The Economic Impact of the UK Film Industry - BFI - British Film ...

Economic Contribution of the UK Film Industry
5. Productivity – skills education and training
July 2007
This chapter looks at productivity in the core UK film industry through analysis of key indicators such as
average wages, educational attainment, skills and training.
Key Points
• In the production sector, the workforce is well qualified. Some 59% of the workforce are
graduates in the production sector as a whole (including pre- and post-production), rising to
74% in the post-production sector and over 80% among those who work in costume. Average
gross wages in the UK production sector as a whole are £31,700 per annum.
• Highly skilled workers in computing/technology-related occupations command the highest
wages. For example, average wages in the post-production/editing/visual effects sector are
around £39,050 per annum.
• A key feature of the core UK film industry’s workforce is flexibility. Workers not only have to
contend with frequent periods of unemployment but also, when actually working, with long
hours per day – with people working an average of 10.8 hours per day on their most recent
film production.
5.1. Qualifications and demographics
A detailed survey of the workforce in the UK film production sector (ie excluding exhibition/distribution)
has recently been undertaken by Skillset 14 , with the objective of understanding in detail the working
patterns, skills and training within the industry.
One of the key findings from the survey is that people working in the production sector of the core UK film
industry have on average a higher level of qualifications than the population at large. In particular:
• 59% of the workforce are university educated with either a postgraduate qualification (15%) or an
undergraduate qualification (44%). This compares with, for example, 28% of the population of
working age in England who have qualifications of level 4 or above 15 .
• 23% of the workforce have a graduate level qualification specifically relevant to the core UK film
industry.
• The production/script development, editing/post-production/visual effects and costume sectors are the
14
Feature Film Production Workforce Survey 2005 and 2006 Film Sector Survey - Project Update, Skillset, The Sector
Skills Council for the Audio Visual Industries.
15
Source: The Level of Highest Qualification Held by Adults: England 2006, Office for National Statistics, March 2007.
Level 4 and above qualifications include first and higher degrees, NVQ level 4 and 5, teaching or nursing qualifications,
HE diploma, HNC/HND or equivalent vocational qualifications.
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