It introduced a requirement for British cinemas to show a quota of British films, for a duration of 10 years. The Act's supporters believed that it would promote the emergence of a vertically integratedfilm industry, with production, distribution and exhibition infrastructure being controlled by the same companies. The vertically integrated American film industry had rapid growth in the years immediately following the end of World War I. The idea, then, was to try to counter Hollywood's perceived economic and cultural dominance by promoting similar business practices among British studios, distributors, and cinema chains. By creating an artificial market for British films, the increased economic activity in the production sector was hoped to lead to the eventual growth of a self-sustaining industry. The quota was initially set at 7.5% for exhibitors but was raised to 20% in 1935. The films included ones shot in British dominions, such as Canada and Australia. A British film was defined in the following ways:
The film must be made by a British or British-controlled company.
Studio scenes must be photographed within a film studio in the British Empire.
At least 75% of the salaries must be paid to British subjects, excluding the costs of two persons, at least one of whom must be an actor.
Aftermath
The act is generally not considered a success. On the one hand, it occasioned the creation of speculative investment, in lavishly-budgeted features, that could not have hoped to recoup their production costs on the domestic market, ; at the other end of the spectrum, it was criticized for the emergence of the opportunistic "quota quickie", which purposed a quick financial return occasioned by modest production investment.
Quota quickie
The quota quickies were mostly low-cost, low-quality, quickly-accomplished films commissioned by American distributors active in the UK or by British cinema owners purely to satisfy the quota requirements. In recent years, an alternative view has arisen among film historians such as Lawrence Napper, who have argued that the quota quickie has been too casually dismissed and is of particular cultural and historical value because it recorded performances unique to British popular culture, which would not have been filmed under normal economic circumstances. The act was modified by the Cinematograph Films Act 1938, removing films shot by nations in the British Empire from the quota and further acts, and it was eventually repealed by the Films Act 1960.
