Supporting London film

London is already the third busiest city for film making in the world, behind LA and New York. This booming industry has brought £770m of investment to the city over the last four years.

In 2012, there were 17,604 filming days in London – up 20% on 2011’s figures – and the busiest year for filming the city’s ever seen.

The Mayor of London has invested £2m in Film London to maintain the capital’s global position for film and also become as popular for TV and animation production. The Mayor’s investment will broaden Film London’s remit and activate the new tax reliefs in this sector.

He has earmarked £750,000 specifically to develop London’s TV and animation sectors. This will help bring in £200m worth of additional expenditure through TV and animation production and create a 1,000 new industry jobs.

Every October, London hosts the BFI London Film Festival with over 230 fiction and documentary films, including 22 world premieres, showcasing homegrown talents as well as anticipating future award winning films.

As part of this we host a Centrepiece Gala, presented by the Mayor and Film London. Previous premieres have featured in recent years Their Finest, Inside Llewyn Davis and The Lady in the Van.

London loves going to the movies and hosts over a fifth of the UK’s cinema screens. Film fans will find everything from world premieres in Leicester Square, to specialist art-house cinemas, Secret Cinema to summer outdoor screenings by City Hall and even a Floating Cinema!

The city has also provided the backdrop to numerous movie blockbusters and cult films, from Harry Potter to Hitchcock thrillers, James Bond to A Clockwork Orange. Films can have a huge influence how people see London and the UK. According to VisitBritain, films depicting this country help attract about 10% of our overseas visitors and generate around £1.8 billion spending each year.