The National Film and Television School's graduates are among the UK's most valuable assets helping to attract 85% of inward investment in films budgeted over £50m between 2003 -2011.
According to a mapping study conducted by OC&C on behalf of the School, graduates in this period worked on films in mostly key roles whose budgets totalled $7.36 billion that's an average of almost half a billion pounds each year.
The study titled National Film and Television School - Impact of Inward Investment into the UK has for the first time monetised the value of the contribution NFTS graduates make to the UK economy and highlighted the fact that they are among the most successful. Between 1975 and 2011, NFTS Graduates worked on 17 of the top 20 films at the UK box office and they worked on these productions also almost exclusively in senior roles.
In 2011 alone, NFTS Graduates worked on 13 of the top 20 UK films including the highest grossing UK film of 2011, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which earned over $1.3 billion worldwide. Four of the Harry Potter films were Directed, Art Directed, Script Consulted, Composited, Sound Recorded and Mixed by NFTS graduates.
And in 2012, the tally so far for world-wide films with graduate involvement has just broken $6 billion dollars mark in box office earnings.
Director Nik Powell said:"The development of film skills and talent provides the backbone underpinning the success of the entire film sector in the UK. It's clear that NFTS graduates are one of the UK's most valuable assets helping to attract foreign investment for film and television and other productions and shoots to the UK as well to meeting the challenges of Digital Britain. This study shows beyond a doubt that the NFTS is both a spring board for individual graduate success as well as a powerhouse producing the talent needed to fuel the hugely successful UK film industry and the thousands of people's jobs this sustains."