Animated film production in the U.K. is readying for an incentivized boost as the government reveals plans for increased tax relief, set to take effect from January 1, 2024. The measure aims to support local businesses in innovation and grow the national economy in general. Draft legislation for a simplified Research and Development (R&D) Scheme was also revealed.
Per the U.K. Government, the country’s creative industry has grown at more than 1.5 times the rate of the wider economy over the past decade, making it an important sector for the Chancellor’s plan to grow the economy.
The new tax changes are expected to be worth £5 million each year to business and come alongside the Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit, which was uplifted at budget from 33.33% to 39%. This also follows the Creative Industries Sector Vision published last month, which set an ambition to grow the creative industries by an extra £50 billion by 2030.
“We want the U.K. to be the best place to start and grow a business and while we have the lowest corporation tax rate in the G7, we are not complacent,” commented Financial Secretary to the Treasury Victoria Atkins. “The changes we are making are about backing business to innovate and grow the U.K. economy, creating good jobs across the country.”
This measure is part of 23 tax announcements published as part of the government’s ‘Legislation Day’, where draft legislation for an upcoming Finance Bill is published, as well as technical tax documents and consultations mostly from measures announced at the Spring Budget. (Read the Finance Bill ministerial statement here.)
Also published today is the proposed design for a simplified R&D scheme, which would be born out of a merger from two previous schemes, as well as draft legislation also published to cement a further new £500 million per year scheme to support 20,000 R&D intensive SMEs.
A final decision will be made in the Autumn on whether to merge the Research and Development Expenditure Credit and Small Medium Enterprise relief schemes to form a new scheme. A merged scheme would simplify the system, by creating a single set of qualifying rules, and giving clarity on how much could be claimed before claims are made.
In other recent industry news out of the U.K., aspiring filmmakers should be aware that the Young Animator of the Year U.K. Competition has launched for Summer 2023. The competition invites talented animators aged 11-18 to showcase their stop-motion, 2D or 3D animation skills. Winning films will be announced and premiered at a special awards ceremony in November at Manchester Animation Festival. Run by ScreenSkills, ACCESS: VFX, 3Dami and NextGen Skills Academy, YAY UK encourages young people to pursue creative skills to set them up to have successful creative careers.
The winning films in the 3D, 2D and stop motion categories will be announced and premiered at the U.K.’s largest animation event, Manchester Animation Festival. The ceremony will invite industry professionals to watch the films alongside the young animators — an opportunity which has given these young animators a leg up. Winners of previous years have gone on to work at major studios including ILM, The Mill, Blue Zoo, MPC and DNEG. Last year, YAY UK winner Nishaan Singh impressed judges with his striking 3D short film and went on to appear in the BBC’s Great British Menu final Banquet. Winners will also be invited to tour behind the scenes of the world-famous Aardman Animations in Bristol and Blue Zoo Animation Studio in London.
Young animators can submit their short films through younganimator.uk. All entrants must live in the U.K., be between 11 to 18 years old and entries must be made by the individual or with a team of animators aged 18 or under.
And speaking of ACCESS: VFX (accessvfx.org), London-based media & entertainment creative software developer Foundry (foundry.com) announced it will continue its commitment to the e-mentorship program for a fourth consecutive year. ACCESS: VFX is a global non-profit focused on driving inclusion and diversity in the VFX, animation and games industries.
The e-mentoring program was created in 2019 and began with 100 mentees looking for routes into the industry. Today, the initiative has partnered over 2,293 budding creatives aged 13 to 65 with dedicated mentors working in these industries — an increase of 155% in global sign ups since 2021. The program has a global reach that matches mentors and mentees in the U.K., U.S.A., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and recently expanded to mainland Europe with the support of new sponsor, Netflix. Its rapid growth in the number of engaged mentees and mentors from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures is working to help broaden diversity and inclusivity across the industry.
The program helps those entering, or re-entering the creative industries, allowing mentees to forge valuable connections and support from industry professionals into a vast range of roles. The most desired roles being a 3D animator (32%), 2D animator (18%) and a compositor (16%).
ACCESS: VFX has added brand-new updates to the program for 2023 that includes a useful Q&A feature through Prospela. Users fill out their details and can choose to sign up as a mentor or to ask the VFX community a question. The new feature means that those looking for one-off advice from professionals can quickly seek the answers to their questions without becoming a part of the program.
