Page 30 - Fujifilm Exposure_4 Samantha Janus_ok

Selling Britain To The World
When he tells you proudly that his career has, to date, spanned an astonishing 58 years in the film industry, you begin to wonder through which time-warp the seem- ingly ever-youthful Sir Sydney Samuelson must have dropped.
Now 72 - he began as a rewind boy aged just 14 in the Luxor Cinema, Lancing, the year World War ll broke out - he still looks trim, fit and, most important of all, still retains a bound- less enthusiasm for British film.
As if running Samuelsons, the world’s largest film, television and audio-visual equip- ment supply organisation didn’t already quali- fy him as an elder statesman, then his day job since 1991 most certainly has. That was the year he retired from the company he’d founded in 1954 with a £300 down payment on a Newman-Sinclair clockwork camera which the aspiring tycoon then rented out from home.
But even before there was time to draw reasonable breath, Samuelson - the “Sir” bit deservedly and most popularly followed five years later - accepted a Tory Government appoint- ment as the first ever British Film Commissioner.
Now, seven years on, he has just bowed out of a post (his successor is Steven Norris) in which he dra- matically helped to change Britain’s film production profile. The principal role of the BFC has been to mar- ket the United Kingdom overseas as a prime film, video and television base.
When the initiative - these days funded modestly to the tune of £850,000 - was launched, the only other UK participant was the Liverpool Film Office.
Its model was, intriguingly, New York’s Mayors Office set up just after the war. The BFC was charged with covering the whole of the UK with a network of regional film commissions. Currently there are no less than 25 with the BFC itself a one-stop shopping centre, computer-linked to all its high-tech branches.
“Take this example,” explains Samuelson. “An American producer rings us and says his movie needs a flashback from the time a character’s father
was from a run-down mining commu- nity over here. We can take that call which in turn networks all the other commissions in the UK, of which then perhaps six will have the necessary details on their own database flashed to
London.
“Small miracles have been
achieved by commissions up and down the country. Of course, it’s not always possible to deliver exact- ly what a producer demands. You can’t, for instance, shoot in the Old Bailey but I can assure you that our network can deliver at least half a dozen Old Bailey lookalikes up and
down the country in no time.”
Samuelson claims that the BFC has “made a huge difference.” It has also, he adds, spurred on a number of other countries to think very seriously about having their own similar sort of set-up... “and think about this, there is still no overall American Film Commission!”
When not fronting the BFC, he has been heavily involved in what may well be the most significant Government initiative yet for the future of the industry: its Policy Review, due to be unveiled in March. There have been seven specialist sub-groups beavering away. Samuelson was part of “Inward Investment”. Another, which addresses one of the most fun- damental issues, was titled “Training.”
He says: “Looking back over 20 years, the industry has had periods of fair activity but also long periods of nil activity. Couple that with the fact that we no longer have that great training ground known as the BBC and that even the ITV companies no longer have that many regularly employed staff members.
“These days it’s really a freelance indus- try which in turn means a fragmented industry. Technicians at all levels just go from job to job. The old way of training - going up through the ranks - no longer exists. Film schools do a very important job but they don’t provide people who can produce rain on cue, turn a car through 360 degrees or even, for that matter, production accountants. The only way you learn these sort of skills is working alongside people who already do it on a daily basis. It’s not a quick process and there no companies as yet who provide a permanent training facility in these fields. Something has to be worked out quickly before the situation becomes critical.”
On the brighter side, Samuelson revels in the current success around the world of many British films: “Take The Wings Of The Dove. I don’t know how they achieved much of that look but it was marvel- lous. Can I mention Wilde? (produced by his son Marc) Despite a relatively low budget it was a mar- vellous recreation of the late Victorian era.
“Then there was Secrets And Lies which also shows what can be done for very little money. And, of course, The Full Monty (now officially the biggest- ever box-office success in the UK). Every aspect was good. It may have been set in cruddy, run-down areas but how wonderfully well it was all put together. And it only cost £2.2m. Brilliant ■ QUENTIN FALK
HelenaBonhamCarterin
The Wings Of The Dove
Secrets And Lies and The Wings Of The Dove were originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative.
EXPOSURE • 30
reflections