INTRODUCTION PRODUCTION 100


SURVEY


Nutopia: Welcome to Earth


Endor: Vienna Blood


squeezing margins. It’s a point echoed by multiple indies, from Bad Wolf through Expectation and Two Brothers Pictures. Yeti Television comments: “The


biggest challenge continues to be budgets which are not keeping pace with rates, talent costs and riders, and the amount of deficit funding we have to put in to top up budgets. It means our margins are tiny and we have less and less to invest in development, staff retention and training. The pressure on production teams is becoming unsustainable – all due to budget squeezes.”


top indie £260M


Turnover of Avalon, the biggest indie in the Production 100


the top IO £831M


Turnover of the 10 biggest producers (33% of the total)


Autumn 2022


Covid hangover Covid continues to be a significant challenge for productions. Infections spiked in the winter and spring, putting teams under pressure and forcing shoots to be rearranged at the last minute. “In some ways it has been harder than ever, with infection rates meaning teams are rarely at full strength and protocols making production more challenging and complex,” says Shine TV. Changing Covid rules add to the


challenge of filming internationally, say indies like Transistor Films, Cornelia Street Productions and Dash Pictures. The winding up of the


government’s £500m Film and TV Production Restart Scheme (PRS) has also “created a complicated


P08 televisual.com


situation with different approaches from commissioners,” says Expectation TV. “We are still being impacted by


Covid on our shoots and with the end of the DCMS Restart Scheme we’re navigating new waters,” says Merman.


More people are now working from home as a result of Covid, and this has created issues for many indies. ClearStory believes that commissioning is now slower “both in editorial direction and in business affairs and contracting, mostly because of working from home.” “It’s very hard to have personal meetings with broadcasters due to Covid restrictions,” says Company Pictures. Others say that younger staff are finding it harder to learn on the job while working from home.


Corporate change It’s been a year of significant change for the broadcaster clients of many indies, which in turn has affected their business. The merger of Discovery and


Warner Media was completed in April, and the newly minted Warner Bros. Discovery has since embarked on a major restructure involving significant lay-offs and cost-cutting. This is already impacting UK indies, many of whom have become key suppliers to Discovery. “Consolidation in the US and global media has meant


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156