The UK Screen Investment Summit 2025 Programme

As global demand for screen content continues to grow, the UK is well-positioned to capitalise – but delivering on production growth requires coordinated action. This session will explore how the UK’s nations, regions, and production clusters are responding to the opportunity, and what’s needed to ensure the sector scales successfully and sustainably.

From investment in content, technology infrastructure and skills, to the role of local government, devolution, and new models of public-private collaboration, the panel will examine how to unlock and spread growth across the country. With a focus on shared ambition and collective messaging, reflecting on the Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy, this discussion will spotlight how production is being enabled on the ground – and what more is needed to compete internationally and drive long-term sector resilience.

The UK’s screen sector is both world-class and workforce-hungry – but as production needs evolve, so too do tensions in the talent pipeline. Freelancers are the backbone of the industry, yet many are out of work. Skills programmes are expanding, but are they structured and aligned with real production needs at all levels? And how can the independent production sector, with its role in nurturing original IP and developing talent, be better supported?

This panel will explore how the industry can build a more resilient, inclusive and production-ready workforce. From hands-on initiatives like Propeller Stages to broader partnerships between indies, investors in content, and training providers, the session will ask how we bridge the gap between training and work, and why a thriving freelance base and indie sector are essential for the UK to remain globally competitive.

The UK’s screen sector doesn’t just deliver world-class content – it acts as a powerful catalyst for wider economic growth. From screen tourism and music tie-ins to gaming, immersive tech and esports, the ripple effects of successful productions are shaping creative economies, infrastructure, and place-based development across the country.

This panel explores how film and TV can anchor broader investment – in digital innovation, visitor experiences, and cultural infrastructure – and how the UK can better connect these growth areas. As the boundaries between media, tech and experience continue to blur, what are the opportunities to scale value beyond the screen?

Today’s studios are more than sound stages: they are creative campuses, hubs for innovation, and increasingly, part of mixed-use real estate strategies that blend production, tech, sustainability and long-term placemaking.

This panel will explore what makes the UK’s studio offer globally competitive, how the next generation of studio campuses is being conceived, and whether we need more – or just different, more adaptable – spaces. With global competition for production investment increasing, growth levels moderating since the ‘Streamer Wars’, higher yielding alternative uses for land, increased business rates, and a growing emphasis on sustainability, what does the future studio model look like?

Innovation is reshaping the way screen content is developed, produced and delivered – from virtual production and AI to data-driven workflows and new storytelling tools. This panel explores how the UK is embracing cutting-edge technologies to maintain its position as a global creative superpower.

With a focus on the intersection of creativity and technology – or Createch – the discussion will examine the investments, partnerships and infrastructure needed to stay ahead. Are we doing enough to scale innovation nationally? And how can we ensure the UK’s production sector leads not just in artistry, but in the tools of tomorrow?