High-end television productions across drama, comedy and factual contributed a record £3.3 million to the ScreenSkills High-end TV Skills Fund in 2018/19 to support skills and training in the industry.
The contributions supported work with more than 660 individuals including new entrants, those already in HETV and outreach activities across the whole of the UK.
This included:
- 70 heads of department and managers as part of the ScreenSkills HETV leadership and management programme
- 77 people supported to move into a more senior role through ScreenSkills HETV Make a Move
- 101 trainees on the ScreenSkills High-end TV Trainee Finder work placement programme
- 91 individuals on ScreenSkills HETV boot camps in Bristol and Nottingham
- 30 production accountants
- Three new producers – Louise Say with a placement on Les Misérables, Charlotte Surtees on Kudos’ Code 404 and Rachelle Constant on Studio Lambert’s The Feed
- Seven writers mentored by established writers such as Kay Mellor and Jed Mercurio.
Kaye Elliott, ScreenSkills’ Director of High-end Television, said: “We are grateful to all productions who are supporting our work in skills and training by contributing a record £3.3 million to the High-end TV Skills Fund. Without industry support for the Skills Fund, everything we do to help find and develop a skilled behind-the-camera workforce would not be possible. Enormous challenges remain to ensure the workforce remains world-leading and productions of tomorrow can find the crew and talent they need for what is now a billion-pound industry.”
Christine Healy, Chair of the High-end TV Skills Fund and Head of Production for New Pictures, said: “We all know that our industry relies on the talents of the people who work in it so the work of ScreenSkills is critical to making sure we continue to have the skilled workforce we need.”
Contributions were received from 30 productions whose payment spanned the previous financial year plus 122 new submissions, making a total of 152 for the year. The majority of payers were in drama – 118 – with 27 from comedy and seven from factual. The total contributed was £3,301,988.95.
Productions contributing to the fund included Les Misérables, Marcella, Outlander, Planet Earth, Sex Education, Silent Witness, The Virtues, Killing Eve and The Split.
Productions that pay in to the fund can access a range of support to develop and advance the skills in their workforce, including training for their HoDs in management and leadership skills, support funding to step crew into more senior roles as well as trainees via Trainee Finder.
Trainee Finder trainees worked in a range of skills shortage roles on productions including Victoria, War of the Worlds, Mrs Wilson, Shetland 5, Line of Duty, Fleabag 2, Deepwater and Gentleman Jack. Two-thirds (65%) of the trainees were from the nations and regions, 16% were black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) and 72% were female.
Make a Move, which provides funding to support the upskilling of individuals identified as ready to move into a more senior role, was used across a range of roles including line producer, script coordinator and production accountant. High-end TV Skills Fund support is targeted at job roles identified as in high demand.
Since the High-end TV Skills Fund was introduced in 2013, a total of £12,438,316.97 has been collected and invested. Industry agreed to support skills funding during consultations with the Government to secure the introduction of the high-end TV tax credit. The amount collected in 2017/18 was £2.64 million.
Eligible productions contribute 0.5% of their UK core expenditure up to a cap that was raised from £41,800 to £55,000 last month after discussions with industry and agreement from PACT.
Statistics released by the BFI showed high-end television production reached £1.173 billion in 2018, a 4% increase on 2017 and the highest level since the introduction of the tax relief in 2013.
For further information, contact Louise Jury, Director of Communications and Marketing, on louise.jury@screenskills.com or 020 7713 9883
Note to editors:
ScreenSkills, formerly known as Creative Skillset, is the industry-led skills body for the UK's screen industries - animation, film, games, television including children's TV and high-end drama, VFX and immersive technology. We work across the whole of the country to ensure that UK screen has access now, and in the future, to the skills and talent needed for continued success.