Category Archives: High End TV data

Film and TV drama healthcheck (plus a footnote about distribution ‘windows’ and cinemas).

Posted on July 12, 2023 by Paul Evans

It’s been a bad few weeks for cinemas in the UK with Empire Cinemas putting a number of their companies into administration – closing six of its 14 cinemas (Bishops Stortford, Catterick Garrison, Sunderland, Swindon, Walthamstow, Wigan) and a further … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema exhibition, Economics, Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, High End TV data, Low budget features, SVoD | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Film and TV drama healthcheck (plus a footnote about distribution ‘windows’ and cinemas).

The Broadcast Indie Survey 2023

Posted on April 17, 2023 by Paul Evans

The Broadcast Indie Survey 2023 is out [£] and I’ve given it a quick scan. Here are the highlights: Fragile confidence I you had to sum up the industry’s future outlook based on Broadcast Magazine’s 2023 Indie Survey in one … Continue reading →

Posted in BBC, Employment, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, High End TV data, Low budget productions, Post-production, Public Service Broadcasting, Skills & capacity, UK studios | Tagged , | Leave a comment

How to make flexible working work within the film and television industry

Posted on April 3, 2023 by Paul Evans

In 2022 Timewise and BECTU Vision came together to explore how flexible working could work on scripted productions, funded by Screen Scotland. You can read the report and findings by clicking here and download the PDF here. The report highlighted that … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, High End TV data, Long hours | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The state of the UK film and TV economy

Posted on February 6, 2023 by Paul Evans

I occasionally get asked for updates on the general state of the UK film and TV sector, and I can usually reply offering a few links which general readers may find useful. My first, and most current link would be … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture policy, Economics, Factual & Entertainment sector data, Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, High End TV data, Low budget features, Quotas, Regulation, Skills & capacity, SVoD, Tax incentives, TV Advertising, UK studios | Tagged , | Leave a comment

UK independent productions, the inflation punch-in-the-mouth, and the very European remedies.

Posted on October 10, 2022 by Paul Evans

The boxer, Mike Tyson, was once asked about his plan for a fight and he answered; “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Economists have a variation on that line: “Everyone has a plan until inflation … Continue reading →

Posted in EU & Brexit, Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, High End TV data, Low budget features, Public Service Broadcasting, Quotas, Regulation, Skills & capacity, SVoD, Tax incentives, UK studios | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

BFC Working Safety During CoViD-19 Guidance

Posted on May 16, 2022 by Paul Evans

Here is the latest version of the British Film Commission guidance on this issue [pdf] (posted without comment).

Posted in Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Feature film data, Health & Safety, High End TV data, Low budget features, Safe working practices, Safe working standards | Tagged | Leave a comment

Broadcasting White Paper published

Posted on April 28, 2022 by Paul Evans

The DCMS has published its Broadcasting White Paper promising “a new golden age of programming” with changes to regulations on SVoDs, sports rights, and the privatisation of Channel 4. One change is that C4 will be able to start producing … Continue reading →

Posted in BBC, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, High End TV data, Public Service Broadcasting, SVoD | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Bectu ‘Live to Work’ campaign launched

Posted on April 27, 2022 by Paul Evans

Bectu has launched the Live to Work campaign aimed at improving terms and conditions in the UK TV drama industry. You can visit the campaign page here and join the network (open to members and non-members), download images to use … Continue reading →

Posted in Bectu Agreements, Film & TV industry policy, Freelance working, High End TV data, Long hours, Safe working practices, Safe working standards, TV Drama Agreement, Wellbeing, Work-life balance | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Understanding commuting costs – some bookmarks

Posted on April 19, 2022 by Paul Evans

For freelancers working either in film and TV, or in Live Events, there is often no option to use public transport to get to work. For a typical filming day, Bectu members tell us that they tend to arrive at … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, Freelance working, High End TV data, Long hours, Safe working practices, UK studios, Work-life balance | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Fatigue in the TV and film industy

Posted on March 28, 2022 by Paul Evans

There’s a useful summary of this issue on the IOSH magazine website here. It’s got a lot of the kind of thing you’d expect (including a quote from our own Spencer MacDonald). And this: “Research says that when an employee … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, High End TV data, Long hours, Safe working practices, Safe working standards, Wellbeing, Work-life balance, Workplaces | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Skills shortages in film & TV – update

Posted on March 16, 2022 by Paul Evans

There’s a useful roundup in the i-Paper showing the scale of the studio expansion and growing physical production capacity that the UK has, in contrast to the roster of available skills which will leave an estimated “40,000 workers needed to … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, High End TV data, Quotas, Skills & capacity, SVoD, Tax incentives, UK studios | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Bectu Mental Health and Welbeing Policy published

Posted on February 24, 2022 by Paul Evans

This was an idea that came from Bectu members during the pandemic. We did a load of online sessions discussing different aspects of the question “what is wrong with ‘the freelance deal’?” and there was a repeated refrain saying “our … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Health & Safety, High End TV data, Long hours, Management, Mental Health, Safe working practices, Safe working standards, Wellbeing, Work-life balance | Tagged | Leave a comment

Shepperton update: Now Prime Video have agreed a deal.

