Pact to look at ‘The Bigger Picture’
Pact has today confirmed that it is undertaking a comprehensive review of UK programme financing across all genres in what will become an evidence base for potential solutions to some of the industry’s biggest challenges.
The Bigger Picture project comes in response to changing market conditions both domestically and internationally that are causing severe stress in the market and leading to increasing difficulties in closing the financing of productions. This extensive piece of research, led by Pact but drawing on expertise and experiences from across the sector, will unpick where there may be possible market failures and posit potential solutions for Government and the wider industry to consider.
The research is also intended to inform the debate around the future of the UK’s Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) system and shine a much-needed light on how much the production landscape has changed since the post-Covid boom of 2022.
UK independent producers accounted for approximately 45% of PSB commissions broadcast last year. Following Pact’s recent report* on how the domestic commissioning market is changing, the trade body considers it vital to have a robust evidence base that can help stakeholders understand what may or may not be needed to ensure the UK can continue to have a viable and diverse range of programme suppliers into the future - which has been vital to the sector’s global success to date.
Pact CEO, John McVay OBE said:
“The Bigger Picture project will be as profound as the work that led to the introduction of the Terms of Trade over 20 years ago. The world of production has changed significantly over the past five years, and we need to have a deeper understanding of how this is impacting UK production in all genres.
“The insights from this work will provide a robust foundation to help Pact and the wider industry formulate potential interventions that may be needed to ensure a balanced and successful UK production sector into the future. We aren’t ruling anything out. We want to be sure we fully understand the complexities of the challenges the industry faces so we can be confident we’re coming up with the right, holistic solutions. That is what this comprehensive research project will enable us to do.”