By the time we get into May, the industry is usually properly warmed up, much like the weather will be this weekend!

Instead, the industry is still unusually quiet and jobs are hard to come by. 

There’s a lot of opinion swirling around about how the year ahead might pan out, and we've heard from some members who are questioning whether a film and TV career is still sustainable. We've looked at some of the factors currently affecting the industry below.

How quiet is it?

Our recent survey of Filmbase members showed around 70% of you are currently not working. A quarter of you have been out of work for between six and 12 months. 

This means that around 30% of you are working, which shows there are productions starting up. However, with the amount of crew available, jobs are being filled very quickly and HODs understandably tend to rely on their usual contacts, with no need to advertise.

Most of the survey respondents were crew with at least five years’ industry experience. There's no doubt that this is an unusually quiet period and it really is affecting everyone, experienced HODs included. (Full survey results below.)

We hope everyone's doing okay.

So why is the industry so quiet right now?

One of the main reasons appears to be the US-Israeli war with Iran, which escalated in late February, just as many crew members were starting to look around for news of spring and summer productions.

Any war creates uncertainty, and the Iran conflict comes with an added complication: disruption around the Strait of Hormuz. As headlines continue to report, this is having a direct effect on the cost and supply of fuel and raw materials.

If the price of oil and fuel rises, that affects unit transport, crew and truck movements, generators, catering and countless other everyday studio and location costs. If the cost of raw materials increases, set builds become more expensive. Even a 1% increase in fuel costs on a big-budget production can have a significant impact.

On top of this, a rapidly changing global situation causes currency fluctuations, making production budgets difficult to pin down. During particularly volatile periods, a major motion picture’s projected budget can swing by hundreds of thousands of dollars in a single day.

What we’re hearing is that studios have productions they want to greenlight, but are hesitating because of the financial uncertainty.

SAG-AFTRA talks

One piece of good news from the US - the talks between the union SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have concluded, with a settlement reached over pensions and AI. That situation was causing concern that we were returning to the kind of deadlock that led to the 2023 strikes - and may well have contributed to productions not being greenlit recently.

The agreement has to be approved by SAG-AFTRA members and that should happen in early June. Once that's signed off, some productions may move forward.

Are productions going abroad?

Many crew feel that the current quiet period is due to productions “going abroad”. 

Prague is busier than it has been in years, with a good amount of UK crew working there on various productions, including a new Martin Scorsese film. Is this a long-term shift? In response to growing global competition, Czech film tax incentives were increased by 5% last year, bringing them up to 25%. The changes only came into force this year, so it’s too early to predict the long-term impact, but the signs so far suggest film-makers have taken notice and Prague is likely to remain a major production hub.

Ireland and Northern Ireland are also busy. Belfast currently has three major productions underway: a six-part ITV thriller First Woman, the new season of HBO’s A Knight of Seven Kingdoms, and the period drama Bad Bridget, alongside some smaller productions. Dublin is also exceptionally busy, with multiple productions underway and an HOD telling us there's a strong feeling of industry momentum there. 

In Spain, UK crew there report five or six productions ongoing in Madrid and four in Barcelona, plus others regionally. Some of those productions are Netflix, which is investing heavily in Spain. 

In the US, California introduced new tax credits, but Trump still hasn’t created the federal tax incentives that might tempt many more productions stateside. The few statistics available, plus anecdotal evidence, suggest that the US industry has stabilised to a certain extent, and “stopped the bleeding” of big productions shooting in Europe, but it’s also true that crew in Hollywood are still suffering as they still don't have the quantity of 'tent pole' movies that they once had.

A US-based production costs a studio a lot more, in crew costs and union rates alone, than anywhere in Europe. If some productions have gone to the US recently, that could be seen as a political move, to keep on the right side of Trump while he's in power. 

Meanwhile, the UK remains the beneficiary of major investment by the streamers and the studios (in February Netflix gave £1m to the National Film and Television School). And the fact that the UK is probably the best-equipped place in the world right now to make TV or film hasn’t changed.

So what does the year ahead look like?

If it’s quiet now, will it be busy enough later in the year to make up for it?

It’s fair to say that, looking at the global situation, which now includes two northern hemisphere wars, rising fuel costs and major supply chain issues that may take months to normalise, betting on the industry picking up later in the year rather than earlier would probably be sensible.

The fact that there are currently so few productions even being talked about is leading many crew members to question whether a long-term career in the UK industry is sustainable. We’ve been told that Warner Bros is expecting a busy year in 2027. Warners are nearing completion of their new sound stages at Leavesden, and other studios have also expanded significantly in recent years, so there will likely be continued pressure on the Government to maintain competitive tax incentives that encourage long-term film and TV production in the UK.

However, many key industry figures do feel that the industry may not sustain the current number of crew working in the UK, and are encouraging people to consider diversifying their skills and income streams. BAFTA has a Transferable Skills series and has been championing the games industry, which some Filmbase members have recently moved into.

We’re obviously here to help crew build and sustain careers in the industry they love, but we also want to help people explore what side hustles or other creative industries might be open to them. So we’re putting together a webinar speaking to crew who have successfully ventured beyond the film industry. We’ll announce the date soon via email and on Filmbase.uk

Other news and useful links

Mileage Increase

The Government has just announced that mileage rates will increase to 55p per mile, retrospectively from April 2026. This means productions should now reimburse you 55p rather than 44p, and you can also claim that amount on your tax return for any mileage you’ve done for work.

Bectu Art Department Rates Survey

The Bectu Art Department Rates Survey is now live. You can fill it in here.

Please send it to all your colleagues, as the Art Department Branch needs a solid amount of data from as many crew members as possible in order to formulate a realistic rate card for the coming year.

There is also a Box Allowance Survey here, with more detailed questions about box rental.

Broken Turnaround Petition

The Bectu Broken Turnaround petition now has more than 4,600 signatures. Bectu is campaigning to ensure that all crew get at least 11 hours’ rest between working days.

You can sign the petition here.

Survey Results & Support

Full results of our recent crew survey are below.

If you are struggling at the moment with the lack of work, remember the Film & TV Charity have a support line:

https://filmtvcharity.org.uk/get-support/24-hour-support-line/

Phone number: 0800 054 0000

They also have financial tools, debt advice and a cost-of-living support fund:

https://filmtvcharity.org.uk/get-support/finance/

And please do get in touch with us at Filmbase if we can help in anyway.