City Lit welcomed Lord David Puttnam to an ‘in conversation’ in our Cultureplex screening room on Thursday 6th October 2022. In attendance to receive his City Lit Fellowship award, Lord Puttnam reflected, with humour and wit, on a career in the movies, the House of Lords and in education.
Highlights from the event
After the screening of a showreel featuring clips from some of Lord Puttnam’s best-known, award-winning films, guests, both in the Cultureplex itself and online via a livestream, heard how one of the UK’s greatest producers made his mark on the world of cinema in the 1980s and 1990s.
Recounting his early life
Lord Puttnam described working in advertising as a young school leaver, explaining how he ‘left school very early, with the encouragement of the school’ to pursue a career in which he quickly excelled and which, as the 1950s became the 1960s, led to significant success. Lord Puttnam was asked what led him to move from advertising to film, to which he replied,
‘I did a couple of TV commercials that were quite hard to put together and I thought to myself if I have to go through this level of aggravation to do thirty seconds, I think I’ll go through a bit more aggravation to do two hours’
And on the financing of his first feature film, Lord Puttnam recollected, much to the amusement of the guests,
‘I had not a clue. Nobody ever entered the film industry knowing less than me’.
Finding success in film
Evidently a fast learner, it was not long before the release of films such as Bugsy Malone (1976), Midnight Express (1978), Chariots of Fire (1981), Local Hero (1983), The Killing Fields (1984), The Mission (1986), Memphis Belle (1990), and War of the Buttons (1994).
After this incredible run of acclaimed films, which won international audiences and awards, Lord Puttnam took the decision to retire from film production in 1995.
He recounted how difficult the productions of both The Mission and Memphis Belle had been and said that he didn’t want to find himself having to ‘explain’ why ‘the next movie […] isn’t working’.
From film to politics
Not wanting to end up having his ‘career […] judged by my late failures’, as Lord Puttnam quipped, he moved into the world of politics, where he worked to support the ‘creative industries’, a term he said was coined in his house and which proved unpopular at the time, as ‘people thought that we were taking creativity and industrialising it’.
Noting how these now very recognisable industries were at the time, ‘under-appreciated and under-exploited’, Lord Puttnam worked across political parties on new policy initiatives to encourage growth in a sector in which the UK is now a major force, and recognised globally.
Asked if this strength is likely to endure, Lord Puttnam suggested that some of the opportunities that existed previously – educational and skills-based, as well as a certain kind of political plurality and a willingness to communicate across party lines – meant that he feared that perhaps not.
Lord Puttman's informal education
As someone who now holds a number of honorary degrees and senior educational positions, as well as a prestigious City Lit Fellowship, as Mark Malcolmson was keen to remind him, Lord Puttnam talked candidly about his own educational experiences, acknowledging the importance of the kinds of courses offered by institutions like City Lit:
‘People ask me what university I went to and it’s very simple, the Piccadilly Line. I travelled back and forth as a messenger, initially for a publishing house and then eventually for an ad-agency. I loved work. I discovered that as much as I hated school, I really loved work. And I went on to night school. I realised also that I had slightly shot myself in the foot. I went on to night school. I created my own curriculum. I did nine subjects in four years. And they included things like copyright law. Why I did that, I had no idea, but it saved me hundreds of thousands of pounds – it’s the best thing I ever did’.
Lord Puttman's report
The conversation with City Lit’s principal ended on the subject of Lord Puttnam’s report to the House of Lords, Digital Technology and the Resurrection of Trust (2020). This provoked a timely and very relevant discussion of social media and the dangerous levels of power wielded by the corporations that control this particular digital sphere. Lord Puttnam was extremely eloquent and most compelling in his exploration of some of the issues at stake and he expressed his pride in the work done to produce his report.
Lord Puttman receives the City Lit Fellowship award
The interview concluded with the formal presentation of Lord Puttnam’s City Lit Fellowship, awarded to him by the City Lit's Deputy Chair of Governers, Jane Cooper. Following receipt of his award, Lord Puttnam joined guests, governors, staff and students for refreshments and further conversation...
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