Transformed from an old and rugged industrial town, the modern city of Bristol is a fresh and exciting location with a revamped tax credit system
It’s a whole new way of looking at Bristol, today – an old industrial town in South West England. The storyof this city, located west of London, is afascinating read with its transformationfrom an old, rugged town to a buoyantcity. Bristol is world-famous for Brunel’s Bridge, cathedrals, museums, architectureand street art.
Gone are the days when Bath andLondon would outwit the city or therejuvenated Manchester would demeanit with its modernisation. Today, Bristolis buzzing with a polished and glossywaterfront parked with high-end yachts,cutting-edge restaurants and bars decoratingthe cobbled lanes, and designer stores styling the indigenous. Bristol hasa unique mix of history, culture and heritage.This has created a young, diverseand vibrant city that attracts people fromall over the world.
The mix of dramatic landscape,Georgian and contemporary architecture,and innovative and creative talent hasfashioned a relaxed, tolerant and hardworkingcity, where business and leisurego hand in hand. 
The jaunty town brags buildings andarchitecture from the medieval era to the20th century and beyond. Bristol Byzantine,developed in mid-19th century,is an architectural style unique to thecity, of which several examples are still preserved. The Exchange, the Shakespeare Victoria Street, St Augustine’s Reach and variouschurches, some dating back to the12th century, reveal the old Bristol, whilethe urban areas with tall, contemporaryfacades boast the development the cityhas undergone. Outside the historicalenvirons, the city boasts several Tudormansions built for wealthy inhabitants.Public houses of the same period stillexist and they blend beautifully withmodern development.
Culturally, Bristol is famous for its artand theatre apart from the music industry.The Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery houses a collection of artworksand other natural history. A variety ofevents are held every year which not onlydraw the attention of the media but ofproducers too.
Bristol is a film-friendly city, which isapt for period films as they can adornthe look of yesteryear thanks to the city’spristine architecture. As not many international films have been shot in the city,the locales are fresh. To promote the city,various tax incentives are offered by theUK government to filmmakers.
Why Bristol?
Bristol has had a large increase in productionactivity, exposure and importantly,new companies opening offices inthe city.
• It has a large infrastructure of crew andfacilities
• It is only 2 hours from London, withroad, rail and air links• Public agencies that actively help productionsand companies
• A City Council that provides servicesdedicated to the film and TV Industry
• A talented crew base and a large poolof new entrants
• Bristol is the cultural capital of theSouth West England
INCENTIVES
The UK Government recently announcedthe details of its new tax credit systemthat will replace the existing Section 42and Section 48.
The new tax relief system will mean:
• On low-budget films (withproduction budgets up to £ 20million), the tax credit level willbe 20 per cent
• On higher-budget films (withproduction budgets of £ 20 millionand above), the tax creditlevel will be 20 per cent
• The level of tax credit applies to the expenditure within the UK in order tobe EU state-aid compliant
• The lowering of the minimum UK expenditure threshold from the proposed40 per cent to 25 per cent, allowing more films to qualify for tax relief.
UK Film Council
The Film Fund is a new unified production and development fund dedicatedto British filmmaking. The fund has £ 15 million a year to investacross the development, production and completion of feature films. Beingsupported by the UK Film Council means more than just being given funding.It means that a project can be assisted at every step of the journey by the Film Council team, who can offer advice and practical help with manyaspects of developing and producing a film.Applications are accepted for all kinds of films – from commercial mainstream to experimental, from genre movies to personal stories, fromdocumentaries to animation to live-action fiction.
