Category Archives: Film & TV industry policy

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

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

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The Broadcast Indie Survey 2023

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

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

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The state of the UK film and TV economy

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

The use of weaponry on film sets

Bectu has been providing assistance to the HSE in the review of Etis 20 – the most recent version of this guidance was produced in 2017 and can be seen here [pdf]. There’s nothing to report on the developments yet, … Continue reading

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Getting your own film exhibited

This is a useful bookmark for anyone who has made a film and wants it distributed. The Independent Cinema Office is a charity designed for people who are looking to establish small cinemas, or exhibit low-budget self-produced films,

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

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

EU Media Freedom Act – just published

My thanks to Carole Tongue for sending this to me. The EU’s ‘Media Freedom Act’ has been published and the text will be voted on by the European Commission on 13 September before being submitted to the Parliament and the … Continue reading

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Broadcasting White Paper published

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

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Bectu ‘Live to Work’ campaign launched

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

Demand for UK studio space v Netflix subscriber drop

Two stories passing each other in this week’s newspapers. Firstly, a good fact-packed briefing from The Times [£] on how demand for studio space is multiplying at the moment, to meet the demands of SVoD productions: “UK production spend is … Continue reading

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Understanding commuting costs – some bookmarks

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

Skills shortages in film & TV – update

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

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.

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

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Travelling to work in the EU (updated)

Post updated 27/01/22 I started writing this post because I was quite annoyed that there wasn’t any straightforward advice on travelling to work from the UK to the EU. Also, as far as I can see, Brexit will hit freelancers … Continue reading

Posted in EU & Brexit, Film & TV industry policy, Freelance working, Theatre and Live Events data | Tagged , | 4 Comments

BBC as an antidote to social media competitors

A good post from Diana Coyle on the need for “a publicly-funded, public purpose and independent competitor of scale” in online markets such as social media.” “…foreign observers find it impossible to understand why UK governments are so keen to … Continue reading

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Production growing in the nations and regions

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

BBC funding statment from the VLV

The Voice of the Listener and Viewer has published the following Briefing note and press release in response to yesterday’s BBC funding settlement.The briefing includes the claim that, on current projections, the BBC will be in deficit by between approximately … Continue reading

Posted in BBC, Film & TV industry policy, Politics, Public Service Broadcasting, Regulation, SVoD, Tax incentives, The Conservative Party | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Lord Bragg: The BBC is an institution that is being damaged for political purposes

I can’t find it on the Radio Times website, but the Times is quoting Melvyn Bragg’s article there, saying… “…as the BBC entered its centenary year, it found itself “sniped at, disparaged and blamed for every current malaise from culture … Continue reading

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Round up – production in the UK

Anyone looking for a good roundup of the UK production landscape – investments, studios, facilities, etc, may find this article in KFTV useful. A lot of it has been covered here already, though I’m aware I need to post more … Continue reading

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

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

Shinfield Studios planning permission granted.

Shinfield Studios in Reading is another addition to the UK’s ever-mushrooming production capacity (for details of other recent developments see the UK Studio Watch tag on this site). Located very close the M4 and nearly 5 miles away from the … Continue reading

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A distinctly British focus for TV programmes

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

Working terms in Swedish productions

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

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

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Shepperton expansion confirmed – with deeper Netflix ties

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

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

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What is the future for streaming TV?

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

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

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Violation Tracker UK

Violation Tracker UK is a search tool that brings together data on a range of regulatory infringements committed by companies across the United Kingdom, including employment tribunal data. It has been put together by the Corporate Research Project of Good … Continue reading

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More details of the proposed IATSE deal

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

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Piracy of films is still a thing

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

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UK radio to get ‘discoverability’ boost on smart speakers

Regulators have a number of tools at their fingertips. They can offer tax breaks linked to cultural tests. They can tell TV channels that a percentage of their content should be made within a particular jurisdiction. They can oblige distribution … Continue reading

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Public Service Broadcasting – contestable funds under threat?

The dust has long settled on the Public Service Broadcasting Contestable Funds Consultation [pdf] from 2016 (the outgoing culture team were fairly keen on them but Nadine Dorries may not be), and the Times [£] has a worrying set of … Continue reading

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