HETV TRAINING PRODUCTION/POST
Skills to pay the bills
High-end TV production is booming in the UK as the streamers see it as a safe, tax efficient territory with excellent facilities. They also come because of the UK’s highly-skilled production workforce. But with so much production coming into the country, the race is now on to widen that skilled talent pool to keep up with demand. Pippa Considine reports
just a matter of time. High end TV and film production continues to
W
boom. Added to tax breaks and a roll-out of new studio facilities, the UK has acquired a reputation for safe Covid production practices. According to BFI figures, there was a spend of £1.19 on film and high-end TV production in the final three months of 2020, the second highest spend ever across a three-month period. Crucially, the UK is seen as the home of a
highly skilled workforce. But growing demand is testing this claim. “There’s a brilliant opportunity,” says Kaye Elliott, Director of High- End TV at ScreenSkills ”but equally, there’s a challenge. Shows keep growing and the appetite for people at the right skill level grows…We are constantly on catch up to find the right people.” Published earlier this year, ScreenSkills
2020 research with the HETV workforce in the UK, showed an increase in budgets, scale and complexity of productions. Over 70 per cent of respondents claimed there was a serious, or very serious, problem with skills shortages. People are being promoted too quickly, leaving productions before they are complete and half of respondents are still identifying a lack of experience among crew. Specific grades included production accountant, location manager and production coordinator and manager roles. Leadership and organisational skills were also seen as lacking. Much has and is being done to bring in new
people and to train existing workers, all of it shot through with a diversity and inclusion agenda aimed at widening representation in the industry. Many initiatives are supported by the industry’s voluntary high-end TV levy, administered by ScreenSkills. The levy has raised over £20m since
herever you are in the UK, if you haven’t seen TV trucks gathered at a location down your street, then it’s
it began in 2013. At Pinewood, where it’s forging ahead with its
Screen Hub UK expansion, there are plans for a dedicated education and training centre, a joint initiative with the National Film and Television School. The streamers that are helping to fuel the
boom are investing. Netflix is partnering with UK training providers and has trainees embedded on productions across the UK. “We’re committed to supporting the next generation of British talent,” says Alison Small, Netflix Training Manager. “Our industry faces significant skills shortages which threatens its position as the leading producer of high-end TV and film in Europe. Training is an essential part of ensuring a strong talent pipeline.” As part of a broader initiative to help to fund
apprenticeships, Amazon recently agreed a deal to transfer £50,000 of its apprenticeship levy to help fund the UK Screen Alliance apprenticeship for post-production technical operator. Apprenticeships could be one significant way
to address the skills gap. An estimated £75m a year is paid for the government’s apprenticeship levy by larger employers in the creative industries, but up until now apprenticeships have only been possible for full-time employees. “After years of frustration there’s a bit of light at the end of a very dark tunnel,” says John McVay, the Chief Executive of Pact. A new flexi-job apprenticeship scheme was
announced in the March budget, with £7m ear- marked for a fund to create and test how these apprenticeships will work. McVay is hopeful that the government will recognise the potential of TV and film to play their part in a post-Covid economy and add its support to existing industry funding. “The opportunity is coming where industry can sit with government to support a fast growth, high quality job creating sector.”
Summer 2021
televisual.com 103
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
