Knowledge is power - and it’s time to share

The production sector’s collective brain is whirring as it ponders how to get back to work – to impressive effect.

Ideas that would have seemed somewhere between outlandish and unthinkable a month ago are now being drawn up as practical solutions, albeit that the emerging strategies of quarantining and/or testing will not become standard practice, due to the expense involved.

But speaking to leading figures from the indie world this week, and reading about BBC Studios’ plans to restart production for EastEnders and Top Gear based on social distancing measures, it is clear that there is plenty of innovative thinking going on. When life is so challenging on so many levels, it is feels truly heartening.

Coronation Street and Hollyoaks seem likely to be back in production in the not-too-distant-future too, also following the path that has already been taken by Neighbours in Australia.

Its been quite a few years since the industry paid real attention to the goings on in Erinsborough (I hear a rumour Toadfish is still in it), but right now there is a huge appetite for information about how production is restarting.

People are scouring the globe, taking lessons from China and Ukraine, where crews of up to 50 can now work, with anti Covid-19 measures in place.

It is in that context that one indie boss, who runs a well-known label that is not part of a super-indie group, issued this plea: “Things like quarantining would be a really big throw of the dice. I hope companies are prepared to share their learnings to serve the greater good.”

This kind of initiative is already happening on some levels. All3Media’s label bosses, for example, are speaking regularly to share protocols, update on projects and generally exchange information about their respective potential solutions to the production lockdown.

The next stage is for that kind of knowledge to be passed on beyond corporate groups to build a wider understanding of what is possible and how much it costs.

As with so many things, there may be the potential for the BBC to lead the way, as it does not naturally harbour quite the same commercial rivalries.

The industry has genuinely come together during lockdown, with initiatives to support the freelance community for example, and a collegiate sense has emerged.

In the first weeks after lockdown bit, I remember a hard-bitten exec telling me he felt cheered whenever anyone won a commission, irrespective of the usual professional jealousy, as it proved the whole sector had not ground to a complete standstill.

It is time to take that spirit further and for the industry’s leaders to approve more conversations between businesses and collectively source the kind of knowledge that can help us get back to business – even if ‘as normal’ still feels a long way off.

• Chris Curtis is editor in chief of Broadcast