The Media Collective training association is committed to new qualification programs in the video industry throughout Germany
They are missing – from all sides, the skilled workers. And their much-vaunted shortage has also long since arrived in the moving image industry. It’s not just demographic change that is leaving gaps. Streaming productions, which have been strong on the market for five to six years, have triggered a high production volume and tie up skilled workers for longer than TV or cinema productions. Added to this is the migration to other sectors. Fewer applications for vacancies and a lack of young talent in positions such as film directors, production managers, assistant directors and production managers are already having an impact. This is shown by a nationwide study published in October by “Media Collective – Der Weiterbildungsverbund Medien”. The association – based at the Erich Pommer Institute (EPI) and funded by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS) – is working to network industry players and develop training courses that are more needs-oriented.
Increased work pressure and loss of quality
This is because staffing difficulties affect almost all positions in video production. In the study, 88% of the companies surveyed reported increased work pressure due to a lack of personnel. Among the filmmakers themselves, 77% complained not only about work pressure but also about psychological stress. And almost every second company reported rising production costs and a drop in quality standards due to a lack of staff.
With Media Collective, a further education association was founded out of the EPI after the topic had already been discussed there for several years by industry stakeholders. A round table of the largest German film production companies was convened to discuss questions such as “What is needed?” and “What can we do?”. The resulting ideas and concepts are now being further developed within working groups of the network, for which the EPI is now the project sponsor with nationwide funding.
It is important to Managing Director Philipp Künstle that Media Collective is seen as an overarching, non-profit project, independent of the other units in the EPI division. “We work across federal states and are in constant contact with companies and institutions to find out where the needs are that need to be filled and how we can promote this.”
New career paths through targeted qualification programs
Künstle cites the concept of dual training, usually designed as compact, intensive courses, as an important lever in further training. They enable filmmakers to take the next steps in their career. The big challenge is to qualify more quickly for positions that often require ten years of professional experience. Further training can be a solution. Lower entry barriers are also being created and interested parties from other sectors are being prepared for a change.
As project manager, Denise Grduszak oversees the training network and explains the next steps. Working groups with different focuses have been formed. One group with a focus on political communication promotes the visibility of the topic in politics and takes care of financial support, while another working group deals specifically with further training in the region and asks about the skills requirements of individual companies in order to develop training concepts in the next step that specifically address the identified needs. “The aim here is to see the region and the companies as a community and to focus on and coordinate cooperation,” says Grduszak.
A working group is also looking at job profiles in the industry. This is because uniform standards are still lacking. Universities provide training in different areas, and there are also various apprenticeships and on-the-job training. What does a person need to be able to do – what social skills and expertise do they need to have? In the best-case scenario, the association’s work will result in a pre-formulated catalog of skills that are required for the job profiles and that the industry can ideally agree on nationwide – a checklist as a basis for more uniform qualifications.
Skills for the future
“A lot of new things are currently being created with AR, VR and digital production. Work processes are shifting from post-production to pre-production. Certain skills are now needed much earlier on set, while other skills were previously more associated with the games industry – that’s why we think in terms of skills,” says Künstle.
In order to counter the shortage of skilled workers, it is important for the association to act at a national level and create low entry barriers for career changers. According to Grduszak, the interest in the video industry is there, as can be seen in pilot projects in Hamburg and Hesse, for example. In Hamburg, the “Get on Set” trainee program works with partner companies to offer qualifications for various film trades, from film management and production management to assistant director, sound, props, make-up, costume design and post-production. In Hesse, “Hessen Steps” is a program that uses education vouchers to cover the costs of further training for career changers, provides financial support for trainee positions at companies and supports young film authors in the development of new material.
As part of the MediaTech Hub, EPI and Media Collective are direct neighbors of the hub management. On the one hand, Babelsberg is in the process of aligning the network nationwide. On the other hand, they are concentrating on programs that are located in the region. Media Collective is currently looking to recruit video companies in Berlin and Brandenburg for trainee positions that offer on-the-job training and onboarding programs for career changers and newcomers in close cooperation with the network.
Already involved in the Media Collective network are well-known companies and institutions such as the Bundesverband Produktion, Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg, media:net berlinbrandenburg, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Netflix, PAIQ Produzentenallianz Initiative für Qualifikation, REAL FILM, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, Studio Babelsberg, UFA GmbH, we are era and Wirtschaftsförderung Brandenburg.
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The media technologies of the future are already being used today – not only in the entertainment sector but in a wide variety of industries. For our MediaTech Hub Potsdam blog, we talk to tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and researchers once a month and tell the stories behind their innovative business models, ideas, projects and collaborations.
