Hollywood UK: the stars and suits

The British film scene is changing - there's more money, more glamour, more product than ever before. Adam Minns explains who's who, and how it all works

Alan Parker, director and chairman of the Film Council, the Government's newly launched British film super-body, declared this month: "It is a testimony to how far we have come that Greenaway and Scott are equally as important as artists." It is also testimony to how far the British film industry has come that the most important person in the public funding sector believes that Peter Greenaway and Ridley Scott are artistically equal - and believes it with a vengeance. As head of the Film Council, which oversees all public support for the film sector, Parker is focusing on developing a British industry that can emulate Hollywood.

It is a tall order. Hollywood was founded by émigrés who decided that selling films was a better business than selling potatoes. After all, at least you get to see a potato before you buy it. And it's no coincidence that the Hollywood studios that dominate the film world today are essentially sales machines, financing other people - the producers - to make films. The studios then devise amarketing campaign for the films to sell themto the public, and use their distribution divisions to sell the films to cinema chains (which the studios often own themselves ).

By contrast, the British film industry has traditionally revolved around independent producers, who arrange financing through a patchwork of sources. Independent distributors buy rights to the film from its producer andthen sell it on to the cinemas, while international sales agents sell the film to distributors inother countries.

Some of this is changing. British companies such as FilmFour and Renaissance are seeking to emulate the US studios by combining different businesses such as production, distribution and sales. Meanwhile, more than double the number of British films are being made compared with 10 years ago.

Parker aims to channel the bulk of public funds into more commercial films. The idea is that by turning commercial, UK companies can grow. And instead of having to work within the American studio system tomake the films he wants to make, Ridley Scott may even make a British film.