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UK creative industries minister Chris Bryant underlined the government’s vision for supporting the UK film industry in an emphatic speech at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16.

“We want to do two things in the UK as the Labour government in relation to film,” said Bryant. “We want to be the best place in the world to make film,” pointing towards the roles played by local authorities, film studios, business rates for studios, and promoting a deep pool of talent.

He encouraged the industry to continue to access funding from “the United States of America, or from India, or Nigeria,...

Cannes has always embraced politics and this weekend some of Europe’s most senior politicians are on the Croisette to combine culture with conversation about the response to the three ‘T’ words hanging over the 2025 festival: ‘Trump’s Tariffs Threat’ (Ttt).

French culture minister Rachida Dati will give an address on May 17 to discuss topics facing the local and global industries.

UK creative industries minister Chris Bryant is in town to meet with his European counterparts and is expected to attend the ‘United’ event tonight, hosted by Bafta, the BFI, BBC Filmand Film4.

From the European Parliament, Emma Rafowicz, vice-chair of its influential culture committee,...

Donald Trump has announced a trade deal with the UK, but the U.S. president has said that his film tariff will not be included in the agreement that will be “so good for both countries.”

Speaking from the Oval Office — where he was flanked by Peter Mandelson, the British Ambassador to the U.S. — Trump said he and Prime Minister Keir Starmer had achieved what their predecessors could not in striking an economic agreement.

The deal will mean the UK secures relief from American tariffs on goods including steel and cars, but Trump made clear that his shock plans to slap a 100% tariff on film imports remains on the table.

He told reporters that the film tariff would be discussed separately with the UK, adding that his administration plans to stop productions from leaving America. “Everything comes from here, but they make them in other countries. So we’re...

The BBC has said it is open-minded about supporting calls for a streamer levy to help solve the scripted funding crisis currently gripping the British industry.

BBC Director General Tim Davie told lawmakers on Tuesday that it was a “good idea” to explore ways in which the likes of Netflix could make a “contribution” to local content.

The proposal of a streamer levy has been heavily advocated by Peter Kosminsky, the BAFTA-winning television director and writer behind series including Wolf Hall.

Kosminsky wants Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to hand over 5% of their UK subscription revenue to a cultural fund for British content. He pointed to 17 other territories, including France and Germany, where a similar scheme is already in place.

Davie said he planned to meet Kosminsky “very shortly” to discuss the proposal. “I think the idea that contribution is flowing back into the UK is a good idea. Just...

The UK government isn’t going to follow the likes of France and Denmark, and add a levy to the likes of Netflix and Prime Video.

Against a backdrop of funding concerns for British original scripted television series, it looks like the UK government is going to resist the idea of a levy on streaming service subscriptions. The idea had been put forward by Peter Kosminsky, the director of Wolf Hall, who mooted the plan for streaming services to be charged 5% of their UK subscription revenue. That money would then be put into a pot for the development of scripted British film and TV material.

It’s an approach that’s been taken elsewhere in Europe, but creative industries minister Sir Chris Bryant has now told the Parliamentary Culture, Sport and Media Committee that “we haven’t got any plans” to introduce something similar.

In France, for instance, 20% of local...

Exclusive: Peter Kosminsky, the BAFTA-winning television director and writer, has claimed that the funding emergency for British dramas is the “greatest crisis we’ve ever faced in my working lifetime.”

In an exclusive interview with Deadline, the Wolf Hall director claimed that the industry is in danger of self-censoring provocative, public-interest series because of the risk that they won’t secure the necessary finance to enter production.

The funding crisis is dominating discussions in the UK scripted community, as executives lament a perfect storm of issues, including U.S. streamers pulling back from co-production, shrinking international sales advances, persistent inflation, ad revenue declines, and BBC funding cuts.

Pact, the UK producer trade body, estimates that there are around 15 British series that have been greenlit but are unable to enter production because of funding shortfalls. The BBC has admitted multiple shows are in “limbo,” with Deadline revealing that one series experiencing...

The British government has effectively ruled out the idea of imposing a levy on U.S. streamers like Netflix amid a funding crisis for domestic scripted series.

Sir Chris Bryant, the creative industries minister, told lawmakers on Tuesday that “we haven’t got any plans” to follow other European countries in introducing a so-called streamer levy.

Bryant’s evidence to British Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee means ministers have rejected a proposal from Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky, who called on streamers to hand over 5% of their UK subscription revenue to a cultural fund for British content.

Kosminsky, who has met with Bryant, said a levy could help remedy an urgent funding crisis in UK content, which is preventing some greenlit series from entering production.

Despite the government’s reluctance to introduce levies, the BFI revealed today that it is examining the idea in more detail. BFI chief...

A recent video from the set of The Fantastic Four: First Steps has gone viral on social media, prompting speculation about Chris Evans’ involvement in the film. The video shows a crew member bringing an actor onto the film set in Spain while covering him in a jacket. Fans came up with several guesses as to who this secret actor is.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps concept art | Credits: Marvel Studios

Evans was a popular guess after the actor reprised his role as the Human Torch in the previous MCU film, Deadpool & Wolverine. Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn will play the titular superheroes in the film. Besides these four actors, Ralph Ineson and Julia Garner are also confirmed as Galactus and Silver Surfer in the film.

Video of A Secret Actor Joining The Fantastic Four Set Has Fans Speculating It’s Chris Evans Chris...

