Unions, Industry Bodies & Governments Agree Framework To Protect Entertainment Workers’ Rights After Crunch Talks In Europe

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International British film and TV producers can breathe a sigh of relief after months of uncertainty around the country’s tax relief scheme for production. As part of the U.K.’s spring budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt revealed on Wednesday that he’s raising tax credits and keeping the qualifying threshold in place. This is a welcome move for the TV production community, in particular, which has for years taken advantage of a lucrative scheme in which scripted TV shows with a minimum spend of £1 million ($1.2 million) per broadcast hour are able to claim payable cash rebates of up to 25% on qualifying U.K. spend. The tax breaks have helped to elevate the U.K. into a major hub for international productions, yet the scheme has been under review since the fall, causing some anxiety in the production community.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent MALAGA, Spain — It’s not over yet. In March 2021, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced the government would plow €1.6 billion ($1.9 billion) into a Spain AVS Hub plan designed to turn Spain into one of the foremost film and TV hubs in Europe. Supported by Spain’s E.U-backed Recuperation, Transformation and Resilience push for post COVID-19 recovery, the Spain AVS Hub plan has been co-financed by part of a €806.9 billion ($866.5 billion) NextGenerationEU stimulus package for the whole of the European Union, which is a temporary instrument.  As that package ends, Spain’s government will look to negotiate funding from alternative sources to ensure that Spain AVS Hub initiatives are more than a flash in the pan, a broad cross-section of governmental authorities told an audience Tuesday at a Malaga Spanish Screening Content conference.

British film industry veteran Leslie Hardcastle, former controller of the British Film Institute (BFI), has died. He was 96.

The UK’s hospitality sector won’t be getting its much-demanded VAT cut, the boss of UKHospitality has said. Kate Nicholls, CEO of the trade body, said during a panel discussion at the annual Northern Restaurant and Bar show at Manchester Central that she was ‘not confident at all’ that there would be any temporary relief for business owners in the pipeline.

The security minister has not ruled out the possibility of banning TikTok in the UK after concerns were raised over its relation to China.

Vegans protested outside Costa Coffee in Manchester city centre this afternoon in a stand against the dairy industry.

Gary Lineker is to temporarily step back from Match of the Day after breaking the BBC’s impartiality rules on Twitter.

A man who replaced his heating system with a £25,000 government-backed 'green' heat pump says he is facing "crippling" energy bills, which have amounted to almost £3,000 so far this winter and could see him facing a £7,000 yearly bill.

Tara Karajica Egyptian director Alaa Dajani’s “The Native Dance,” a documentary that tells the story of Younis Abdallah and his comrades who were among the 300,000 peasants conscripted into the Egyptian Labor Corps in 1917, many of whom were dispatched to Europe to dig trenches for allied defense in World War I, took the top prize in the Pitching Forum of the Thessaloniki Intl. Documentary Festival’s Agora Docs industry program, which wrapped Wednesday. The awards ceremony concluded a session that saw more than 400 professionals taking part both in-person and online in the Agora activities. In “The Native Dance,” which is produced by Kesmat El Sayed and Laura Kloeckner (SEERA Films), the jury found “a film that promises a compelling visual approach combining archive material and animation, telling the story about the British forcing peasants from Egypt to dig trenches in Europe during WWI,” read the jury’s statement.

Gary Lineker has come under fire for criticising the Government's new asylum policy, and we want to know what you think.

Piers Morgan has defended Gary Lineker’s criticism of the UK Government’s new asylum policy, arguing that the Match Of The Day host is “not a news reporter”. The Talk TV host said Lineker’s remarks were “clearly incendiary” but that his opinions “should not matter to the BBC’s news output”. Lineker, 62, has faced criticism from members of the Tory party including Downing Street and the Home Office after comparing the language used to launch the policy with 1930s Germany.

