Dawn Bowden MS, Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport, and Chief Whip
BFI and BAFTA Albert will today announce Wales has been selected to put environmental sustainability recommendations for screen production into action in Screen New Deal: Transformation Plan. This follows a successful bid in a UK-wide competitive process by Creative Wales and its delivery partners Clwstwr and Ffilm Cymru Wales.
The initiative is a follow-up to the Screen New Deal report in 2020, which explored the carbon impact of the film production sector and proposed a practical route forward for scripted film, high-end TV drama and studio-based productions to reach a zero-carbon, zero-waste future, aligned with net zero and science-based targets.
The BFI's National Lottery Research and Statistics Fund supported the Screen New Deal report, which was produced by leading global engineering and design firm specialist Arup with BAFTA Albert, the leading screen industry organisation for environmental sustainability and the BFI.
The BFI's Research and Statistics Fund has now awarded up to £80,000 National Lottery funding for the Transformation Plan project as the next phase of work.
Through the Screen New Deal: Transformation Plan, the BFI, BAFTA Albert and Arup are working with Creative Wales, Ffilm Cymru Wales and Clwstwr to carry out localised data collection and mapping. This will identify film and high-end TV-related services, which already exist in the area, highlight service gaps and advance the creation of a location-based transformation plan to decarbonise TV and film production.
The first 12 months will focus on data collection to be followed by the development of the transformation plan over the next six months. Data and learning gathered during the mapping and creation of the plan will be shared with other UK screen clusters looking to achieve zero-carbon and zero-waste to support the production sector more broadly. The 18-month programme will deliver the transformation plan by mid-2023.
As part of our Programme for Government, we are committed to supporting action to reduce our carbon footprint across the economy and we look forward to working with established screen stakeholders across Wales, including production companies, public sector broadcasters, studios and the industry supply chain. The data gathered will be invaluable in helping us forge a path to secure a zero-carbon, zero-waste and a stronger, fairer, greener future for the industry here and across the UK.