With reality shows gaining popularity, almost 5,000 independent artistes and technicians involved in the production of Malayalam television serials and family soaps have gone out of work.

"Most of the 5,000-odd workers, including actors, dubbing artistes, visual editors, sound technicians, cameramen and camera assistants are either out of work or have very less work," said Vijaya Krishnan, president, Confederation of Television Artists, Commercial Operators and Technicians, Kerala [Images]. "For the past six months or so, the industry is in a crisis,"

There are about 100 independent editing studios across the state, who have also been affected. "Only 20 per cent of these studios have work," Krishnan told PTI.

Visual editors, who earned Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 monthly, barely get Rs 5,000 now. The situation is similar in the case of other technicians.

Vasundhara Devi, a Thiruvananthapuram-based dubbing artiste, said over 100 artistes who had been lending their voice for TV serial characters were facing an acute financial crisis. "From a handsome Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000 earned monthly, many find it difficult to get Rs 5,000," she said.

According to R Gopinath, who has directed 15 serials, many directors have quit the industry and are trying their luck in other fields. "Earlier, at least 36 TV serials were aired through six or seven prominent channels. Now, the number has come down to about a dozen. Moreover, the prime time slots have been taken away by the reality shows," he said.

The most popular reality shows are music and dance competitions of the likes of Idea Star Singer and Vodafone Takadhimi, aired by prominent entertainment channels like Asianet, Surya, Kairali and Amritha.

Shows based on acting and mimicry do well too.

The advertisement rates of the on-air serials also have substantially come down after they were pushed out of the prime time slots, said Gopinath. The demand for telefilms and documentaries was almost nil, he said.

Though this has provided more work to technicians employed by the channels, their income has not gone up with regard to their work load, visual editors with some prominent channels said.

According to Vijaya Krishnan, independent productions need more money, time and labour compared to in-house productions, as they are shot at different outdoor locations.

There are people in the industry who feel the crisis could be temporary. "People had become bored with the bombardment of melodramatic serials into their living rooms and obviously, they found reality shows quite refreshing," said Gopinath. He said the crisis has given a chance to serial makers to retrospect and think out of the box.

Echoing his views, Krishnan said, "This could be a change for the better. But I am sure viewers would come back to serials as man has a general inclination towards stories."