A year of landmark television and tailored training was at the heart of the HETV Skills Fund’s 2025. Developments in key training initiatives and a continued commitment to supporting those at every stage of their careers shaped another busy year across high-end television.
The results of the Fund’s annual workforce review underlined the Fund’s focus to support mid-to-senior level freelancers and professionals, highlighted as the area to demand the most pressing attention.
Following eight years of service, Kaye Elliot stepped down from her tole as ScreenSkills Director of High-end TV and was replaced by Hannah Green, stepping up from her previous position as Senior High-end TV Programmes Manager in June.
Barry Ryan, Chair of the High-end TV Skills Fund said: "Kaye has led the Fund brilliantly and tirelessly for over eight years from its initial inception, pivoting during Covid to support crew online and navigating the recent boom and diversification of skills. Kaye leaves the Fund in the position as the premiere support for productions with the training offered emulated by organisations worldwide. She has built a fantastic team of dedicated and talented professionals who I know will continue the great work planned for the coming year.”
Productions
It was another bumper year for the Fund’s contributions from qualifying productions. Building on the record success of last year, this year’s contributions have gone even further. Since April there have been contributions from 162 new high-end productions, with a further 54 second payments expected, an increase of six productions from the previous year. This saw around £600K more committed to the Fund than the same period last year.
Among them were some of the year’s biggest hits and most celebrated titles showcasing the breadth of talent and content made across the UK, including the likes of House of Guiness, Reunion, Riot Women and Coldwater.
Arguably the biggest breakout hit of the year, however, came from Yorkshire in the shape of Warp Films’ production, Adolescence. During production, the show became an example of how the Fund works with industry to provide vital on-the-job learning to the workforce, with 12 candidates from Fund-supported programmes receiving placements on the show.
The year was marked by repeated award wins for contributing productions, with Adolescence itself being the big winner at a series of national and international ceremonies, including this year’s Emmys where it collected six awards.
One of the year’s other big headline makers, Fund contributor Mr Bates vs the Post Office, was celebrated at the BAFTAs where it picked up the limited drama award alongside a special award acknowledging the programme’s wider impact. There were wins for a further 13 contributors on the night, including Mr Loverman, Northern Irish police drama Blue Lights, Alma’s Not Normal and Rivals.
The latter two productions were also among the nine winning Fund contributors that received recognition at the RTS Awards in March.
Training and opportunities
A regional writers programme, run by Triforce/DandI, was developed to support those across the whole of the UK looking to progress writing careers. 10 candidates from the regions and one from Wales received 12 months of structured training in script development, creating treatments and script ideas with an emphasis on transforming ideas into compelling outlines. They were supported by regional Indies Saffron Cherry Productions, TriForce Productions, 5 Acts Productions, Hill 5.14 Media, Rope Ladder Fiction, Sid Wild Films (Sid Gentle Films), LA Productions, Warp Films, and SISTER.
In addition, participants took part in storytelling workshops and were offered networking opportunities. The hugely successful programme has seen a number of the writers have scripts commissioned and projects in development.
Running from April to September, the Julie Burnell Production Management Mentoring programme was supported by the Fund in partnership with Women in Film and TV in tribute to the late skills council member, a passionate advocate for developing female talent in the industry. It offered one-to-one mentoring, peer-to-peer training and bespoke career development workshops to candidates from lower socio-economic backgrounds in the North of England.
High profile sector leaders - Chris Leach (Quay Street Head of Production), Alison Loose (BBC Studios HoP), Ros Taylor (Wall to Wall HoP), Angela Taylor (Sony Pictures HoP) - joined as mentors with fellow industry leaders from ITV, Netflix and Lime hosting masterclasses and sharing insights and advice.
The programme concluded with a networking event that gathered over 100 of the UKs top production management professionals and offered an opportunity for participants and fellow professionals to reflect on the success of a programme and support for the next generation of production leaders in the North of England.
There was continued support for those taking their early steps in screen careers as a series of regional How to Start Your Career in HETV offered potential new entrants across the UK to get a glimpse into the practicalities of starting a career within the industry.
Fellow new entrants were once again supported by the flagship Trainee Finder initiative. For 2025/26, the programme looked to build on its success by partnering with the Film and Children’s TV Skills Fund to improve workforce flexibility and enable candidates to receive the necessary training and placements opportunities across all sectors.
The second round of recruitment received over 2700 applications with interviews of over 400 candidates due to take place in January/ February 2026.
One of the Fund’s key programmes celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2025 as the mid-career progression initiative Make a Move marked a decade of supporting mid-level professionals to step up. Over its 10 years, the programme has become an intrinsic part of the Fund’s offering, supported by up to 95% of contributing productions and offering positions on the likes of Adolescence, Blue Lights, Brassic, Call The Midwife, Department Q, Down Cemetery Road, Killing Eve, Outlander, Peaky Blinders, Sex Education, Ted Lasso, Vera and The Witcher.
Partnering with the Film Skills Fund, the Fund ran an Introduction to Becoming VP Supervisor course at MyWorld in Bristol, delivered by Mars Academy. 12 HETV & film freelancers working in the camera, VFX, and production designer departments took part in a three-hour webinar, followed by two days in the studio, where they had 2D and 3D plates, full cast and production crew to coordinate their own virtual production for a live scene. Experienced professionals David Gray (VP supervisor) and Julia Lou (VP supervisor) shared real life, working scenarios through case studies from shows such as Barbie, Hijack, and Silo with the cohort gaining greater understanding of how a VP supervisor operates and who this role reports to and communicates with on set.
Responding to the growing presence of new technologies in production spaces, the Fund developed training to support the workforce gain better understanding of how to use AI and what impact it can have. Webinars designed and hosted by the Fund helped over 400 freelancers get an overview of the evolving tech they can use to help shape future productions.
Having launched in 2023, a second cohort graduated from the access coordinator training programme. Developed in response to a call to make the industry more accessible to deaf, disabled and/or Neurodivergent (DDN) cast and crew, the training provides candidates with the skills to facilitate requirements in working production spaces, ensuring access, equity and inclusion is embedded throughout the workplace. Having completed extensive training, candidates are now ready to receive placements as access coordinators across HETV productions.