Catalyzing creativity in the digital world

• Author: Lord David Puttnam
• Position: President of the Film Distributors' Association, Deputy Chairman of British public service broadcaster Channel 4 and as Chancellor of the Open University
• Pages: 2-3

In thes e extremely ch allenging times our creative

industrie s are takin g on a greater degree of i m-

portanc e than ever before. Digi tal te chnologies,

including broadband, are already transfo rming

the way in whi ch audiences consu me moving im-

ages of every k ind. But b eyond all e lse, the tr ans-

formation is being driven by a growing number

of fundam ental changes in people’s behavior – in

audiences, as consumers and as cit izens. For ex-

ample, peop le want to use digita l technologies to

access content faster, more conveniently, at

home and on t he move – in ways that w ere all

but unimaginabl e even a decade ago. Needless

to say, thi s poses some difficult challenges for

anyone invol ved in creating and d istributing fil ms

and tele vision programs .

Change, when it occurs at the scale and speed

seen today, can be tr emendously challengin g.

When I first b ecame involved in the film indu stry

in the 1960s, much o f it was i ll equipped i ntellec-

tually, emotionally or organiza tionally to take ad-

vantage of even the earliest forms of technologi-

cal inno vation.

In th is respect there are some interest ing lessons

to be learned from h istory. These are perh aps

epitomized by a n organiza tion which rejoiced in

the name of FIDO – the Film I ndustry Defence

Organisati on. Based on what se emed to be a “bril-

liant” idea dream ed up in the mid-195 0s by British

film companies; FIDO s ought to create a pool of

money suf ficient to buy th e television rig hts to all

American and Britis h movies to p revent them

from ever appearing on t elevision – an d, in doing

so, to c rush televisi on at birt h! The attempt was a

miserable f ailure and demonstr ated once more

the impo rtance of u nderstanding, an d coming to

terms with, industrial change rather than simply

trying to turn the clock back .

Fortunatel y, the contempor ary creative industries

have show n a little more foresi ght than tho se

who sought to r un the British film industr y as a

cosy duo poly in the 1950s and 1960s.

My centr al point is tha t our existing strengths will

count for little if we do not actively e mbrace the

evolution of the media , and seize ev ery poss ible

advantage it offers.

It has b ecome all too ob vious that the u nderlying

business mod el for o ur industries needs to un-

dergo some fa irly radical chang es if we are to take

advantage of th e opportu nities that digital tech-

nology presents to maintain – an d even streng-

then – our creative industries.

For example, if the industr y is serious abo ut effec-

tively enforci ng its intellectual pro perty, then it

has to provide an e qually effe ctive mea ns of de-

livering c ontent to digital customers. It i s here

CATALYZING

CREATIVITY IN THE

DIGITAL WORLD

AP RI L 20 11

2

The Oscar-wi nning f ilm pr oducer Lord David Puttnam refle cts on the growing import ance o f creat ive

industries and the need to maximize the benefits of the digital environment for long-term economic growth.

About Lord Puttnam

Lord Putt nam moved into film production in the late 1960s. His succ esses

as a produ cer include film classics

Bugsy Malo ne, Midnight E xpress, Chario ts of

Fire

(which won the Acade my Award (Oscar ) for Best Picture in 19 81),

Local

Hero, Memph is Belle, Me eting Venus

as well as

The Kill ing Fields

and

The Miss ion

with Ro land Joffé (which won t he

Palme d’Or

at the Cannes Film Festival in

1986). Lord Puttnam was Chai r an d Ch ief Executive Officer of Columbi a

Pictures fro m 1986 to 1988. Hi s current roles inc lude serving as President of

the Film Dist ributors’ Association, Dep uty Chairman of B ritish public se rvice

broadcaste r Channel 4 and as Chan cellor of th e Open Unive rsity.

Photo: Lord Puttnam