15 July 2015

Dear Amanda Nevill and Darren Henley

We are some of Britains award winning animators, artists, producers and curators, working
across and between film, the arts and other creative industries. We are proud to have
contributed to the growth, success and international renown of independent animation from
the UK. We are writing to draw your attention to the need for greater clarity around public
policy and investment for independent animation. We ask that you urgently take steps to
address these issues to help ensure British animations continued success.
We welcome the initiatives that have been introduced since 2011: the tax credits to support
childrens television animation; the BFI Aardman Development Lab; the Vision Awards for
animation studios; and the BFI Film Fund development support for animation features.
However, our concern is at the lack of support for other forms animation: for experiment,
innovation and creative risk.
The UKs international reputation for nurturing original and creative animation talent was
achieved in the 1990s and came by way of a uniquely British model of consistent public support
from public service broadcasters and from public film and arts funding bodies that facilitated
creative production. Today, there is no dedicated funding for animation in England and the
detrimental impact of that is startlingly evidenced, not least, in the diminished UK
representation at the Oscars and international film festivals (please see the attached notes).
British animators have continued to make films, and the success of student work, studio and
self-funded films - at the BAFTAs, Oscars, and international festivals - is testament to both the
quality and determination of British artistic talent. But without public investment, other talent is
not developed and is going to waste, or going elsewhere. The absence of public support means
that the only people who can make animation are students, the few directors supported by the
studios that represent them, and those with independent means. The art form cannot be
expected to be wholly reliant on its practitioners resourcefulness: this is inequitable,
unsustainable, and fails to promote diversity.
Why independent animation matters
Animation is a vital part of the UKs culture and its creative industries; is has a public value that
is intrinsic and instrumental, economic and cultural. Animation is the predominant digital
visual form, inherently cross-platform, and an core component of digital form and culture. The
Arts Council England funded Accelerate Animation Report (2013) notes how digital
technology and the explosion of screen-based culture mean that we all encounter animation in
different forms many times a day.
Animators make a fundamental contribution to much live action production. Animation is
prevalent in contemporary visual arts practice; it is an increasingly integral component of
theatre, opera and dance productions. The UKs reputation as a centre for creativity in
animation attracts international students to our animation schools.
Animation is a site of innovation, risk-taking and the development of new creative techniques
that extend the potential of technologies. The UKs reputation for creativity and innovation
creates demand for animation talent; independent production is a test bed for advertising, video
gaming and other creative industries, and for filmmakers and writers who go on to make feature
length films and television series. Chris Robinson, artistic director of Ottawa International
Animation Festival has noted how almost all of the most successful and original industry
animation voices came from independent backgrounds. It was their unique, experimental styles
and voices that made them stand out.

Contemporary practice and ways of working

The Warwick Commissions report, Enriching Britain: Culture, Creativity and Growth, noted
that the points of connection between the Cultural and Creative Industries are where the
potential for greatest value creation resides culturally, socially and economically and that
insufficient attention has been paid to the synergies between the interlocking sectors of the
Cultural and Creative Industries Ecosystem. There is already a flow of talent, ideas, and public
and private investment across and between the Cultural and Creative Industries.
The Accelerate Animation Report amply evidences how animation practice sits at the nexus of
this interchange. The Warwick Commissions recommendation that this flow needs to now be
better identified and encouraged and the warning that not enough is being done to stimulate
or realise the creative potential of individuals, or to maximise their cultural and economic value
to society could not apply more strongly, and critically, than they do to animation.
Arts Council England has declared its commitment to animation: most recently, in November
2013, then Chief Executive, Alan Davey, said that ACE and BFI would work together to
further support animators in both development, production, networking and knowledge sharing
in 2014/15. We believe there is no time to lose in acting on these intentions. The sums of
money required to underpin a vibrant independent animation sector are relatively very small
indeed, especially in relation to the potential cultural and reputational returns on any
investment.
Our hope is that you will appreciate our concerns and be open to further conversation with us
on how independent animation can best be supported, and as a first step, we hope you might
consider a meeting.
Yours sincerely
Will Anderson, BAFTA winner
Kieran Argo, Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival
Paul Bush, animator, awards include Tampere, Hiroshima, Zagreb, Melbourne
Emma Calder, animator
Sarah Cox, BAFTA winner
Gaelle Denis, BAFTA winner
Keith Griffiths, producer, BAFTA nominee, Cannes Palme d'Or nominee and winner
Jonathan Hodgson, BAFTA winner
Phil Mulloy, animator, three time Best Feature award winner at Ottawa International
Animation Festival
Ian Francis, Flatpack Festival
Iain Gardner, animator, animation programmer Edinburgh International Film Festival
Karolina Glusiec, winner Jerwood Prize for Drawing
Stephen Irwin, animator, awards include Grand Prize Ottawa International Animation Festival
Ruth Lingford, animator, Professor of Animation at Harvard, McLaren Award winner
Maria Manton, producer, BAFTA nominee
Mikey Please, BAFTA winner, awards include Annecy, BAA, Los Angeles, AFI, Clermont
Ferrand, SXSW
Sally Pearce, animator
Timothy and Stephen Quay, animators, BAFTA nominees, Cannes Palme d'Or nominees
Chris Shepherd, animator, BAFTA nominee, awards include Rotterdam, AFI, LFF, Fantoche,
BAA, Ann Arbor
David Shrigley, artist
Gary Thomas and Abigail Addison, Animate Projects

Notes on UK Animation
In the 1990s:

BBC and S4C have dedicated animation units

Channel 4 supports around 15 short films a year through its innovative open call schemes, in
partnerships with the BFI, the Arts Council of Great Britain/England and the National Media
Museum, as well as single films
Between 1995 and 2000, National Lottery funding for film supports animated shorts and artists
animation with grants of up to 50,000

Now:

No dedicated funding for animated shorts in England

Creative Englands iShorts is effectively off limits to animators, as was the BFIs Shorts scheme
ACE support for animation through Channel 4's Random Acts now supports training of/production by
young people, and the availability of slots for professional animators/producers and other filmmakers is
as a consequence substantially reduced

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film

1990
1991
1992
1993
2000

Nick Park wins with Creature Comforts

Daniel Greaves wins for Manipulation
3 of the 5 Oscar nominees are British
4 of the 5 Oscar nominees are British
Michael Dudok de Witts Lottery funded Father and Daughter wins

In the ten years from 1992 to 2001, there were 19 Oscar nominations for British films. There have been
only nine nominations 13 years since, including two childrens television specials, Nick Parks A Matter of
Loaf and Death (made for the BBC), three NFTS graduation films, and three independent productions
with no UK public investment.
BAFTA Award for Best Short Animation
Since 2007:

21 British UK independent nominated

12 were student films
only 3 had any public investment

British representation at international festivals

Stuttgart Animation Festival
Hiroshima Animation Festival
Annecy (competition)

1998: 13 films selected

1998: 18 films selected
1998: 8 films selected

2011: 1 film selected

2011: 4 films selected
2015: 2 films selected

Despite the lack of public investment, British animators have continued to make films and find success.
In 2011, at Ottawa International Animation Festival the biggest of its kind in North America animators
from the UK took seven of 15 international prizes, including those for best short (Stephen Irwin) and best
feature (Phil Mulloy). At Sundance in 2012, five out of seven in the international Animated Short category
were British, and another two British animations were selected for the International Narrative Short
category, with Kibwe Tavares Robots of Brixton winning the Special Jury Award for Animation Direction.