Stage, Screen & Radio - December/January 2015 - 8

Cover
Story
As UK studios heave with production the employers are arguing for
a major expansion of the workforce - but is that really about lowering
the price of labour? Stage Screen & Radio Editor Janice Turner reports

More UK
production
But what about the workforce?

hen Chancellor George Osborne, in his
autumn statement, announced new tax
breaks for children's television production
there was a cheer from the television
industry. Tax breaks introduced earlier,
including what became known as the "Downton Abbey tax"
for high-end dramas, and last year's tax relief for children's
animation productions, have had a substantial impact on UK
production.
Producers' trade body PACT believes the animation tax
credit has attracted £52-million on spend in its first year and
they hope that the new incentive on children's live action
production could attract more inward investment from such
giants as Disney and Viacom.
The Chancellor also announced the Government's
intention to consult the production industry on a potential
enhancement to the UK High-end Television Tax Relief.
The enhancement would reduce the minimum UK spend
requirement from 25% to 10%, as well as modernising the
Cultural Test, bringing it in line with the UK Film Tax Relief.
The High-end Television Tax Relief has been a huge success
since its introduction, attracting major projects such as
24: Live Another Day and Outlander to the UK, allowing
them to benefit from world class television talent, crew and
infrastructure available throughout the country. British Film
Commission statistics show that the UK TV tax credit has
boosted the UK economy by £233-million.
In addition to this film production is booming. Since April
UK Film Tax Relief became more generous, with the rate of
tax relief for films with qualifying budgets over £20-million
rising from 20% to 25% of the first £20-million of qualifying
UK expenditure, with any excess qualifying expenditure
still receiving a 20% tax credit. The minimum UK spend
threshold has dropped to 10%. So the studios are bursting
with production; new studios are being built and existing
sites are being expanded.
But as a result of this increased production, the union is
hearing calls from employers that there are skills shortages, and

several productions have been bringing in workers from
elsewhere in Europe. Employers are arguing that the workforce
should be expanded by bringing in a lot of new trainees.
If there is such a skills shortage, then surely all BECTU
freelance members would be working at full capacity and
turning away work. Not so, say our members.
A well respected senior grip who has worked in motion
pictures for 30 years told Stage Screen & Radio that there is
no shortage of grips, despite employers' statements to the
contrary. He believes the problem is not too few grips, but
the derisory money some employers are offering.
PAY THE PROPER RATE

"The big film companies recognise the grades and qualifications that we have. They want the best," he says. But with TV
drama a lot of companies are saying they can't get grips.
"They never phoned us," he says. "Their reasons apparently
are that these guys are working on films and aren't interested. We could crew 50 pictures easily. I could get grips left
right and centre if they paid the proper rate." He added that
the hours are becoming prohibitive because of unrealistic
scheduling to satisfy the money men: "They'll schedule eight
weeks for a small movie even though they couldn't shoot it
in 10 or even 12.
"There was one TV drama where not a single movie grip was
phoned because they knew they wouldn't take the rate. So they
brought in grips from the continent and paid them a lower rate.
"It's not about filling skills shortages, it's about cheap
labour," he says. "We agree that some trainees need to be given
apprenticeships, but we believe they are probably looking at a
market for cheap labour. And who's going to train them? Us?"
A TV cameraman, who has been in the industry for 25 years
working particularly on documentaries, agrees. "Anecdotally
we're hearing that although there is a lot of work around it is
being undermined by employers choosing to farm out the
work to self-shooting directors and producers. I've been hired
as the cameraman on a documentary and there hasn't been
a sound recordist so there's been a researcher doing the

It's not
about
filling skills
shortages,
it's about
cheap
labour

Stage Screen & Radio December/January 2015

Stage, Screen & Radio - December/January 2015

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