TV and film industry must unite to recover after pandemic
A spokesman previously stressed its commitment to moving into the Majestic building in Leeds, which was meant to happen this year, but said the pandemic had “impacted construction timetables and there may be some delay to our target date”.
Andrew Sheldon, creative director and founder of the True North factual television production company in
Leeds, is realistic about the issues faced by traditional broadcasters but believes Yorkshire is well placed to recover compared to the capital. He said: “It’s come
(the pandemic) at a time when the industry – both factual and scripted programmes – were on a little bit of a crest of a wave really. There has been a bit of a renaissance, in a way we haven’t seen since Yorkshire Television was in full flight in the late 90s.
“So the timing of it has been unfortunate. Like every industry, there are substantial challenges for us going forward.”
Speaking about Channel 4, he said: “There’s no doubt at all this is an existential threat for them.” But he added: “Because historically we’ve had probably quite a low cost base out of London, we’re actually quite well placed in some respects to come out of this positively.
“If we can work together there’s an incredible chance we can come out of this relatively soon.”
Sally Joynson, chief executive of Screen Yorkshire, said: “If all the production that’s been put on hold starts up at the same time, that’s going to be a really busy period – but we’re still taking enquiries for productions looking at 2021.”
In terms of filmmaking, the UK’s tax relief scheme has in recent years been an incentive for global producers to work in Britain.
After the Film Tax Relief was introduced in 2007, followed by similar schemes, the British Film Institute’s most up-todate report in 2018 showed that it seeded £3.16 billion in direct production spend in 2016, a 17 per cent increase on 2015.
Such incentives also benefit the complementary tourism sector – Yorkshire’s attractions included.
James Mason, chief executive at Welcome to Yorkshire, said: “Tourism in Yorkshire is worth £9bn to the county’s economy and the film and TV industry has a huge impact in contributing to that figure, attracting impressive visitor numbers from across the globe.
“Successful hit shows such as Gentleman Jack and Victoria ,plusthe Downton Abbey film spectacularly showcase wonderful heritage buildings and stunning scenery. The amazing diversity of urban, rural and coastal locations seen on screen appeal to tourists, production companies and are a real positive for local businesses too.”