Adrian Wootton is the first Chief Executive of Film London, the body charged with representing and developing the film and media industry in the capital. Prior to his appointment in 2003, he was director of the London Film Festival and acting director of the BFI. He talks to Sarah Cooper about the problems of funding in the British film industry, and why an advert in the Guardian is not going to be enough to find new talent.
We meet at the Film London headquarters in Shoreditch, where Adrian Wootton has been Chief Executive since its inception in 2003. It is a huge warehouse space with film posters everywhere and amazing views over the city. Given that the organisation’s role is to ‘sustain, promote and develop London as a major film-making capital’, it seems appropriate that the office itself looks just like something out of a film. Yes, if this was a film, it would star Jude Law as a smooth talking exec with a penchant for champagne in the afternoon. But it is not, and Wootton turns out to be a larger than life 46-year-old with a slight West Midlands accent and a penchant for Pret’s Ginger Beer.
Wootton kicks off the interview by talking about his campaign of the moment – the Production Finance Market, an initiative, now in its second year, which encourages private financiers to invest in the British film industry. “It seemed ridiculous that despite London being such a major global financial centre, there wasn’t a single event in the capital focused on raising money for films,” he says. This year, the emphasis is on attracting the big European players to the table, by encouraging them to invest in British films and use London as a base for filming. Hence a trip to Cannes to plunge into a series of meetings and lunches.
But back to films – Wootton’s passion. Born in Wolverhampton and raised on the outskirts of Birmingham, he grew up watching classic Hollywood musicals and westerns with his mum and dad (both film buffs) and the “great noir films of the 1940s, like Vertigo and Casablanca”. While at the University of East Anglia he saw a double bill of Mean Streets and Fingers, and “that was it -I was hooked”. After completing an MA in Film, he went on to work as a Programmer at the Bradford Film Theatre and as director of Broadway Cinema in Nottingham before finding himself at the BFI in 1993, first as the director of the National Film Theatre, then as director of the London Film Festival, and finally as ‘acting’ director of the whole organisation.
There have been suggestions that Wootton left the BFI because he wasn’t offered the top job, although he will not be drawn on this, and if he is bitter, he doesn’t let on – “I had done 10 years there and had gone as far as I could go creatively and Film London was a fantastic opportunity,” he explains. He is clearly on good terms with the BFI – he has just programmed a Sinatra Season there this month and often returns as a guest lecturer. Wootton smiles, “so I guess you could say I have the best of both worlds”. Did he ever think about making films himself? “No, my interest has always been in delivering things that support and celebrate films.”
Asked what he thinks about the appointment of ex-BBC boss Greg Dyke as Chairman at the BFI, a decision that has caused some controversy amongst those who believe the job should have gone to a filmmaker, he says, “The truth is, nobody else stepped up to the job, and with the BFI’s ambitious plans for the film centre, he is the best man for it, having run such a massive organisation like the BBC.” But, he adds, “the proof will be in the pudding”. And does he agree with Dyke that the London Film Festival should be made more ‘glitzy’? “I think the festival needs to have a higher international profile, but you can’t do that without the resources. If you look at the Rome Film Festival, their budget is 9 million euros, whereas we are looking at just under 2 million. It all comes down to money.”
And there it is – the age-old problem of money, or lack of it, in the British film industry. Wootton suggests that the problem is the industry’s reliance on public subsidies, which can be taken away at any point. Still, with his Production Finance Market initiative, he hopes to bring in more private investment, taking the pressure off broadcasters like the BBC. He acknowledges that it won’t just happen overnight – “it means changing the whole structure, which is quite a big ask, but we are trying”. And if anyone can do it, Adrian Wootton can. This is the man who managed to get his hero, Martin Scorsese, to come to Bradford (yes, Bradford) to present a film. Changing the face of the British film industry? No problem.
But even when the resources are there, we still continue to produce flops like the recent Three and Out or Sex Lives of the Potato Men. Wootton agrees – “We desperately need to attract more talent, but it is no good just putting an advert in the Guardian, you have to go out there and find it, and more importantly, make people believe that there is a real opportunity for them, not just a false door.” He cites his own Film London initiative, Microwave, which gives filmmakers the chance to move from short films to feature films with the help of a £100,000 prize and support from the likes of Stephen Frears and Jeremy Thomas. The first film produced from the scheme, Mum and Dad, is about to be shown at the Edinburgh Film Festival.
Does he agree that the industry is nepotistic and closed? “There is a history of it, and again it is about changing attitudes.” Wootton, however, is proof that you don’t need a Cambridge degree and a book of contacts to get in: “I wasn’t one of those people whose dad was a producer and who could walk straight in and get a job. I had to pay for my MA myself, I worked five nights a week at Cinema City in Norwich, I racked up a phenomenal amount of debt, but I thought what the hell, this is what I want to do.”
So what next for Film London? On the production side, the big news is a collaboration with Kudos Television on their remake of the US hit show Law and Order, which will mean liaising with the Met Police, London Boroughs and TFL to ensure the filming runs smoothly. And of course, Bond is back in town, currently to be found shooting at Pinewood and all over the city. Wootton talks about an “uneasy summer” following the Writers’ Strike and the uncertainly surrounding the Screen Actors’ Guild, but says to expect a surge of new British films in the autumn.
And where does Wootton see himself in five years time? “Celebrating the fantastic success of the Olympics, having contributed to making film a big part of it.” Given his track record, who would doubt that he’ll succeed?
