The UK taskforce, with support from networks and streamers, is drawing up a plan to close the “emerging gap” between the production workforce and demand

A plan has been drawn up to address the “emerging gap” between the UK’s physical manufacturing workforce and the demand for skills.

The Secret Sectors Skills Task Force, chaired by former Amazon Studios head of European Originals Georgia Brown and supported by everyone from Netflix to the BBC, has released its report on creating a sustainable future for skilled workers and made several recommendations to change the industry from the ground up.

The taskforce, originally known as the BFI Skills Task Force, was set up in response to a BFI Skills Review last year which highlighted various issues in the UK manufacturing sector. That report called for urgent action, including the requirement that the screen printing industry invest 1% of all production budgets in training, as well as the need for an additional 104 million pounds ($129.5 million) and 20,000 full-time jobs over the next three years Keep the industry. with the demand for high quality projects.

Having brought together leaders from 28 UK industry organizations for the first time to openly share business insights and knowledge, the Task Force has now made three key proposals:

The task force’s main option to achieve the goals is to transform the skills organization ScreenSkills, whose chief executive Seetha Kumar will step down at the end of 2023. Deadline assumes that the timing for change is right and achievable. ScreenSkills is one of the 28 industry organizations involved and therefore clearly supports the idea.

Following a media briefing yesterday at the ITV offices in West London, ScreenSkills issued a statement saying: “It is committed to working towards a unified skills strategy, based on data and insights, with partnership as the backbone of our “Building a creatively brilliant sector .”

“We also recognize that ScreenSkills needs to evolve with the wider industry so we can all keep up with the changing needs and demands of the talented workforce we were founded to serve. Having worked constructively with the Task Force and its members on this report, we look forward to continuing to do so as we develop the detailed recommendations.”

The background to the report is a sector that has seen a lot of boom and bust in recent years, with global demand also growing The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 moved production to British shores. But that has been complicated by many frontline workers leaving the industry during the Covid-19 pandemic, US labor strikes and a lack of studio space. A new decline in order sizes followed a peak in commissioning in 2022 after the pandemic forced more companies out of the sector.

With high demand and skills failing to keep up, many were promoted to senior positions more quickly than in previous times, largely due to the production boom that began when streamers came to the UK and began working in large numbers . Private sources say this has affected production quality and increased wages, unbalancing the market. With this in mind, the British government has set a target to increase the UK’s creative industries by £50 million ($62.1 million) by 2030.

The industry is therefore at a crossroads. Several statements to a government inquiry into British high-end television and film have warned that decisions must be made to protect and improve the current investment climate in production or risk losing jobs to European and European television to international competitors . The task force’s recommendations aim to provide long-term framework conditions and solutions.

“The film and television industry is a dynamic part of the UK’s creative industries and as an innovative, world-leading center for content production, there is still significant opportunity for growth over the next decade,” Brown said. “However, to achieve this growth, we need a highly skilled workforce and although significant efforts have already been made, there remains a growing gap between an increasingly stressed workforce and the sector’s demand for skills.

“To create the skilled, sustainable, diverse and inclusive workforce we need for the future, we need radical change from the ground up.” Our three proposals: Strengthen strategy and partnership; Supporting sustainable growth and careers; and placing vocational training at the heart of skills development – ​​is intended to move the sector beyond a reactive response to the immediate challenges and economic environment and instead work together to find a long-term solution to the skills challenge in the screening sectors. “

During the briefing, Brown said his membership had revealed £100m would be spent on skills development each year, but warned it would not deliver “the sum of all the parts”.

She also noted that “the lack of data in this area is one of the biggest challenges” facing the task force, but expressed confidence that its goals are achievable.

“I’m really confident,” Brown said in response to a question from Deadline. “When we come into contact with this and look at the reviews that have already taken place, we as an industry tend to be very reactionary: ‘There’s a problem today, so let’s put out the fire, fix the problem and go on, and That’s it.” Type of production and we are very good at it. But what comes with these great skills is sometimes a misstep because you don’t project outward and prepare for what might happen in the future.

She added that this realization led members of the task force to collectively decide to work more collaboratively and reject the “quick patch” approach in the long term. “When we talk about ensuring workforce mobility and adaptability, so that in a recession people can look for other jobs or use their skills in other areas and then come back. It’s incredibly important and something we have to prepare for.”

The task force will continue to support the implementation of its proposals until March 2024, although Brown and vice-chairman John McVay, the chief executive of producer organization Pact, stressed that they would not require other initiatives such as BFI Skills Clusters to implement their guidelines for adoption. Principals.

Members of the task force include Amazon Studios, Apple TV+, the BBC, Channel 4, Disney, ITV, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sky, Sony and Warner Bros. Discovery – in fact all the major players in British television, film and streaming. Industry associations such as the British Film Commission, BFI, Directors UK, the High End TV Skills Council, MPA, Production Guild of Great Britain and ScreenSkills are also members.

Oliver Lang of Silbury Consulting, who attended today’s media briefing at ITV’s London offices, supported the task force’s work, while Wiggin LLP provided legal advice and Oliver & Ohlbaum carried out the independent investment review, which found spending of £ 100 million pounds was created.