Freelancer Applications... how do you like yours?

[top-cat]

Did the "industry" warn of that, or was it one of these representing educational boards who've cropped up as subject matter experts of everything the live production industry wants and needs?

In my experience, there are more technicians looking for productions than productions looking for technicians... and I fail to see where another 30,000 technicians-worth of productions are going to come from in the next 5 years!

 

For those that are new to the game, we are back here again from 2007.

 

Quoting the article..

 

According to research revealed to The Stage by Creative & Cultural Skills – the sector skills council for the creative industries the projected growth in UK live entertainment will mean that 10,000 extra backstage staff will be needed over the next ten years.

 

I don't suppose that'd have anything to do with the CC Skills people getting their funding from 'training' such people? And even if they do, why is it that in the last 5 years, there have been so few good opportunities to train introduced? The majority of new entrants to the industry who I am meeting are still not up to the standard that they should meet for the jobs they are looking to take on.

 

Can anybody else agree with the 30,000 figure? I just can't see it. That's a lot of people in what is still a niche industry.

 

Also, with everybody being a freelancer, it's very hard to gauge A) how many technicians we actually have available; and B) how many are actually 'in work'. Because none of them are technically 'unemployed', but I suspect that many are operating below a sufficient profit line to actually live away from home or put their own food on the table.

 

And wages, Kerry - I'm not sure that it's just a case of people from unskilled backgrounds not demanding the wages. I think actually there are a range of skilled and good quality freelancers out there, and that employers, who only want to line their pockets deeper in the years directly preceding their retirement, have an opportunity to offer lower wages because frankly low wages are better than no wages, and people will still take the work.

 

In any industry, once supplies outweigh demand, prices will always drop. And I fail to see how upping supplies by 30,000 (which must be literally upping supplies 2 or 3 fold) is going to meet demand. In my opinion, all bringing so many 'trained technicians' to the industry is likely to do, is either drive our wages down yet further, or simply stick a lot more people in the unemployment pile with drastic debt from courses that were never truly destined to lead them anywhere.