Lights, Camera, Brexit

Lights, Camera, Brexit

Britain voted on 23rd June 2016 to leave the EU. This response was written the following week.

Since Britain voted to leave the EU we’ve had here at enCAST dozens of emails and messages asking us what we thought was going to happen next and how this would affect English speaking actors across Europe.

The first email we opened was from a British actor in Spain who was wondering if they might have to pack their bags and go back to the rainy UK. And the second was from a German actor who was thinking of going to an acting school in London asking us if we thought he should change his plans.

And then dozens more followed throughout the day…

Perhaps the greatest concern though was from actors wondering just what on earth they would be doing in a few years time when Britain finally does pull up the gangplank and sail off alone into the Atlantic.

So, all things considered, this is our take on the matter. It’s our best guess which at this stage of the game is as good as it can be considering that politicians across Europe (who should be in the know) haven’t got a clue!

Time to pack your bags & go?

Way back when the EU was being put together, one of the pillars it was built upon was free movement of labour. Simply put, it said that anyone from the EU could live and work in any EU country they liked, no questions asked.

Which is why you find Polish plumbers in Portsmouth, French florists in Florence, Greek grocers in Grenoble and scores of other alliterating occupations and nationalities scattered throughout the EU.

But what now? Will all the foreigners in Britain (over 2 million of them) have to pack their bags and leave? And will all the Britons scattered around Europe (over 1 million of them) cross paths with them in the Channel Tunnel as they go home?

For the time being, no.

Officially the UK is still part of the EU and all EU laws and directives still apply. This means that nothing has changed and British actors can still work anywhere they want in the EU, just as actors from anywhere in the EU can travel to the UK to play foreigners on British television.

But it won’t last forever and as they say, all good things must come to an end.

For the next two years Britain will be negotiating their exit from the EU and it’s possible (some say probable) that this free movement labour will be lost after that.

So when the dust settles on the negotiations (in around 2019) maybe British actors will be able to fly freely into mainland Europe to shoot a film.

Or maybe not.

Maybe instead they’ll have to fill out mountains of paperwork, get a work permit, go through a medical and so on and so forth.

And from the other side, in 2019 there’s a chance a young European actor will be able to catch the train over to London and start pretending to be a tree at an acting school there…

Or maybe not.

Maybe instead they’ll need to deposit a huge sum in a bank first as an assurance they’re a genuine student.

The thing is, nobody knows. We don’t know. The EU bosses don’t know. Even the UK Leave campaign can’t agree on what they want.

All we do know is that we won’t know anything for a couple of years at least which makes planning for it very difficult!

Some guesswork anyway

But whatever happens during the next two years it will change the face of acting in Europe.

The chances are that by 2019 film directors in Europe are going to find it easier to employ an actor with a passport from an EU country than an actor with a British passport; and directors in Britain will find it easier to employ British actors than EU actors.

So fast forward to 2019 and how about these as predictions:

Many British actors living in Europe suddenly find they’ve lost the right to live and work wherever they want in the EU. They have no choice but to pack their bags and head home. Result: more actors in the UK going for fewer jobs.

A director in Europe who needs an English native speaker for their film finds it much easier to employ an actor from the Republic of Ireland (which is in the EU of course) than go through the paperwork to get an actor from the UK. Result: more work for Irish actors, less work for British actors.

Or maybe that same director might decide that they can tweak the role and do without a native English speaker altogether and instead they employ a local near-native English speaking actor. Result: more work for local EU actors, less work for British actors.

Of course big budget films will be prepared to sort out all the visas and paperwork and get any actor they want, but ask yourself how many big budget films are made in Europe?

Exactly, not many.

Medium sized and smaller productions will be looking to save money where they can so given the choice of two equally capable actors, one in the UK and one in the EU, they’ll take the EU actor.

In fact, they probably won’t even advertise the role in the UK and simply post it within the EU.

