UK Government “Monitoring” Insurance Situation Closely As Film & TV Production Restart Scheme Winds Down

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: The UK government is “monitoring what further action is needed” to help commercial insurers return to market and provide commercially viable rates when the £500M ($680M) Film & TV Production Restart Scheme ends on April 30.A spokesman for the UK’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) department told Deadline the government is keeping a close eye on how the situation plays out and Deadline understands an industry working group has been set up to support the Scheme’s closure, which will regularly review post-April progress.The UK government is prepared to intervene if insurers fail to return at commercially viable rates, Deadline understands, while support will be provided during the transition period for the weeks after the Scheme ends.Following the first lockdown when insurers first started refusing to insure shows for Covid cover, the Scheme was introduced in summer 2020 and has been widely recognized as helping get the British TV and film industries up and running again, industries that last year posted record spend of almost £6BN ($8.2BN).

The Scheme, which pays out up to 20% of a show’s budget if it is delayed by Covid-19 and 70% if abandoned, had registered more than 1,000 productions by the end of December, supporting the likes of Peaky Blinders and Midsomer Murders.The government’s position will reassure the likes of producer trade body Pact CEO John McVay, who had raised fears that insurers will be unlikely to insure shows in case of Covid-related shutdown beyond April 30, which means TV producers will have to push on and roll the cameras at their own risk.

The scheme has already been extended three times.“This is now down to the government and insurers,” McVay told Deadline, adding that he has