Our History

The1990s

Pact was founded on 4th July 1991. 

Several organisations merged to form Pact, largely in response to a growing independent production sector. This growth had been fuelled by the launch of Channel 4 in 1982 and the introduction of a 25% independent production quota in the 1990 Broadcasting Act, which meant that Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) had to commission 25% of their programming from independent producers. 

The indie quota became a statutory requirement for the PSBs in 1993, and throughout the 90s the sector was a hotbed for creativity, spawning now-legendary shows such as The Big Breakfast (1992, Planet 24) and Father Ted (1995, Hat Trick Productions). 

By 1998, profits from the top 50 UK independent production companies were £8.2m. That same year, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Celador) hit UK television screens and in 1999 it premiered on ABC in the US. Following the show's mega success, formats took off and became big business for UK independent producers. But an even bigger change was just around the corner. 

The2000s

By 2001, the combined profits of the top 50 independent production companies had risen to £13.5m.

In the same year, the first TV talent show format, Pop Idol (Thames Television) was drawing huge audiences to ITV. Meanwhile, Pact Council – chaired by Eileen Gallagher (Shed) – and Pact CEO John McVay hatched a plan to campaign for the introduction of Terms of Trade for independent producers. Up to that point, producers were simply paid a fee by a broadcaster to deliver a programme. Terms of Trade would allow producers to retain their IP, opening up new potential revenue streams through foreign sales, spin-offs and format adaptations. 

Pact mounted an extensive and ultimately successful campaign over almost two years, effectively persuading Parliament that the current model was unfair to producers and that a legislative intervention was needed. 

Terms of Trade were introduced in the 2003 Communications Act, and that same year Pact was named the UK’s most effective campaigning organisation by Campaign Magazine.

By 2004, estimated annual revenues for the UK independent production sector were £1.6bn, and the years following the introduction of the Terms or Trade saw capital flood into the market. This fuelled a rapid expansion which gave rise to the 'Super Indies' and vertical integration. 

Now the owners of their own IP, and able to build sustainable businesses, independent producers were free to go out into the global marketplace and compete like never before. 

In 2007, the Writers' Strike in North America gave UK producers an opportunity to gain a foothold in the US market with reality formats that viewers loved, triggering yet another programming boom. In the same year, the Film Tax Relief was introduced, which Pact had campaigned for, and paved the way for the High-End TV and Children's TV tax reliefs that were introduced later. These reliefs allowed qualifying productions to claim a larger deduction, or in some circumstances claim a payable tax credit when calculating their taxable profits. 

The 2007 BBC Charter introduced the Window of Creative Competition (WoCC). Pact had mounted a strong campaign for the change, which meant that 25% of the BBC's commissioning slate became contestable (between independent producers and the BBC’s in-house production arm), with a view to gaining full contestability in future. 

Pact had also campaigned for the BBC Nations & Regions quota to be set at 50% in the same Charter, which it was. Soon after, Channel 4 and ITV increased their own Out of London (OOL) quotas. Whilst Pact celebrated these increases, we continue to campaign for 'quality' in OOL commissions for Nations & Regions indies (e.g. returning series) to ensure the long-term sustainability of those businesses and the local talent pipeline.

By 2009, estimated annual revenues for the UK independent production sector reached £2.2bn. 

The2010s

In 2010, Pact upped its offering for its members to help them make the most of the new international opportunities that the Terms of Trade made possible.

Pact-led UK delegations at international markets, and missions to territories across the world became a regular part of Pact's activities for its members.

In 2013, the High-End Television (HETV) Tax Relief was introduced, followed by the Children's Television Tax Relief in 2015, both of which Pact was instrumental in campaigning for. 

By 2014, the Pact Census showed that the indie sector was worth more than £3bn to the British economy – quadruple the sector’s value only nine years previously. 

In the middle of the decade, Pact successfully defended the Terms of Trade after the then Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale, ordered a review. After an evidence-fuelled defence mounted by Pact, the DCMS review concluded that the intervention was still justified, and no changes were needed.

Pact has always been a defender of children's programming and in 2017 launched the Save Kids’ Content campaign alongside a cross-party group of MPs and the Ragdoll Foundation. The campaign called for the Government to address the significant decline of UK-made children’s content over the preceeding fifteen years, and to provide more support for the struggling children’s television production sector. Two years later the £60m Young Audiences Content Fund (YACF) was announced, providing a welcome injection of investment to the sector over its three-year lifespan. 

The 2017 BBC Charter renewal included a commitment to 100% contestability by 2027, marking the culmination of a 20-year campaign by Pact to open up the BBC to independent producers. The introduction of the original WoCC in 2007 had laid the groundwork for this to happen. In 2018, Channel 4 announced it would be increasing its OOL spend to 50% by 2023, something Pact had also lobbied for.