IDLES, Rina Sawayama, Hot Chip and more have backed a campaign urging the UK government to act on US visa charges.Last month, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it was planning to raise touring visa fees for foreign acts by 260 per cent.Under the DHS proposal, applications for a P visa – which allows acts arriving in the States to perform temporarily – would increase from the current rate of $460 (£375.23) to $1,615 (£1,317).The longer-term O work visa would also jump from $460 (£375.23) to $1,655 (£1,349).In response, the Music Managers Forum (MMF) and Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) boosted their #LetTheMusicMove campaign – originally created in June 2021 – to oppose the potential changes, emphasising that the move could result in “crippling costs for UK artists looking to tour North America”.Now, a number of touring artists have bolstered the campaign with their support.“After what we’ve been through with Brexit and the pandemic, the implications of these new visa proposals are incredibly worrying for all artists wanting to travel and perform in the US,” Sawayama said.“I travel with 15+ crew on a tight margin, and any increase in costs sadly gets passed onto concert goers through higher ticket prices, which is not fair. Live music should be democratic and accessible and this is just another blow to the arts sector and the experience of concert goers.”Adam Devonshire of IDLES added: “Britain is renowned for its hugely profitable musical exports, however with pointless and costly restrictions such as these, British artists will struggle to make a name for themselves in the US, which would be a huge shame.

The Royal Burgh of Annan Pipe Band had a special role to play in Finland to celebrate a major milestone for the forestry industry.

K.J. Yossman U.K. entertainment industry bodies are taking action after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) quietly proposed hiking U.S. performer visa fees in January. Under the proposals, the P visa, a touring visa most commonly used by international music artists, is set to rise from $460 to $1,615 (a price hike of 251%) while the O visa, a longer-term work visa for established performers which typically lasts a maximum of three years, would go from $460 to $1,655, an increase of 260%. Both visas would also require an additional $600 surcharge. Now a plethora of entertainment bodies including the Association of British Orchestras, the Musicians’ Union and the Independent Society of Musicians have written to Kemi Badenoch, the U.K. Secretary of State for business and trade, asking her to appeal to the U.S. to reconsider the fees.

told People on the red carpet for the 2023 SAG Awards on Sunday.Butler revealed that he “spent a week in bed” before going on to another project.In May 2022, he told British GQ that he “woke up at 4 in the morning with excruciating pain” and was “rushed to hospital,” which was due to a virus he contracted that simulated the symptoms of appendicitis.“My body just started shutting down the day after I finished ‘Elvis,'” Butler recalled.But the trip to the emergency room wasn’t the only health challenge he faced while taking portraying Elvis.He also told People that he lost his now-memorable voice while singing Elvis’ version of “Never Been to Spain.”“We did so many takes. And at a certain point, I just lost my voice,” Butler explained.

MVT stood in parliament and told MPs and the music industry that we have a very serious problem with Grassroots Music Venues and it was going to need decisive action,” Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd recently told NME.“One Grassroots Music Venue is closing every week. If the government don’t act on Energy Bills before 1 April, that number will rise.

READ MORE: Family 'heartbroken' after Pulborough rugby player, 20, dies in A29 crashMr Aldridge said the family is very thankful to the Walberton community who helped search the area since she went missing on February 14. "We as a family are broken by what has happened, but we have each other, we have our friends, and we have the support of the local community, who have so kindly rallied around us during this difficult time," he added. "We will never forget what you have done for us.

The Eurovision Song Contest, to take place in the UK in May, has been pledged a £10m ($12m) cash boost from the British government. 

remove language deemed offensive from the late British author’s children’s novels with the goal of making the stories suitable for modern readers generated widespread backlash last week.The company said that in addition to the revised editions, 17 of Dahl’s books will be published in their original form later this year as “The Roald Dahl Classic Collection,” The Associated Press reported, citing the company stating that “readers will be free to choose which version of Dahl’s stories they prefer.”Penguin Random House did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.The company’s Puffin children’s label altered passages in Dahl’s books relating to weight, mental health, gender and race to make the titles more palatable to today’s sensibilities. The move is not uncommon with older books, but the number of edits and books involved drew criticism.In addition to the changed description of the gluttonous Gloop in the 1964 novel later made into movies starring Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp, The Roald Dahl Story Company, which controls the rights to the books, said it worked with Penguin’s Puffin children’s label to revise books like “Fantastic Mr.

Cabinet Office Minister Jeremy Quin visited Manchester to break ground on the near-£40million government hub taking place in the city's burgeoning First Street district. Some 2,500 civil servants will be based in the new northern hub - next to the HOME entertainment complex between Oxford Road and Deansgate rail stations - from 2025.