Apparently TV wonderland has hit a blip. We keep hearing it, but are things really as bad as people keep saying? Freelancers and production companies are among those trying to work alongside the repercussions, but what if that’s no longer viable. They say those that can teach, but once you set your sights on new ventures is there really any turning back?

I can’t remember a time when freelancers weren’t being told by others that, “everyone says it’s quiet out there, but it’s supposed to pick up soon”. I’m hearing this a lot just now, and it seems so familiar that I thought I should find out whether the recession really is having an impact on freelance TV production work. So I contacted some of the other production talent heads of the larger indies to ask for their off-the-record opinions of what’s going on.

You won’t be surprised to hear that the economic climate is indeed stormy for commissions and the people who work on them. Productions are still going ahead, but they are fewer, and the competition for work is probably now tougher than I can remember since the last tangible recession in 1990-92. There are certainly many more channels and productions to work on than there were 18 years ago, but the size of the available workforce is also very much larger. People talked of giving up looking for work in the summer/autumn of 1991, and waiting for it all to get better. I hope that you won’t have to do the same.

So what’s going on? My contacts in the indies have said that their companies are getting the commissions in, but that the numbers of programmes within the commissions are being slashed. Others say that broadcasters are playing safe by only taking on tried and tested formats, and the commissioning process is taking much longer than before. Five are asking producers to contact potential sponsors directly, so that the producers can provide their own funding at the same time as their proposals. At this rate, some broadcasters will make themselves practically obsolete, other than as a shop window for production companies’ output.

Here are some non-attributable comments made by those talent heads:

“Commissions do seem to be coming in, although I feel the broadcasters are the ones being cautious, keeping budgets as tight as possible. In drama we’re being asked to continue what we’re doing but for less money. In the end, the hours still need to be made; I just think that everyone’s looking to make them with a small a team and as short a schedule as possible…”

“Productions are still being made, but the commissioners are keeping their heads down. I think that the people who are always in demand will keep working – just that a quiet market is flooded with people at the moment”

“A few of our shows have had the number of programmes slashed – so we are still getting commissions but the competition is stiff.”

“Things have certainly slowed down, and broadcasters appear to be going with tried and tested, established formats. The commissioning of new programmes is taking longer, as broadcasters are careful with what they are spending. And so yes, it’s true, there are loads of good people out there, all after the same jobs.“

In-house, it’s not looking good for the broadcasters. Five has indicated that a third of their staff are to go, including their entire programme finance department; ITV redundancies on a massive scale are well-documented; and the BBC has just announced planned cuts of £400 million. Well-known commissioning editors in several of the broadcasters are already for the chop, or are competing among their colleagues for fewer jobs. It’s no wonder that they’re reluctant to put their energies into commissioning productions for the next season when they have no idea whether they or even their department will still be around to sign off on them.

And yet the broadcast television juggernaut rolls on, and there are some production freelancers who always are in demand. If you are one of them, then you are lucky. It seems that the genres of formatted documentary series and shiny floor entertainment are still hungry for people with the right experience even now.

If you find that it is getting unfeasibly tough to find production work, then we might look back to what other people did in the last significant downturn in the industry. Diversify what you do, if you can – I remember a P/D who took a camera to the different East End markets, edited her own documentary and sold the resultant film to Hackney Council for enough money to have made it a decent income for the time she spent on it.

Consider non-broadcast production where your skills could be transferable. Or you may have to step out of the industry altogether until things improve, but then you might come back in another guise.

In 1990, I sold up my flat as property prices collapsed, left the world of programme making and became a residential care worker for two years. I came back but started working for PACT initially and haven’t made a broadcast programme since. I don’t think I was the only one.

We all know it can be difficult to get back into production after time away, and it would be interesting to hear the success stories among PB members. There should be no stigma if you do work elsewhere, but if anyone asks where you’ve been you can always just say that you were busy developing your own projects!