Posted on February 9, 2022 by Paul Evans

Further to a recent post here about Shepperton (which outlined the way that Netflix were treating the studio as it’s UK production base), The Pinewood Group (Shepperton’s owners) have today confirmed that the new facilities under development will be given … Continue reading →

Posted in Film & TV industry policy, High End TV data, SVoD, Tax incentives, UK studios | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Production growing in the nations and regions

Posted on January 19, 2022 by Paul Evans

Back in September, I posted here about The Pact Census (as carried out by Oliver and Ohlbaum). I’ve been meaning to pull out something about the impact on regional production from that for a while. So here goes. Pact chose … Continue reading →

Posted in BBC, Factual & Entertainment sector data, Film & TV industry data, High End TV data, Public Service Broadcasting, Skills & capacity, Tax incentives, UK studios | Tagged , | Leave a comment

BFI Screen Business report details the scale of the UK production boom

Posted on December 15, 2021 by Paul Evans

Anyone who has any doubts about the size and scale of the UK production boom can have a look at the latest BFI Screen Business report (if the annual Pact Census most recently published in September wasn’t convincing enough!). The … Continue reading →

Posted in BBC, Economics, Factual & Entertainment sector data, Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, High End TV data, Public Service Broadcasting, Quotas, Skills & capacity, SVoD, Tax incentives, UK studios | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A distinctly British focus for TV programmes

Posted on December 8, 2021 by Paul Evans

David Tennant has been questioning some of the arguments around demands for ‘distinctly British programmes (or ‘lovely jubbly telly‘ as John Whittingdale didn’t say recently). “Is there some inherent criticism within this plea for more Britishness?” he said in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Diversity of representation, EU & Brexit, Film & TV industry policy, High End TV data, Public Service Broadcasting, Quotas, Regulation, SVoD, Tax incentives | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Stephen Follows research site

Posted on November 29, 2021 by Paul Evans

For anyone who hasn’t already found this at some point, via Google, Stephen Follows runs a fine website full of industry research that answers many questions that you have, and a few you didn’t know you have. Here are some … Continue reading →

Posted in Factual & Entertainment sector data, Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Gender representation, High End TV data, Low budget features, Skills & capacity | Tagged | Leave a comment

Working terms in Swedish productions

Posted on November 29, 2021 by Paul Evans

It’s always worth looking at how other countries do work hours in the film and TV industry, and it is a commonplace view that the Swedish drama sector manages a high quality of production on working hours that also give … Continue reading →

Posted in Bectu Agreements, Employment Law and Rights, EU & Brexit, Factual & Entertainment sector data, Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Health & Safety, High End TV data, Long hours, Major Motion Picture Agreement, Productivity, SVoD, Tax incentives, Trades Unions, TV Drama Agreement, Work-life balance | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

BARB to monitor SVoD viewing figures

Posted on November 25, 2021 by Paul Evans

The rapid rise of Streaming Video on Demand (SVoD)  – with 18.8m UK homes (66%) having at least one SVoD account – has been a particularly rough disruption for traditional linear TV broadcasters for two obvious reasons. The first is … Continue reading →

Posted in Film & TV industry data, High End TV data, SVoD, TV Advertising | Tagged | Leave a comment

Shepperton expansion confirmed – with deeper Netflix ties

Posted on November 19, 2021 by Paul Evans

Further to the previous post about Shepperton Studios here a few months ago, it looks like the support from Spelthorne Council has borne fruit: The Pinewood Group has now announced its decision to further expand Shepperton. This will expand the capacity … Continue reading →

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ITV and SVoD revenues

Posted on November 16, 2021 by Paul Evans

The picture for ITV is a bundle of contradictions. On the one hand, their ad revenues, the FT are reporting [£] that they are rising dramatically and have done well throughout the pandemic. Share prices are climbing accordingly. On the … Continue reading →

Posted in Factual & Entertainment sector data, Film & TV industry data, High End TV data, SVoD, TV Advertising | Tagged | Leave a comment

What is the future for streaming TV?

