The UK government’s target is to grow the country’s production sector by £50bn and create one million new jobs.
The creative sector continues to be one of the healthiest areas of the UK economy, even during the rockier times we are currently enduring. Studios for film and TV production continue to spring up regularly with new ones either appearing or set to appear in Glasgow, Birmingham, Hertfordshire and beyond.
The new UK culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, has stated that the sector is on target to double its studio capacity by 2025, allowing for even more investment to the tune of £50bn, whilst also creating a million new jobs.
Whilst the figures are undoubtedly impressive and nobody’s going to be complaining about more jobs being created, there are a couple of things to be wary of, that the culture secretary isn’t talking about. UK independent features are proving increasingly difficult to get off the ground with both studio space and crew proving harder and harder to obtain, although an increase in production space and trained professionals could potentially ease this issue over the next decade.
However, the other potential issue is that of rising international competition and the potential end of the ‘golden age of TV’. Lots of streamers are cutting back on their output and it is proving exceedingly difficult to see what a profitable streaming landscape looks like five years from now and crucially, how much production capacity that will require.
Still, offering world-class facilities at competitive pricing is the best way to come out of that potential dogfight intact, and the UK is undoubtedly well-placed to do so. The government is planning to detail its wider vision in more detail over the next couple of months and we’ll keep you posted as that happens.
