Britain wants to keep its culture alive in films—so much so that it has created a tax rule that gives tax deductions to films deemed “culturally British”.
The process is more complex than flying a British flag or setting your movie in London. All films that would like to claim this deduction have to register their production where it is rated through a mathematical “culture test” weighted as follows:
- Cultural content (up to 16 points).
- Cultural contribution (up to 4 points).
- Cultural hubs (up to 3 points).
- Cultural practitioners (up to 8 points).
Films must score at least 16 out of 31 points to get up to a 25 percent tax break. Here are some examples of film characteristics that qualify: film set in the UK (four points), film represents/reflects a diverse British culture, British heritage or British creativity (four points), and original dialogue recorded mainly in English language (four points).