The Brexit Paradox

The seismic political upheavals triggered by June's calamitous vote to leave the EU have greatly intensified in recent weeks. At Decode, we look at it as a decision that has placed the country and certainly our industry in a paradox.

We are a diverse team made up of Europeans and Brits, therefore we celebrate our diversity.

Witnessing these events unfold inspires fear from most members of our industry as we consider the potential consequences.

Ultimately our main concern was and still is, how this decision will affect our business, our industry, the clients we work with and the running of our operation.

Within Decode, we find ourselves in this extraordinary paradox where we all feel strongly against the decision taken in the referendum, yet unpredictably, we have experienced an increase in business from mainland Europe and overseas in the short time since the vote and the inevitable drop in the value of the pound that followed.

This boom in business represents a very welcome outcome, especially as the pound continues its free fall. We have asked overseas clients their view on the matter and they have expressed to us that the reason they came to film to the UK was purely the drop in sterling's value. This has given them a financial incentive to come to the UK, taking advantage of the local facilities and iconic locations instead of filming in a studio or a different country.

Which leads us onto the thought – why is the UK so popular for filming? It's undeniable that we offer the best crews, training, infrastructure, locations and know-how. The icing on the cake in previous years has been our tax breaks – it's no coincidence that Pinewood, Leavesden and other studios are filled to the rafters with Hollywood blockbusters!

So maybe, inadvertently, Brexit is becoming an extension of our already successful tax break scheme.

After all, in the aftermath of Brexit, Decode won't be moving out of the UK, and neither will many of the established businesses and individuals that we work with.

Brexit may well slow down certain investment in terms of new purchases as this is something that will inevitably be affected by the rising costs of equipment manufactured abroad. However, for productions coming to film in the UK, a weaker pound is excellent news and in a sad kind of way, it is great news for us.

We continue to be worried about the future, especially the 2017-2018 tax year as Article 50 is scheduled to be triggered in March next year. We expect the pound to plummet once again by quite a considerable margin when that happens.

We feel we are not the only ones monitoring the situation and speculating on it. We have four projects from overseas clients that have been postponed for late March or early April 2017 in expectation that the pound will fall dramatically, resulting in an even more beneficial exchange rate to them.

And that will be good news for all of us, whatever the result be.

Article is courtesy of Sam Martin, Decode.

www.decodeuk.com

(JP/MH)