The crisis in the television industry was top of the agenda at the Media Production and Technology Show in London.
Two sessions dedicated to the topic opened with harrowing video of freelance TV professionals who’d used up their savings and even their pensions to survive the downturn.
As if to emphasise the point – which is backed by shocking statistics – I was sitting next to a 30-something producer who hadn’t worked this year.
Senior representative of independent production companies – who were struggling to make programmes because broadcasters no longer paid them enough to cover their costs – were sympathetic.
Daniel Nettleton from Bandicoot said: “There is a lot of good talent out there not working.”
Even established execs and producers were having to hustle for work for the first time in years.
Sarah Stevenson (pictured) from Cardiff-based Yeti told the conference regional talent was being squeezed as broadcasters were telling her to use London-based talent. She said under-represented communities were being hardest hit by the crisis.
“People with disabilities and from working class communities are being left out. They just can’t afford to be in the industry anymore.
“It’s the survival of the fittest, not the best,” she said.
Dhanny Joshi from Big Deal Films advised unemployed freelancers to “hustle … make the head of production your best friend.
“It’s a who-you-know industry,” he said.
“Funding Crisis”
A lack of funding lay at the root of the industry crisis. The conference was full of executives telling how broadcasters’ tariffs no longer covered production costs – a result of falling advertising revenue and cost savings by streamers.
Adam Luria of Impossible Factual said: “I can’t remember the last time I got the full budget from a broadcaster.”
Most were looking for co-productions, mostly involving partners in the US. Others were, using creative solutions like exploiting tax credits by, for example, shooting reconstruction sequences in Canada.
Dan Snow’s History Hit channel subsidised a recent shoot in Jordan by selling footage to the Jordanian Tourist board for a promo video.
Green Shoots?
Many in the industry did see tentative signs of an upturn, but warned that it would be a different industry that emerged from the crisis.
“The next 12-18 months will be slower and when it does pick back up the landscape will have changed,” said Sarah Stevenson.
She said broadcasters were now used to indies who worked creatively to fill holes in budgets and would continue to expect them to do so.
Others suggested the future of TV would include the death of many traditional TV channels and the continuing growth of content for viewing on wide range of devices.
The unemployed freelancer sitting next to me wasn’t impressed. The “survive ’til 25” mantra was cold comfort for anyone without very large savings accounts. His friends may have to continue working as delivery drivers for a bit longer yet.
NOTE: The featured image on this blog was created by WordPress AI.
Rough Cut Media Ltd 
Very interesting but very depressing 😦
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