Britain is one of the world’s largest centres of video production. In the year to April, 1,788 new TV series were ordered by a broadcaster or streaming platform based there—more than in any country bar America and Japan, according to research by Ampere Analysis (see chart). As well as these local commissions, the bulk of which are “unscripted” (a category that includes documentaries, reality tv, sport and the like), Britain hosts many high-profile—and valuable—scripted productions by American studios, which come for the talent, tax breaks and high-tech facilities.
As an industry-wide arms race for streaming content forced Hollywood studios to go abroad in search of production capacity, Britain was one of the winners. But its popularity with American studios means it will also be among the losers of the writers’ strike that has brought Hollywood to a halt. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) downed pens on May 2nd, complaining that the cutthroat economics of streaming had eroded writers’ pay and conditions. New scripts, and thus most new scripted productions, are on hold.
Though there is no strike in Britain, filming will be disrupted. American-made shows shot on British soil may continue only if their scripts are finalised—a tougher condition than it sounds, as big productions typically have writers on hand to fiddle with the script during filming. British-made shows commissioned by American firms can go ahead if contracts are already signed and under British law. But any new deals are off-limits—at least for anyone who wants to work in Hollywood again. The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain warns local writers against working for American studios during the strike: “You risk being blacklisted by the WGA which could seriously damage your long-term career.”
Production is already drying up. Even before the strike was announced, there was “trepidation about committing to projects this year”, says David Gray, managing director of Lux Machina, a high-end visual-effects company. When filming wraps on titles that are already in production, like Warner’s next season of “House of the Dragon”, currently under way at Leavesden, the dearth of new projects will be felt more keenly. Mr Gray recalls that the previous WGA strike, which lasted for 100 days in 2007-08, knocked the British film business off course for a couple of years, as shows were cancelled and workers left the industry. The current strike seems nowhere near a resolution.
