INTRODUCTION PRODUCTION 100
SURVEY
Left Bank’s The Crown
Naked’s Harry Redknapp’s Sandbanks Summer
At the same time, says Studio
Lambert, the commissioning process has become more complicated with Covid protocols, costings and cashflow to take into account.
Covid-19 has hastened the shift in power from terrestrials to the streamers
Cash crunch Many indies say they have faced significant cash flow pressures to keep going through such an uncertain period, despite the furlough. Many report increasing their focus on cash management, and putting in place controls to reduce costs. “The biggest challenge has been maintaining the business at the same level and cash flowing the team through the uncertainty,” says Bandicoot. “Budgets and margins are
under pressure,” says Fulwell 73. “Production costs are increasingly impacted by the new health and safety protocols needed to continue production (social distancing on set, PPE, testing etc) and insurance costs have gone up.” Red Production says budget inflation because of the new protocols is a concern, as is insurance. Naked Television says
Covid-19 has created a new layer of risk and concern for both indies and broadcasters. “Budgets have had to be
Autumn 2020 P08
televisual.com
increased to include additional costs, and productions have to think about new ways to film safely without impacting editorial. The ever changing guidelines, advice and uncertainty continues to be problematic for programme makers.” Endor says lockdown has
delayed its latest production by four months – and this has led to a “mad scramble for all filming resources leading to price inflation.”
Budget tumble Despite costs rising, many indies report that budgets have fallen – particularly from a BBC facing cuts and ad funded broadcasters like Channel 4, ITV and Channel 5. “The crisis has affected budgets considerably – across development as well as production,” reports Brinkworth. Indies report that budgets
have fallen an average of 5.8% this year, by the far the highest on record. What was already a downward trend at a number of broadcasters has been further exaggerated by Covid-19, says Firecracker. “Our average per hour budget is significantly less that it was five or ten years ago, whilst salaries, rates and rent
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