The BBC is under attack for spending less than a seventh of its £70m film budget on British productions.

In the last financial year, out of 912 films shown on BBC1 and BBC2, 180 were British, and two-thirds of these were more than 25 years old.

"It has become a self-fulfilling prophecy," said John McVay, chief executive of Pact, the trade body for independent producers. "The BBC says it would love to show a great British film at 9pm, but can't find the talent to make it. But we are not going to find that talent if we are not investing in it. The BBC has to be called to task on that.

"At this year's Edinburgh TV festival, Mark Thompson acknowledged US films should play a limited part in the BBC's schedules. We wholeheartedly agree with this view, and urge the BBC to balance its feature film expenditure by increasing its support for the British film industry."

Producers also want more funding of feature films by the corporation through its BBC Films arm, which spent £10m in the UK in the year to April 2004 - less than 0.4% of licence fee income.

Mr McVay, addressing MPs on the culture, media and sport select committee, reiterated Pact's demand that the BBC's in-house productions be limited to 50% of its TV output, with 25% reserved for independent companies and the rest open. "What we're concerned about is the BBC making great programmes for the licence fee payer," he said. "I don't see how you can say that if you are always giving 70% of your programmes to in-house producers"

The BBC spent £9.9m on UK films in the 12 months to this April, down from £13.8m in the previous 12 months, according to research commissioned from David Graham & Associates. Spending on US films rose by more than 50% in the same period, from £39.3m to £61.5m. Spending on films from the rest of the world was £1.8m.