Yesterday The Times published an article about the damaging effect on the UK film production industry of the recent closure of the tax loophole which encouraged patronage of film production. Stelios joined the debate@thetimes.co.uk with the following comments:

 

Even before the latest tax loophole was closed independent film producers in the UK were finding it hard to get their films shown to the general public. Money donated by the British public, throught the National Lottery and then the UK Film Council, goes to film productions that cannot eventually find a cinema to show their finished products.

 

I am trying to stop this waste of time and money and am currently trying to buy the Coronet cinema in London's Notting Hill Gate where one of the screens, run by its members, will be dedicated to non-mainstream movies.

 

On a wider scale, I am also offering the owners and operators of local cinemas the chance to load and sells seats in their cinemas through our website at www.easyCinema.com. This gives small and independent cinemas the chance to earn some extra revenue by selling their seats online, as well as being given some extra leverage through use of the 'easy' brand.

 

The point here is that while the removal of a tax break may be unhelpful for UK film producers, there is a way forward. Cinemas in the UK need to both promote and show these productions and the more united we are, the more we can provide an alternative to the Hollywood juggernaut. Hollywood's offering has a great appeal but with cinema occupancy as low as 20% in the UK, there is room for a whole lot more. All of us should be interested in getting more people to go to the cinema more often.

 

 

Stelios
Serial Entrepreneur and founder of easyCinema.com