I am confused by Cameron’s latest call for film funding to only go to commercially successful films in the future. Many have already raised the issue better than I can that you can’t predict what is going to become a blockbuster. It’s not that much of an exact science, and if it was then everyone would be doing it.
The announcement completely misses the point as far as I can see. The Film Council or BFI or whoever it is who dishes out the lottery funding these days are there, surely, in part to support parts of the film industry who would not be able to get films funded without their help. So by their nature they are going to be the riskier, more arty, independent films. If they were guaranteed commercially successful then they would be able to get funding from other means and wouldn’t need lottery support.
