Creative Industries and Skills: Film Education and Training in the Era of New Labour

Abstract

The first decade of the new millennium witnessed significant developments in the education and training of film and television practitioners. These developments were in turn informed by the broader policy agendas of Tony Blair’s New Labour administration that had come to power in 1997. The government’s policy for film was essentially part of a wider promotion of Britain’s ‘creative industries’ as forms of high-profile cultural activity with great potential in terms of national branding – ‘Creative Britain’ being a kind of millennial update of ‘swinging London’ – and economic growth. Indeed, the advocacy of a primarily market-oriented imperative (rather than the concept of cultural value or social good) placed a priority on the creative industries to take full advantage of new global business opportunities. In the specific sphere of film, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) embarked on a major reorganisation of state support through the establishment in 2000 of a new all-purpose agency, the Film Council (subsequently the UK Film Council), the primary aim of which was the creation of an internationally competitive and sustainable British film industry. This involved the UKFC directly in various aspects of industry strategy and organisation, including the education and training of new entrants. The relationship between the creative industries policy agenda and the formation of new media practitioners can be usefully located in the wider context of New Labour’s approach to higher education and the needs of the post-industrial ‘knowledge economy’. While seeking to increase substantially the numbers of young people going to university,