Huge swathes of production were closed down when the coronavirus struck but the public appetite for film, television and games during lockdown showed the importance and potential of a sector now in the vanguard of the economic recovery.
Government support was important in re-commencing production and it would be advantageous for government to continue to work with the screen industries in coming months and years if the potential for pre-Covid growth is to be fulfilled.
The immediate impact of the virus on the screen sector last spring was dramatic with a largely freelance workforce losing their work overnight. As production resumed, the coronavirus affected the sector in other ways too. Costs increased considerably as production shouldered the responsibility of extra safety measures and equipment. Yet the new circumstances also drove innovation and accelerated new ways of making films and TV shows, such as remote working and virtual production, which uses software to combine live action footage with computer graphics in real time.
The demand for more studio space continues to grow, with more than 50 new sound stages coming on stream in the next three years across the country including production hubs in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Glasgow as well as Greater London area with plans at Pinewood, Shepperton, Dagenham and Elstree. All of this has skills implications, with thousands more jobs available from entry level to highly-skilled professionals, and with a need for new high-level technical and functional skills. The screen sector, including film, TV, video games, animation and visual effects, can play a key role in aiding recovery and creating jobs, across the country for people from all backgrounds.
Prior to Covid-19, skills shortages were the biggest single inhibitor to growth, and they remain a threat to recovery. Building the skills base skills takes time - longer than to build a new studio – so, if the UK is going to make the most of the opportunities, we need a more strategic approach to skills. With many countries offering tax credits to attract lucrative production business, we need to address skills shortages if we want to press home our current advantage against competitors, in the EU and further afield. An international business must always be able to attract the best international talent, but Brexit does offer an opportunity to reconsider how best to find and develop more homegrown talent, too.
Right now, ScreenSkills, the industry-led skills body for the sector, has expedited a range of programmes to help ensure a safe return to production and to offer opportunities to people at risk of losing their jobs in other sectors. Free online health and safety training on coronavirus awareness on set and location was launched in the summer with over 50,000 people now holding a certificate to demonstrate that they have taken the module. Other support was also quickly moved online at first lockdown with over 60,000 professional accessing online training or attending events such as masterclasses, lunch and learn sessions and seminars. The DWP has funded the Skills to Screen: Aviation programme to help people who have lost their jobs at Heathrow Airport and the supply chain transfer skills into screen roles. Looking ahead, ScreenSkills is keen to expand Skills to Screen across the country, supporting people from other industries who have lost their jobs to transfer into screen roles.
We are also working to ensure the sector has all the skills needed to support innovation in production and are leading on developing national standards in virtual production, bringing together industry and education to make sure the UK has the skilled professionals needed to capitalise on technology commonly used in games but now in use in productions from The Match of the Day to The Mandalorian.
Alongside this work is ScreenSkills’ mission to open up the industry to a greater diversity of talent, with opportunities to people from groups currently under-represented in it and from all the nations and regions, Diversity and inclusion is embedded in what we do, and we develop practical ways to support both entry into and progression in film, television, animation and games. For example, we have just partnered with the S.O.U.L Fest on a mentoring programme to support aspiring black film producers.
The pandemic had a huge impact on the sector and its large freelance workforce. But the screen industries also have strong potential to drive recovery and growth. It can offer exciting careers to thousands more people, whether young school leavers or older workers whose industries have been badly hit by the pandemic or whose jobs are being automated. Government and industry, working together, need to seize that opportunity by taking skills seriously and investing in them. It is an industry of small and medium-sized players as well as major broadcasters, SVODs and studios so intervention now could support the whole of the UK’s complex – but hugely successful – ecosystem to grow, thrive and deliver jobs and revenues.
Mark Heholt, Head of Policy at ScreenSkills