LONDON BRIEFING:Despite plans to cut arts funding, acquisition of a film studio is a tribute to British creative talent, writes DAVID TEATHER
TIME WARNER, the world's biggest media company, has been showing a keen interest in Britain of late. Last week, its Hollywood film division, Warner Bros, bought Leavesden Studios, where it had made the entire series of Harry Potterfilms.
Then over the weekend, reports emerged that Warner Music was considering a near £500 million bid for the main business of EMI, home to Robbie Williams and Coldplay.
The common theme is the tribute to British creative talent; something that should sound a clarion warning to the government as it prepares to cut a swathe through arts and humanities education funding and threaten a piece of the economy that Britain stubbornly seems to get right.
Warner’s plan is to invest £100 million in Leavesden, refurbishing the studios, safeguarding at least 1,500 jobs and developing a museum of the adventures of the boy wizard, doubtless from the disused sets that have helped to generate billions for the movie studio.
Leavesden, near Watford, was once a Rolls-Royce factory, but the 170-acre site is now at the heart of a renaissance for the British film industry and the potential reshaping of the British economy as a hub for creative talent.
Investment in film in Britain is at record highs, reaching £780 million in the first nine months of the year alone. Movies being shot across the country include Captain America: The First Avengerand the latest in the X-Menand Pirates of the Caribbeansagas.
Barry Meyer, Warner Bros’ long-standing chief executive, said the decision to buy the business was based on “confidence in the skills and creativity of the UK film industry”.
EMI is not quite in such robust state. The hedge fund Terra Firma, run by the controversial financier Guy Hands, bought the label three years ago and the business has since been on anything but solid ground.
Hands loaded the company with debt and has several times breached his banking covenants.
The rumour of the Warner bid, which could be lodged within weeks, emerged after Hands’s humbling defeat in a New York courtroom, where he had claimed that a former friend and ally at Citigroup had misled him into doing the EMI deal.
One can only wonder what that did for already miserable morale at EMI; knowing that the boss feels he was tricked into buying the company.
Warner and EMI have been dancing around one another for years. The stumbling block in previous deals has been the publishing division that owns song rights and which would be likely left out of any takeover.
The market has changed significantly since regulators last ran their slide rule over a Warner/ EMI merger, making them less likely to throw up any objections.
Still, even with a balance sheet weighed down by debt and an industry wracked by structural change, EMI can boast of an impressive roster of artists that also includes Gorillaz, Hot Chip and Corinne Bailey Rae.
Dispiriting then that even though Warner recognises the worth of British creative talent, the government appears not to.
Government funding for arts and humanities is to be hardest hit by cuts to English universities, while state support for science, technology, engineering and maths is maintained, prompting the heads of some of the most prestigious arts institutions to warn this week that Britain could lose out on a generation of creative minds.
Some might suggest it is difficult to put a value on the arts. Time Warner though has come up with a figure and it is no small beans.
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Pontins provokes nostalgia amid people of a certain age, wistful remembrances of staying in a chalet and dancing to Agadoo at the clubhouse in tired seaside towns.
And so there was a collective twang of regret when it emerged over the weekend that the business had fallen into administration.
Pontins has been through a number of owners and was already well past its glory days. The business was founded by Fred Pontin after the second World War to cater for families seeking cheap holidays amid the austerity of the post-war period.
His first camp was a converted army base.
At its peak, there were 30 camps and the Bluecoats launched the careers of performers including Shane Ritchie and Bobby Davro.
Current management had boasted of big investment plans. The recession, they argued, was playing into their hands, as they offered weekends for £25 and Christmas breaks for as little as £11 a head a night. However they failed to overcome the perception that Pontins was just hopelessly out of date.
Group bankers say they will keep the business running as a going concern in the hope of finding a buyer. The first question for any prospective buyer, though, is whether there is any prospect of Pontins ever doing well again if it cannot do so in these straitened times.
David Teather writes for the Guardiannewspaper in London. Fiona Walsh is on leave.
