Skills shortages in roles such as talent coordinators, researchers and virtual production supervisor have emerged in high-end TV (HETV) in the past year, despite skills gaps overall becoming less of a concern, according to ScreenSkills research.
The roles join digital matte painter, playback operator and VFX in general as roles facing shortages for the first time in the seventh year of the HETV Skills Fund Workforce Research.
Key shortages remain – but have eased - in roles such as production accountant, line producer, location manager, editor, production manager and production coordinator, despite the availability of skilled workers.
The research, which was conducted between October 2023 and January 2024, found that 66% of respondents were currently working on an HETV production, down from last year’s 83%.
Just over half – 52% said skills shortages were a serious or very serious problem, compared to last year’s 81%. Meanwhile, 33%
A third (33%) of respondents said that skills-related issues were improving, while 22% said they were getting worse.
The research identified both the commissioning slowdown and the US strikes as factors in reducing demand for skilled workers.
The surplus of freelancers was also confirmed anecdotally by many respondents saying they were frequently receiving CVs and being asked for work.
Similarly, the physical lack of crew dropped from 71% to 37%, while the number of crew leaving productions early dropped from 76% to 39%.
Leadership ability is the main skill seen as most lacking (63%), followed by the ability to work to a budget. Communication, presentation skills and client management all emerged as skills more lacking than in the previous report.
Respondents shared concerns about the implications of AI on IP and copyright, with a minority concerned about the risk of junior crew missing vital hands-on experience of breaking down a script to create a production schedule, or assembly editing by using AI tools.