These developments meant more money would be coming along for Nations & Regions producers and so Pact took action to put in place new support to help companies to prepare, and in 2019 opened a full-time office in Leeds as a hub for this activity. 

Pact has always been committed to a diverse, equitable and inclusive independent production sector and provides resources and support to Pact members to help them embed DEI into their businesses and productions. In the early 2010s, Pact launched the Indie Diversity Training Scheme (now known as the Pact Indie Scheme). It was the first time the independent production community had combined efforts in an initiative to promote inclusion in the sector, offering a unique opportunity specifically for entry-level diverse talent (both graduates and non-graduates). The scheme began in London and in 2017 expanded to include trainees placed with Scottish companies, with support from Screen Scotland. 

Over 100 participants have been through the scheme so far, which would not be possible without the commitment of many Pact members who provide placements and mentoring. An alumni network, Next Level, was set up in 2020 to continue to offer support and ensure trainees remain, and move up, within the industry. 

The2020s

By 2020, independent production sector revenues reached a record-breaking £3.3bn, and international revenues broke £1bn for the first time. 

But in March that year, the COVID-19 pandemic brought production to a standstill. Pact immediately sprung into action for its members, working with industry partners including the broadcasters and the BFI to try to find ways to support the sector and get production back up and running.  

Pact CEO, John McVay led the industry task force on insurance, which helped establish the Government's £500m Production Restart Scheme – an intervention which ultimately supported over 1,100 productions, protecting 95,000 jobs and over £2.9bn of production spend. For their work to help bring about the Scheme, John McVay and then Pact Council Vice Chair Hakan Kousetta were awarded a Special Recognition Award by the Production Guild of Great Britain. Pact as an organisation also received a Special Award from the Royal Television Society for its work to help get the television sector back up and running safely during the pandemic.

Other key initiatives Pact implemented during the pandemic to support its members included weekly webinar briefings, an online Indie E-Fest, and a free six-month membership period which saw Pact's membership swell to the largest it had ever been. 

In May 2020, after three difficult years of negotiations, Pact signed a historic new Terms of Trade deal with the BBC, which took account of the increasing importance of BBC iPlayer to commissioning and exploitation. A year prior, Pact and Channel 4 had agreed a landmark new Terms of Trade deal fit for the digital era. These new deals demonstrated the ability of the Terms of Trade to adapt to the changing media landscape when necessary. 

In July 2021, Pact launched a year of celebrations to mark the organisation's 30th anniversary. A new development initiative, Future30, set out to identify 30 of the UK's most exciting new indies and would provide two years of targeted support for the founders of those companies. A large party and Indie Tributes Ceremony was planned for December 2021 but had to be postponed until June 2022 after the rapid spread of the COVID variant, Omicron meant that it couldn't go ahead safely. 

In the same year, the Conservative Government announced its intention to privatise Channel 4. Pact mounted an effective campaign against the proposals, alongside many other organisations and communities, knowing that a privatised Channel 4 would be devastating to the independent production sector. Research commissioned by Pact as part of its submission to the Government’s consultation on Channel 4 privatisation estimated a £3.7bn loss of revenues to the sector over 10 years if it were to go ahead. 

Following widespread opposition, in January 2023 the Conservative Government dropped its plans for privatisation but instead opened up the possibility of Channel 4 starting to make programmes in-house for the first time in its history. This came as a blow to the independent production sector but Pact was determined to work with Government to at least try to ensure suitable safeguards would be put in place to minimise the negative impact of any in-house production by the broadcaster should it decide to go ahead.

Following a post-COVID boom in 2022, which saw fully-booked studio spaces across the UK and demand outstripping supply of freelance crew, 2023 marked the beginning of a particularly challenging period for the whole sector, with independent producers’ budgets being squeezed by inflation; a significant commissioning slowdown amongst broadcasters largely triggered by a drop in advertising revenues; and Writers and Actors Strikes in the US. In the same year, the industry was abuzz with debate about Generative AI, following the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022. Pact hosted a day-long conference, Beyond the Box: AI and the Future of Production to help its members understand the challenges and opportunities of this rapidly evolving technology, and in early 2023 published a first iteration of AI Principles and Guidance for the independent production sector. 

Industry-wide woes continued into 2024, with many freelancers having to look for work outside of film and TV and some independent production companies forced out of business. However, there was some positive news as the long-awaited Media Bill passed into law, bringing with it a vital update to the Terms of Trade meaning they would apply to the PSBs’ on-demand services for the first time. And the introduction of the Independent Film Tax Credit (IFTC) followed a two-year campaign by Pact and others in the sector. Its intention was to address a clear market failure in British Independent Film and was warmly welcomed across the industry. The IFTC followed in the wake of the previous Tax Relief regimes for film and TV transforming into Audio-Visual Expenditure Credits (AVECs) at the beginning of the same year.