Posted on November 16, 2021 by Paul Evans

There’s a lot of soul-searching going on in the pages of the FT about the future for streaming TV. Both Netflix and Disney Plus are reporting slowdowns in growth. It’s a bit of an odd one – both have grown … Continue reading →

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Bray Studios expansion agreed

Posted on November 9, 2021 by Paul Evans

Bray Studios – the home of Hammer Horror films – is the latest of the UK’s historic film studios to announce an expansion. Plainly, this growing capacity is good news all round for Bectu members, though there will be mixed … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature film data, High End TV data, Skills & capacity, UK studios | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

CoViD costs hit productions

Posted on November 8, 2021 by Paul Evans

Broadcast is reporting [£] that CoViD protocols are hitting production costs – and that production costs themselves are also rising. It’s a claim that probably needs some further examination, but it is said that… “the average CoViD-related costs on a … Continue reading →

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More details of the proposed IATSE deal

Posted on October 28, 2021 by Paul Evans

The actual text of the proposed agreement between IATSE and AMPTP is still in the hands of the lawyers, but IATSE have published some more information about how they will be consulting on this, the financial aspects of the offer … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, High End TV data, Trades Unions | Tagged | Leave a comment

IATSE briefs members on the proposed deal

Posted on October 22, 2021 by Paul Evans

The union is hosting a series of town hall meetings with members, along with this briefing on three key issues in a Twitter thread: NEW: We are releasing our first three one page documents explaining how the new tentative Basic … Continue reading →

Posted in Factual & Entertainment sector data, Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, High End TV data, Trades Unions | Tagged | Leave a comment

Piracy of films is still a thing

Posted on October 22, 2021 by Paul Evans

The commonplace (one I’m occasionally guilty of repeating) that online piracy of movies is almost a non-issue now thanks to the emergence of competitively-priced streaming platforms is wrong, it seems. The Global Innovation Policy Center is claiming that worldwide online piracy … Continue reading →

Posted in Copyright and piracy, Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, High End TV data | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Comprehensive European figures on women’s representation in TV drama

Posted on October 21, 2021 by Paul Evans

Women still under-represented in the #TVfiction industry in Europe🚺Find out more in our report ➡ https://t.co/hjdMgTDNP4 #womeninfilm #diversitymatters #womendirectors #genderequity pic.twitter.com/hqMu7fHIw6 — Europ AV Observatory (@EuAvObservatory) October 20, 2021 The key insights contained in the report are that, beyond obvious … Continue reading →

Posted in Diversity of representation, Equality, Film & TV industry data, Gender equality, Gender representation, High End TV data, Management, Skills & capacity, Wellbeing, Work-life balance | Tagged , | Leave a comment

UK commissioned productions losing crew talent to streamers

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Paul Evans

We’ve been saying it will happen for a while, but the wider world is beginning to notice. This, from the FT[£]; “Seetha Kumar, chief executive of ScreenSkills, said the “pinch points” were particularly acute in mid-tier roles — for which … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, EU & Brexit, Film & TV industry data, High End TV data, Regulation, Skills & capacity | Tagged | Leave a comment

Free database of legal developments in the Europen audiovisual sector

Posted on September 23, 2021 by Paul Evans

This one is probably only useful to massive geeks (hi!) but I’m telling you about it anyway just in case you find it useful. The European Audiovisual Observatory maintains a database of legal developments in all key areas, all key … Continue reading →

Posted in Factual & Entertainment sector data, Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, High End TV data, Public Service Broadcasting, Quotas, Regulation, SVoD, Tax incentives | Tagged , | Leave a comment

TV with an American accent?

Posted on September 21, 2021 by Paul Evans

A strong piece in the FT[£] here from John Gapper, outlining how strong SVoD investment in locally-set programmes may be a mirage – an attempt to build the subscriber base that can subsequently be fed content that is less rooted … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture policy, Factual & Entertainment sector data, Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, High End TV data, Quotas, Regulation, SVoD | Tagged , | Leave a comment

French windows (excuse the pun)

Posted on September 20, 2021 by Paul Evans

There are a few posts up here about how content regulation drives investment into film and TV, how the AVMS Directive is translated into national legislation and regulations, and on the general armoury that national governments have to shape the … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, High End TV data, Public Service Broadcasting, Quotas, Regulation, SVoD, Tax incentives | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The latest Bond: A big couple of weeks for cinema

Posted on September 20, 2021 by Paul Evans

All eyes that are interested in the whole cinema-to-sofa thing will be watching the box-office performance of the latest Bond installment, No Time to Die, and Sony’s latest comic-book adaptation Venom over the next few weeks. This is not just … Continue reading →

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UK studio expansions – latest: Netflix announces plans for Longcross

Posted on September 20, 2021 by Paul Evans

Another sign of the UK production sector heating up rapidly, Netflix (already projected to spend more than $1bn on across 60 UK productions in 2021 alone) is adding to its UK production capacity with a partnership with Aviva Investors expanding … Continue reading →

Posted in Factual & Entertainment sector data, Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, High End TV data, Skills & capacity, SVoD, UK studios | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

£1.2m annual Netflix training ‘war chest’ and other scripted TV training developments

Posted on September 16, 2021 by Paul Evans

As referenced in the Guardian article a few days ago, here’s more detail on this Netflix training budget, from Broadcast [£]. Quoting ex-Production Guild chief Alison Small (now working directly for ‘Grow Creative UK’ / Netflix) on training: “If we … Continue reading →

Posted in Film & TV industry data, High End TV data, Management, Skills & capacity, SVoD, Wellbeing, Work-life balance | Tagged , , | 1 Comment