How the UK government’s $600m scheme to restart films and TV shows has left some producers in the lurch

EXCLUSIVE: When the UK government unveiled its £500 million ($601 million) Restart Film and TV Production (PRS) scheme in October 2020, independent producers breathed a sigh of relief. The program promised to boost film and TV production by covering the Covid-related costs needed to get cameras rolling again.

At the launch, then finance minister Rishi Sunak (who is now prime minister) praised the targeted plan, saying it would “help bridge the gap left by the lack of available insurance and to our world-renowned film and television programs.” Industry back on track” – a divide created by private insurers who refused to address Covid-related issues.

Producers will sign the scheme before starting production, and if such a problem would hamper their production and lead to additional costs, they can apply for a refund. Several senior government ministers and industry figures have touted the merits of the plan in recent years, including last week BBC chairman Richard Sharp, who advised on its development while at government offices in Downing Street.

However, months after the system’s official cut-off date in September, a Deadline investigation revealed that this mandatory system (which added costs to production budgets) not only failed to pay many producers who adhered to the protocol, which seriously resulted in financial damage to numerous companies – but the government-backed project currently has a cash surplus of around £12.3m ($15m).

At last count the PRS, which is backed by the BFI and TV trade body Pact and has been renewed three times, claims to have registered 1,259 productions with a production budget of £3bn ($3.6bn) and under other 100,000 jobs Peaky Blinders, Mr Jack, Saturday night take out, Good luck to you Leo Grande And Mothers Sunday as registered projects.

Many we spoke to were happy with the process and received applications quickly.

But according to the latest publicly available data from Marsh Commercial (the scheme’s administrator), the PRS paid out just over half of the £54.2m ($65.9m) received in 452 applications, around £28 .1 million ($34.2 million). . Another £16.7 million ($20.3 million) of claims are still being processed, accounting for 16% or about 70% of the total, and £2.8 million ($3.4 million) have been rejected outright. In the same data, there is approximately £6.6 million ($8 million) in unaccounted claims money, which DCMS Deadline did not explain in time for publication.

At the same time, producers paid around £39.6 million ($48.1 million) in bonuses (1% of the project budget until 31 October 2021 – then increased to 2.5%), meaning that the government currently has a cash surplus of around £ 11.5 have. million (US$14 million) came from a mandatory plan that had to buy projects to keep the cameras rolling. A spokesperson for DCMS said it was “absolutely wrong that the government benefited from the scheme”.

It’s a bitter pill for many producers, who Deadline said had to sacrifice their entire production costs on projects when the system refused to pay out Covid-related claims.

These mostly filmmakers described a long and overly complicated claims process, with several feeling that the people working on the plan had little understanding of how a film or television set worked and how different teams worked together. One of them contacted the financial ombudsman, who ultimately could not make a decision and advised him to complain to his local MP.

“Screaming in the Vacuum”

“I felt like I had been screaming into a vacuum for six months,” said the producer, who spent months trying to work out a claim after another claim was rejected by the settlement for a previous project. “With insurance companies, you usually deal with a broker who mediates between you and the insurance company. As a result, there was no third voice in the room.”

The producer adds, “I cannot reach anyone with our claim who wants to look at our case logically. I still get another person replying to my “Keyboard Warrior” emails saying we did the right thing, and then a random question comes back. They want us to give up and a lot of people do.”

Several issues have been raised in the claims phase since the scheme officially closed for submissions in September, we’re told, and insiders working on the scheme say the processes are moving at a snail’s pace.

“It doesn’t feel like the government is trying to help,” another source said. ‘Tis as they say [PRS] offer to cover the finances so you can start producing your film, but I’ve spoken to many people who are waiting for claims to be processed and feel [PRS] just wait for them to go.”

A leading British independent producer told Deadline that their production company was “tricked into thinking we could go into production and be supported by the PRS plan, but the plan just said, ‘No, we’re not interested. .’

The long-time producer, who has worked on a string of top film and television projects for the independent sector and studio system over the past three decades, had two staff members at risk over the line and had to close the production at personal expense for a day and a half opted to pay for a mobile testing device, which this manufacturer says reduced their claim to a quarter of the cost.

“We did everything we had to do before we quit,” adds the producer. “We sought medical advice, we followed protocols and we used government agencies, but it still wasn’t enough. I worked so hard to reduce their risk, but they weren’t interested. There was nothing to discuss.”

The producer adds, “It’s not like none of us know what we’re doing — we’ve been told to stop, we’ve said so and they’ve come back and said we’re failing.”

After nearly six months of debate over the matter, the plan went into foreclosure, severely disrupting post-production and ultimately costing producers their fees.

“I made one [insurance] claim in almost every job I’ve had for various reasons, and this is the only time I’ve been unsuccessful with a claim,” says the producer.

One financier described the PRS as a “rather crude tool” and told Deadline he was surprised “by how quickly the plan worked and paid off claims early.”

Teething has always been inevitable, he says, and when asked if this deal – which has increased the cost of productions in an industry already struggling thanks to the pandemic – should provide a cash surplus when some indie producers die, has full lost wages. and putting their business at risk, he tells Deadline, “This definitely shouldn’t happen and anyone who had a valid claim should be paid.”

In the PRS machine

Insiders working on the plan echo comments from disgruntled growers we spoke to.

The problem is attributed to the fact that the system was “written from the insurance perspective by lawyers, but with new rules and regulations from the start”, which partly contributed to the large backlog as “it was quite a process to interpret “.

Another source working on it said he felt the system had been “effectively gutted” since applications closed in September, which had made things “complicated” given the sheer number of claims and their complexity. In addition, a number of people who worked on the program from 2020 to mid-2022 have been seconded from private insurance companies and have now returned to their old jobs, while dozens of claims are still outstanding.

A steering committee that meets to investigate difficult-to-interpret claims now meets only once a month, and if the board can’t make a decision on a particular claim or has questions, they are referred back to lawyers , which actually slows down the process. further.

Amid high-profile press reports of people fraudulently gaining access to UK government-run Covid schemes, an insider tells us that the taxpayer-backed nature of the scheme meant that the PRS “claims withhold until the investigation.” claim”.

“Where [private insurers] would pay off, the show wouldn’t,” says another insider. “The government is very concerned about fraud. They don’t point the finger at the film and television industry, instead every penny is checked and recalculated, which is why it takes days, weeks or months to validate claims.

While private insurers sometimes agree to pay out small amounts while a claim is processed, the state refuses, except in exceptional cases.

“They say it is not their duty to finance the film and television industry,” added one of the insiders.

A spokesperson for DCMS told Deadline that the department is committed to paying off outstanding debts “as quickly as possible while managing public money responsibly and getting value for money for the UK taxpayer,” adding that it was “our world-class film and television industry helped the pandemic.”

Deadline understands system operators hope all claims can be resolved by early to mid-2023, but manufacturers remain pessimistic.

“It’s unethical,” says one we spoke to.

“They expect people to be too busy to hunt and hope they don’t have to pay. This is not the way any type of business should be run, let alone any government-backed system.