The Collective Film & TV Location Management and The Production Managers Association Form Alliance

“ Two of the UK film and television industries’ “unsung hero” organisations met in London recently to discuss the roles of location manager, production manager and the problems facing the industry in the economic downturn. ”

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(eMusicWire.Org) – London, UK -- The UK’s film and television industry is facing difficult times. Traditionally seen as one of the less severely affected businesses in times of economic downturn, film and television production budgets are now also under considerable pressure, meaning fewer programme commissions, fewer jobs and tight budgetary constraints for those who are lucky enough to be in a job. For location and production managers from members of London-based Location Collective and The PMA, the opportunity to share experiences of recent difficulties was very welcome.

The two roles are closely linked, with location scouting and management often accounting for a large chunk of the production manager’s budget. One of the issues discussed at the recent “round table” was the temptation for producers, especially in the current climate, to encourage production managers to take location managers on at a later stage in the pre-production process, or sometimes to do away with them altogether, in order to save money – something both Collective and PMA members considered to be a false economy. Other items cropping up in the course of the afternoon included the development of “best practice”, the trend for genre diversification amongst industry professionals, and the positive progress made by some of London’s borough film offices.

The Collective’s Membership Manager, Adam McDougall: “Our organisations are similar in size, ethos and the range of support services supplied, and we felt it made sense to get some of our people round a table. Caroline Fleming (PMA Manager) always says Television especially is one of those jobs where nobody knows what each other actually does. Seeing as they work so closely together on jobs, we thought it would be interesting to hear firstly what they thought of each other, and secondly how they saw things going in future. What came through during the conversation was how similarly everyone felt about how best to run a production and the problems facing the industry at present.”

Further meetings, professional and social, are planned for the future, and it’s hoped that the alliance will be long-running and beneficial, enabling a valuable forum for film and TV professionals and leading to better working practices. To read the full transcript of the discussion, go to www.location-collective.co.uk/newsletter/pmaroundtable.

For further information on The Collective visit www.location-collective.co.uk, The PMA website is at www.pma.org.uk

The meeting took place at I.N.C Space, a beautiful new events and meeting space in London’s Covent Garden. Explore the location at http://location-collective.co.uk/location-detail.html?id=4402

Press Contact:
Adam McDougall
The Collective Film Location Agency
7 Jeffrey's Place
London, UK, NW1 9PP
0207 284 8902
adam@location-collective.co.uk
http://www.location-collective.co.uk