Film Finances: The First Years

Abstract

This article gives an account of the formative years of Film Finances, describing the principles behind its operation as well as the contributions of the individuals who built the company. A key element in its success lay in the fact that, as well as offering a guarantor’s financial protection against the unforeseen, it helped producers to make the most of available resources through proactive advice at all stages of a production from concept to delivery. During the 1950s, Film Finances’ guarantee became the lynchpin of a new system of state-supported financing that brought together the National Film Finance Corporation, the distributors and the banks. But it also provided the Hollywood studios with an effective means of supervising independent producers making films in Britain for worldwide distribution. As the decade progressed, the balance of financing for British films shifted from indigenous to American sources of funding. When Film Finances joined a consortium of investors in the early 1960s to set up a distribution company called Garrick Film Distributors, the venture had been intended to harness British sources of funding, but in practice served as a case study in the serious limitations of such finance, setting the scene for Hollywood’s renewed domination.