The UK’s unprecedented and record-breaking growth in film and high-end TV production is in danger of hitting a wall if the industry does not address a looming – and to a large extent already present – skills shortage.
So warns the UK Film Institute, which as part of a new Skills Review looking at screenplay productions has called for large internal investment in training to ensure an additional 20,770 full-time employees in the sector work to meet the level of demand achieved expected by 2025.
Total spending on film and high-end TV exceeded £ 5.64 billion ($ 7.67 billion) in 2021, a new record and well ahead of the already rising pre-pandemic production levels. Research published last week by the British organization ScreenSkills predicted that this figure would rise to £ 7.66 billion ($ 9.37 billion) by 2025.
This rise is, of course, something the local sector can be extremely proud of, with Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Warner Bros. and many other large studios spending billions and helping to make the UK the largest production area outside the US – the home of numerous tent pole films (Jurassic World Dominion, batman, Barbie) and main series (The crown, The Lord of the Rings Season 2). But this is something the BFI says in its Skills Surveys, has led to an “increasing – and often critical – staff shortage at all levels, which is starting to negatively affect the industry and contribute to highly stressed workplaces.” The review also notes that crew shortages “especially threaten the UK’s independent film sector, which is struggling to compete for the crew, as well as putting additional pressure on already stretched budgets.”
As Neil Peplow, the BFI’s Director of Industry and International Affairs, explains, “shortages are beginning to affect the quality of production activity.”
The key solution to addressing the issue and ensuring that an additional 20,770 crew work by 2025, according to the BFI survey, is that £ 104.4 ($ 127.6 million) is invested annually in training people in attract the industry and build up the workforce. across all areas, a figure that equates to about 1.4 percent of the projected level of production spending in 2025. And the majority of this investment, it says, must come from the industry itself, which led to the BFI concluded that the sector should aim to invest “1 percent of all production budgets in training.”
This 1 percent figure is only a recommendation without any consideration – or parameters – for enforcement, but it is one that, according to Peplow, provides a “quantum of the required resources needed to invest in skills,” effectively an overall target. what the industry can aim for. And it’s one that could include contributions already made to existing funds, such as those overseen by ScreenSkills, to the UK Government’s Apprenticeship Levy or to internal initiatives. Peplow acknowledges that the industry “has not sat on its hands”, pointing to Amazon’s recently announced £ 10 million ($ 12.2 million) Prime Video Pathway program featuring the National Film and TV School and Netflix’s Grow Creative UK initiative unveiled in 2021.
In addition to this investment in training, another key concern emerging from the report is the industry’s retention rates, with a recommendation to establish a “more formalized approach to employment, workplace management and professional development”, which could helps address issues such as long hours, along with bullying and harassment, and factors that negatively affect diversity.
As the Skills Review acknowledges, the UK’s production has been ‘unrecognizable’ since five years ago, when the BFI last took such a deep dive into the subject with the 2017 Future Film Skills Strategy.
“I can use several clichés – we are a victim of our own success, being busy is a nice problem to have – which is partly true, but not addressing these issues brings the sector’s continued growth and his significant contribution to the UK economy is in jeopardy. ”says Ben Robert, BFI HUB, adding that the latest Review supports the idea of a“ workplace recovery ”, something he claims is long overdue.
“If we can get it right, as well as investing in our crew and profiting from the opportunity that our industry’s growth offers, we can accelerate the creation of a workforce that truly reflects our society. As we do so, we must also pay urgent attention to negative work practices and cultures, including the long hours that are regularly expected of crews. ”