Mediocre films and millions of taxpayers’ money: how dozens of films from little-known British producers were financed mainly with public funds | Film industry

Only the most geeky film buffs have heard of him, but Alan Latham is one of the UK’s most prolific film producers.

Credited in 81 releases dating back to 1996, according to the online bible IMDb.com, Latham was behind a series of little-known films performed by better-known actors.

They included Four Weddings and a Funeral Anna Chancellor plays a cameo role in Latham’s 2019 romantic comedy For Love or Money, Samuel West (All Creatures Great and Small, Slow Horses, The Crown), playing a cop in the producer’s 2020 thriller, Gatecrash, And Laura Fraser (Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad) leads the bill in the 2019 sci-fi mystery, Dark Encounter.

None of these films were among these actors’ greatest triumphs: the top-rated film received a score of 5.6 out of 10 when reviewed on IMDb.com, while the Los Angeles Times called For Love or Money an “uninspired Britcom” that gave “special nod to the classic Four Weddings and a Funeral, but there was none of the grace in it.”

However, if you look carefully enough, the films seem to provide an interesting backstory.

Combining internal documents seen by The Guardian – along with information revealed in the financial filings of film holding companies – it is tempting to guess how the producer shrugged off commercial and artistic disappointments to continue working in the business on such a prolific scale.

Latham’s films appear to have been funded almost entirely by UK taxpayers.

Film industry and taxes

The relationship between the film industry and tax has long been uneasy in the UK – perhaps best exemplified by historical media storms involving celebrities such as David Beckham, Gary Lineker and Ant and Dec, who invested in carefully structured schemes that resulted in losses that could be offset against income tax.

While HMRC found that some productions from this era do not constitute “legitimate investments”, there are good reasons for governments helping filmmakers, which explains why US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose heavy tariffs on films produced outside the US.

As Chancellor Rachel Reeves put it when she announced an increase in tax relief for independent films last year: “The creative industries are a crucial part of our economy… By supporting growth in this vibrant sector, we can create jobs and continue to show Britain at its best around the world.”

In the UK, this support is clearly achieved through tax relief. The calculations are often complex, but the rule of thumb has always been that interest equals about 20% of each production’s budget.

So, if a producer wants to make a small film with a UK budget of £1m, they should be entitled to tax breaks worth around £200,000. Once the necessary costs and invoices are submitted, filmmakers can claim this benefit in cash, even before their film is released.

The story of Latham’s filmmaking seems to include his full embrace of this scheme, all of which is stated in the public accounts of each of the film holding companies.

For example, For Love or Money had a budget of £4.3m and claimed tax breaks worth £994,353 – or 23% of the budget – accounts submitted to Companies House indicate. So the amounts roughly add up, right? Well, maybe not. If you’ve actually sat through 95 minutes of the film, you might wonder if the production really costs that much, given its budget and the level of the script.

There are some documents that add weight to these doubts. The Guardian has seen a spreadsheet of the film’s budget, which contains enough detail to include parking tickets issued to crew members. It also includes hundreds of lines of other costs, such as payments to cast members and a £100,000 fee to Latham, before recording the ‘gross total’ of the film’s budget to be £1.3 million. Strangely, this is £3 million less than the figure recorded in published accounts.

Separate records from Lloyd’s of London, also seen by The Guardian, appear to show that the film was insured based on “estimated total production costs” of £1.4m. These much smaller figures suggest an outstanding tax credit of up to £280,000 – nowhere near the £1m of taxpayer support identified by Companies House calculations – raising questions about whether state aid is nearly four times as rich.

Gatecrash has the same subplot. Publicly submitted accounts indicate a total budget of around £4.5 million with claimed tax credits of £868,324 (i.e. around 19% of the ‘budget’). However, one internal document seen by the Guardian – which details costs such as “costume” rental fees as well as “hair/make-up kit and prosthetics” – shows how Gatecrash’s total budget was £1m. If the document is authentic, it indicates that this film was largely paid for by the treasury.

There is a similar story around Dark Encounter, where accounts appear to show a budget of £6.6m and £1.3m of tax credits claimed. However, confusingly, the film’s director, Karl Strathy, indicated he was working under tighter financial constraints, posting on X in 2024 that the film’s budget was just £1.5 million.

Strathy also mentioned that one of his other films made with Latham – the sci-fi thriller Solis starring The Walking Dead actor Stephen Ogg – cost £700,000 to produce and included cost savings such as a spaceship set containing experimental seating that was “gaming chairs… housed in MDF frames”. That film, in which Ogg appeared only on screen, received £970,000 from taxpayers on a £5m budget, according to accounts filed publicly.

If these Companies House numbers are correct, it would seem that this made Solis more expensive than a similar film in the same genre: Sony Pictures’ 2009 low-budget sci-fi film Moon that starred future Oscar winner Sam Rockwell as well as the voice of double Oscar winner Kevin Spacey as an artificial intelligence character. Its cost was $5 million (£3.8 million).

Strathy did not respond when contacted for comment by his accountants, but his social media posts appear to have been deleted since The Guardian began asking questions about Latham’s finances.

But what remains on record is how much one of Strathy’s films grossed at the box office. Dark Encounter has grossed $4,672 and appears to be a UAE exclusive, according to IMDb.com’s acquisitions analysis service, Box Office Mojo. Meanwhile, none of For Love or Money, Gatecrash or Solis were mentioned at the box office.

Unsatisfactory ending?

So, if the real plot in Latham’s film lies in his finances, has anyone tried to explain the apparent discrepancies?

In order to retain your film tax credits after paying them, final certification must be granted by the British Film Institute (BFI). However, For Love or Money, Gatecrash, Dark Encounter and Solis did not receive any awards, according to the BFI. Meanwhile, Gatecrash Film Ltd – the company behind the picture of the same name – will never receive its certification, having been dissolved in September 2025.

A BFI spokesperson said: “The BFI has a legal portal through which we can share information relating to HMRC and DCMS compliance, and we work closely with them to maintain the integrity of the system.”

HMRC did not comment.

All of this seems to leave moviegoers with an unsatisfying ending: if Latham really is the most prolific British film producer you’ve never heard of, then he’s also one you’ve never heard of.

The Guardian attempted to contact him directly for comment, as well as through his family and lawyer. The producer did not respond.