someone who works in the film

　　business.

　　Samantha Perahia

　　My name's Samantha Perahia – I work for the UK Film Council, we are a government funded

　　organisation 1 who are responsible for all aspects of filmmaking in the UK. It is my

　　responsibility to help anybody who wants to film in the UK – to help with locations, crew,

　　facilities.

　　Jo:  The UK Film Council is a government funded organisation. So the politicians

　　running the UK, the government, give money to pay for this organisation to

　　exist. The Film Council looks after all aspects, all parts of film making in this

　　country. So Samantha can help with crew – and the film crew are the group of

　　people who work together on the film – the crew. Then there's the location, the

　　place where the film is filmed and finally Samantha talks about facilities – so

　　any equipment or services needed when the films are made like food or parking

　　for example.

　　Part of Samantha's job is to get filmmakers to come and make their films in the

　　UK. So how does she do that?

　　Samantha Perahia

　　There are many many countries around the world that have film industries that are important

　　to their economy and the UK is one of the largest film making industries in the world, second

　　only to the US so there's lot so of competition for countries that want to draw international

　　films to their countries, so we have to make it economically attractive first and foremost 2.

　　Jo:  The film industry is another way of saying the film business. The UK has one

　　of the biggest filmmaking industries in the world, second only to the US,

　　America. So second only to the US means the US is the largest and the UK is

　　the second largest. Samantha says each country is trying to be the most

　　successful – there's a lot of competition for countries who want to draw or

　　attract international films to be filmed in their country. To attract people to

　　make films in the UK, it has to be economically attractive first and foremost.

　　The most important thing is the UK is a cheaper place to make films.

　　You're listening to bbclearningenglish.com and we're talking about making

　　films in the UK. Now how does the UK Film Council help to make the UK

　　economically attractive to filmmakers?

　　Samantha Perahia

　　The way we do that is we have thankfully a film-friendly government who have devised a tax

　　credit which is to be honest the main reason why people first come to the UK to film second

　　only to the fact that we have the best facilities, crew and talent around the world.

　　Jo:  Samantha is pleased, thankful, that the UK has a film-friendly government –

　　the UK government wants films to be made in the UK. They have devised, they

　　have created a tax credit. Now, Samantha will explain tax credit in a moment.

　　But this tax credit is the one of the main reasons people come to the UK to

　　make films and she used that expression 'second only' again. So people come

　　to make films in the UK because of the tax credit. Samantha says that reason is

　　second only to the fact that the UK has the best facilities, crew and talent for

　　making films.

　　So Samantha, please explain to us what this tax credit actually is? First, here's

　　some language to help you. Sufficient means enough. A budget is the amount

　　of money you have to spend on something. A significant amount is an

　　important, fairly large amount and expenditure 3 means money that you spend.

　　Samantha Perahia

　　Films which spend a sufficient amount of their budgets in the UK will be able to get a

　　significant amount of their expenditure back.

　　Jo:  Everyone has to pay tax to the government - so if you think of money from

　　your salary or any goods that you buy, some of it will go to the government in

　　what is called tax. So the tax credit means if filmmakers spend a certain

　　amount of their budget in the UK, then the UK government will give the

　　filmmakers some money back.

　　Samantha Perahia

　　Films which spend a sufficient amount of their budgets in the UK will be able to get a

　　significant amount of their expenditure back.