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It's possible that the best "Star Trek" movie of all time could be the one that never existed. Before Gene Roddenberry's hokey but heartfelt '60s sci-fi series made the leap to the big screen with a series of wildly inconsistent movies beginning in 1979, the franchise nearly went in an entirely different direction. If not for a studio exec who hated science fiction, and creative differences in the writers' room, the first "Star Trek" film would have been "Planet of the Titans," an incredibly ambitious project that was developed over 7 months before being shelved for good, according to the book "The Fifty-Year Mission."

The first "Star Trek" oral history book from Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, subtitled "The First 25 Years," sets the record straight on many moments from "Trek" history that have become the stuff of legends, but...

The UK’s Labour party has pledged to keep the creative sector tax reliefs during an online cross-party debate hosted today (June 20) by Creative UK, ahead of the July 4 general election.

“Of course we’re going to keep the tax reliefs. We invented the idea of tax reliefs right at the beginning,” said Labour shadow minister for creative industries and digital Chris Bryant. The film tax relief was first introduced in 2007 under a Labour government.

He did not go into detail about any potential changes to the current credits that Labour could implement, simply noting: “Of course we’ve got...

The UK’s Labour party has pledged to keep the creative sector tax reliefs, during an online cross-party debate hosted today (June 20) by Creative UK, ahead of the July 4 general election.

“Of course we’re going to keep the tax reliefs. We invented the idea of tax reliefs right at the beginning,” said Labour shadow minister for creative industries and digital Chris Bryant. The film tax relief was first introduced in 2007, under a Labour government.

He did not go into detail about any potential changes to the current credits that Labour could implement, simply noting: “Of course we’ve got...

Creative UK, the national membership body for the cultural and creative industries, is to host an online general election debate on June 20, in which party representatives will answer questions on key issues.

It will be attended by Lucy Frazer, the Conservative secretary of state for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Dcms); Chris Bryant (Labour’s shadow minister for creative industries and digital); Tim Clement-Jones; and Jack Lenox.

David Bull, Reform UK deputy leader, has been invited but has yet to confirm.

“In just a matter of weeks, we’ll have a new UK government,” said Caroline Norbury, chief executive of Creative UK.

In the late 1970s, Paramount wanted to bring Star Trek back in some way. They commissioned Star Trek: Planet of the Titans, the lost movie in the franchise. The film was to be a time-travel adventure, potentially turning the crew of the USS Enterprise into the Greek pantheon. There was one story that outspoken atheist Gene Roddenberry consistently tried to put into Star Trek.

In that story, the Enterprise was dispatched to meet an ancient, robotic alien spacecraft that was the source of humanity's various myths about "god." Yet even in the 1970s, this was a controversial plot. But Paramount had artists hard at work trying to reboot the franchise, and Planet of the Titans was supposed to be a cinematic feature that fit with the stories audiences expected from the show.

Related: Star Trek Invented Franchises as We Know Them, Against All Odds

Planet of the Titans Made Star Trek...

Wheel of Fortune contestant Chris Bryant won’t be having any sweet dreams tonight as an avoidable flub during Tuesday’s episode is sure to be playing on his mind. Bryant was close to solving a “Song Lyrics” puzzle, which was the opening line to the Eurythmics’ hit record “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).” However, despite having the word “This” spelled out on the board, Bryant fell into the trap of the song’s common mispronunciation, answering, “Sweet dreams are made of these.” “You knew it as soon as it came out for your mouth, don’t worry about it, it’s going to be fine,” assured host Pat Sajak as Bryant bowed his head in embarrassment. Bryant’s error allowed one of his fellow contestants to swoop in with the correct answer and steal the prize pot. Despite the mistake, viewers on social media had Bryant’s back,...

Cancer Support Community Los Angeles (Cscla) presents the 5th annual Gilda Gala, Saturday, October 19, 2019 at the InterContinental Hotel, Century City.

The gala benefits free services, for cancer patients and their families, that Cscla has provided since 1982. Cocktail reception at 5:45 p.m., Dinner and Gala program at 7 p.m., followed by the After-Hours Comedy Show at 9:30 pm. The Gala is named for the legendary comedian Gilda Radner, an early participant and supporter of Cscla. The Cancer Support Community believes that no one should face cancer alone.

Honorees are Ken Jeong; Dr. Annette Stanton, UCLA Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology, and Bedford Breast Center of Beverly Hills. Comedian Alonzo Bodden will emcee. Separately ticketed, the After-Hours Comedy Show continues the celebration with featured comics Zoe Rogers, Tamer Kattan, Chris Bryant, Jenny Yang and others.

An actor, producer, writer and comedian, Ken Jeong’s Netflix special, Ken Jeong: You Complete Me,...

Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) is showing July 20 - August 19 and Don't Look Now (1973) is showing July 30 - August 29, 2018 in Germany in the series Double Feature: Nicolas Roeg.Illustration by Wbyk.“[Nicolas] Roeg has more visual strategies than any other director I can think of,” wrote Pauline Kael in 1975, reviewing the director’s melancholic sci-fi allegory The Man Who Fell to Earth. She goes on to enumerate them while insisting that in the end they don’t add up to much, echoing the qualms she had with the similarly virtuosic Don’t Look Now two years earlier: “this is the fanciest, most carefully assembled enigma yet put on the screen.” In both reviews, Kael’s admiration for Roeg’s compositional sense (“he can charge a desolate landscape so that it seems ominously alive”) conflicts with suspicions that there’s less going on in his impeccably framed and...