All jobs in the EU posted on enCAST, for example, are open to any suitable actor no matter where they live in the EU. But after 2019 it may be a matter of blocking EU jobs from UK actors and blocking UK jobs from EU actors…

The film industry formerly known as thriving

But say that doesn’t happen. Say that free movement of labour remains.

Let’s say the film fairy sprinkles angel dust on the negotiators and actors from Britain are given free movement around Europe allowing them to gesticulate and proclaim wherever they wish, free to recite Shakespearian monologues from Westminster to Warsaw, free to find method-motivation from Romford to Rome…

Even in that situation, things are not perfect because there’s something else we must consider.

In the last 8 years or so, the EU has passed about €130 million over to the British film industry. That money has been spent on film production, film distribution, film festivals and more and has helped build a well respected and, dare we say, envied film industry.

But with the UK out of the EU, that money will dry up very, very soon.

Suddenly we find the British film industry has lost a sizeable chunk of cash and so no more glitzy parties or crystal bowls of expensive cocaine in each actor’s dressing room. No, instead there are actors and crew out of work as film production is scaled back and television series are shelved.

And there’s worse to come.

In the past few years there have been a lot of co-productions between the UK and other EU countries. But now with the UK out, what incentives are there for a production house in Barcelona to work with one in Bolton when they could get better tax breaks and smoother agreements working with one in Bologna?

Co-productions will dry up and the UK film and television industry is likely to find itself isolated and pretty much friendless when it comes to sharing the risk, the cost and the rewards of film making.

And all this leads to one thing. The British film and television industry is going to take a beating. It’s suddenly going to find that funds have dried up and friends have forgotten them.

Some experts are even predicting its collapse.

Maybe we’re being a bit harsh, but no one in the industry is even daring to suggest that the industry won’t suffer.

Meanwhile in Europe

But what about 20 miles away over the water in mainland Europe?

Well this is deep crystal ball territory here, but we suspect the Brexit could be good for European film.

We think the EU will start looking inwards and we’ll see more co-productions between EU countries. We also think that when new countries like Turkey join they will bring with them new slants on film making and expand what it means to make a “European” style of film.

European film could indeed be headed towards a new era here.

We hope.

Let’s round this up

Everyone is an expert here because the truth is that no one really knows what is going to happen.

So while it’s very hard to predict with any degree of certainty what will happen in 2019 and beyond, it’s also easy because one guess is as good as the next and equally as valid.

So, all things being equal, cards on the table, hand on heart, it’s time we opened the envelopes to find out the winners and the losers here.

And the winner is…

EU Based Actors. There will be more film and tv production in Europe and so more work for EU actors, both those working in their native language and those working on English speaking productions in Europe – especially because there are fewer UK actors going for those roles.

And the winner is…

English Native Actors in Europe. Or at least those lucky few who retain the right to work anywhere in Europe (maybe they have dual nationality through an Irish grandparent or something equally tenuous). They will find more jobs and less competition.

And the loser is…

The British Film Industry. Heartbreaking because it has produced some classic cinema, but film and television production in the UK is going to fall away badly and that, in turn, means British actors aren’t going to have the best of it. There will be more actors chasing less work and, of course, far fewer opportunities for those actors to work in Europe with 27 countries suddenly closing the door.

Is it time to panic?

Well that depends on who you are.

If you are a British actor in the UK, unfortunately there is not a lot that you can do to prepare for what will happen in a couple of years time.

Short of getting a second passport from an EU country, you will find that there are going to be fewer opportunities for you in Europe and fewer at home as well.

But if you are a European based actor then maybe you can prepare for a brighter future.

Maybe improving your English and taking acting workshops in English are good ideas to give you a step up so when the British actors in Europe have to pull out, you will be there to fill the gap.

A final word

enCAST is not political and we do not want to comment on the politics of Brexit. However, we must say that in our opinion it was not a good move for the film industry in Britain and actors there as well.

We hope that we are wrong. We hope that the British film industry does not suffer and that there are continued co-productions between the UK and the EU. We also hope that free movement of labour between the UK and the EU continues… but we also recognise that the situation does not look good for Britain here which makes us sad.