WHAT NEXT FOR POST PRODUCTION?
POST
much as we can to mitigate this ourselves by increasing our energy management, but essentially, we’re at the mercy of the energy suppliers.” “It’s not generally understood that our existing
utility supply runs to many thousands of pounds per month, before all the increases,” says Rowan Bray. “We use 100% renewables, which are slightly more expensive anyway; this is going to make it worse. “Buying as a sector may give us some advantage
but overall, this could wipe out some businesses,” she adds. “Realistically the post sector is operationally lean already so the only way to cover this will be an energy surcharge on our services, which is self-defeating, or government help.” For Gorilla, flexible demand has had an impact
Top left: Channel 4’s Jamie Oliver: Together with post at Evolutions
Top right: Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler with post from Molinare
on its energy policy. Previously it followed good environmental practice by shutting down systems and software in the evening. “That was a very big saving on energy,” says Moss. “Now we can’t do that. So that’s added power consumption, and it’s not good for the environment.” “From my understanding productions are
metered on set so they’ll be paying substantially more in this area due to the increases in energy cost,” says Bennett. “Post is no different with high energy outputs due to storage and technical related equipment. Productions must understand, for post facilities to survive, we will need to increase our rates across the board to counter inflation costs in our business.”
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION Covid led to a big rise in remote working in lockdown, but this doesn’t seem to have endured when it comes to post. “Clients still expect facility houses to be located centrally and offer both offline and finishing suites on site,” says Kemp. “Hybrid working is helping as we have grown our offline capacity with remote suites without having to increase our real estate.” “Over the past 12 months we’ve seen a high
demand for offline post-production facilities in Central London due to the demands of the clients, bucking the predicted trend in a surge of remote working,” says Bennett. “However, I believe we could see a seasonal trend with the winter months demanding more remote work, and spring through the summer becoming more facility based. Construction costs for expansion and upgrades
have also been an issue, and of course, city rents are sky-high. Some post houses have long-term rent agreements in place, though and this has led to a ‘reasonable’ experience for Clear Cut, for example. “We have renewed recently but on similar terms, as we have good relationships with our landlords,” says Bray. “However, the rating system leads to rates bills that are disproportionately high for businesses, especially in Central London and, at roughly half of the typical rental value of a property per annum, need to be completely reassessed.”
“Productions must understand, for post facilities to survive, we will need to increase our rates across the board”
ENERGETIC IDEAS So, what are some solutions? Translate higher costs into higher prices? “Managing our way through COVID was hard
enough as a post facility with over 45,000sq ft in central London and staffing levels of 150 plus,” says Nigel Bennett. “With the rising salaries and unprecedented energy cost, the only way to manage our way through this is to uplift our rate card to cover the increasing cost as a pass-through to support the Post and VFX House.
Autumn 2022
televisual.com 67
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