A recently launched online toolkit designed to protect and improve the mental health of those working in film and TV is the latest development in the push for industry-wide change.
The Film & TV Charity aims to get 100 productions using its mental health toolkit this year (photo: Pexels)
A flurry of developments and commissions in recent months highlight how attitudes towards mental health and working conditions for under-represented communities are, hopefully, set to change for the better.
UK-based The Film & TV Charity has created a ‘toolkit’ to support and enable healthy working practices as part of its campaign to destigmatise the causes of poor mental health in film and TV.
The Whole Picture Toolkit: For Mentally Healthy Productions, has been developed in collaboration with industry partners and bodies, individuals, mental health experts and sector practitioners.
Among those are senior leaders from Amazon, Banijay, BBC, BBC Studios, BFI, Channel 4, Disney, IMG, ITV Studios, Sky, Sky Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount and WarnerMedia.
An easy-to-use, free online resource, it breaks down into pre-production, production and post-production sections to provide practical help and templates to make sure that a production is mentally healthy.
The Film & TV Charity is seeking to get 100 productions on board and using the toolkit by the end of 2022, marking the next phase of its 12-month behaviour-change campaign to redefine working culture in the film and TV industry in the aftermath of the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, dubbed ‘Let’s Reset.’
The campaign began in October 2021 and calls on leaders across the industry to commit to the action needed to improve wellbeing and to destigmatise the conversation about mental health.
Earlier on this year the charity published its Looking Glass ’21 report, which found that long hours and well-documented skills gaps are challenging the mental health and wellbeing of many working behind the scenes in film and TV.
Fifty-seven percent of the survey’s 2,097 respondents revealed they experienced bullying, sexual or racial harassment or discrimination, or other harassment or discrimination over the past year alone.
MixMups on Channel 5’s preschool strand Milkshake!
Thirty-nine percent of black, Asian and minority ethnic respondents had experienced racialised harassment or discrimination, causing 43% of them to consider leaving the industry.
The number of respondents who said the industry’s culture and values are having a negative impact on mental health has risen from 29% in 2019 to 51% in 2021, while 74% of disabled respondents considered leaving the industry altogether in the last year due to concerns about their mental health.
Communicating with and creating a safe space for disabled people are two practical steps television professionals can take in an effort to boost inclusion on screen and behind the camera, delegates taking part in an online session during Berlinale in February heard.
Writer and director Kyla Harris, who is a member of the Disability Screen Advisory Group for the British Film Institute in the UK, urged industry professionals to communicate more with disabled people and create roles that will help provide access for them.
Harris encouraged industry professionals to read the Documentary Filmmakers With Disabilities (FWD-Doc) Toolkit and the FWD-Doc Engagement Pack, which provide steps on how to make the film sector more accessible to disabled people and are free to download.
Meanwhile, pressure groups such as Underlying Health Condition (UHC), set up in 2021 by leading names in the UK drama industry Jack Thorne, Genevieve Barr, Katie Player and Holly Luban, are leading the charge when it comes to demanding more accessible working conditions.
UHC has highlighted television’s failings in representation of the disabled community both on- and off-screen and revealed damning research into the state of accessibility at UK filming facilities towards the end of 2021, exposing some of the horrors that are experienced by those with disabilities working in the industry today.
UHC added that if buildings and spaces become accessible, better inclusion and representation can follow. It has subsequently set out four key recommendations to improve accessibility and inclusivity within the TV industry, and has invited broadcasters and production companies to pledge their commitment to change.
The key recommendations include featuring a line in every high-end television budget for reasonable adjustments to make their productions more accessible in offices, on sets and locations and at unit bases.
Elsewhere, recent commissions such as MixMups on Paramount-owned Channel 5’s preschool strand Milkshake! demonstrate that buyers are growing more aware of the need to increase and improve portrayals of disability on screen.
Created by Rebecca Atkinson, the show is produced by Raydar Media and Mackinnon & Saunders and the core MixMups team all have lived experience of disability, either personally or through a close family member.
Jack Thorne, Genevieve Barr, Katie Player and Holly Lubran of Underlying Health Condition
The Social Model states that disabled people are not disabled by their impairments but rather by the attitude and geography of the society in which they live. It is society itself that’s disabling, when it makes transport impossible to share, when it shows little flexibility in the workplace, when it is built around the needs of certain people rather than the needs of all.
Louise Bucknole, VP of children’s programming at Paramount UK and Ireland
MixMups is our first commission that, from its very genesis, has been entirely inspired and created with the experiences of disabled children in mind. Working with Rebecca [Atkinson] and a core production team that has lived experience of disability, we are confident we can bring a level of authenticity, understanding and commitment to the show, unlike any other.
Alex Pumfrey, CEO, The Film & TV Charity
Looking Glass ’21 shows us that, despite stability and remarkable resilience in some areas, there is still much more that we must do – and the urgency is especially acute when we consider the strain being placed on the mental health of people in the industry from under-represented communities, including our disabled workforce and black, Asian and minority ethnic workforce. In particular, the mental health impacts of individual experiences of racial harassment and discrimination have been brought to the fore.
Adeel Amini, series producer and founder of Coalition for Change
Speaking as a [member of a] minority in the industry, I think knowing there are tools that will safeguard me and other people I work with is already a comfort blanket going into production. If I know that a production is using The Whole Picture Toolkit, I will already feel reassured and confident that I’m going to work in a safe space.
Caroline O’Neill, series producer and co-director of Deaf & Disabled People in TV
Being proactive about protecting people’s mental health opens up the door to a diverse workforce, which then leads to better output, robust new ideas, formats and concepts and exciting new talent. This is the value that deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people provide, and this toolkit will help ensure we are retaining and nurturing this talent and celebrating what we bring to the table.
Karl Liegis, line producer
I believe the Whole Picture Toolkit provides a uniform foundation for broadcasters, companies and productions to build on and then add their own initiatives as well. Key issues within the industry won’t be properly addressed without conversation, engagement and action across the board.
Sam Joly, head of marketing and publicity, See-Saw Films
It should be really easy for companies and productions to put mental health support in place for their teams, whether it’s a huge company or a small independent film production. The toolkit is a simple way to show people it’s inexpensive and very easy.
Seetha Kumar, CEO, ScreenSkills
What’s been absolutely brilliant is the power of collaboration, the power of partnership, the power of acknowledging, yes, there is a problem. We’ve acknowledged this problem and, as an industry, we are all collectively working together to try to do something about it. To me, that is very powerful.
