Public Servant Lifestyle

The UK film industry is still a man's world reveals major new report.

The first ever in-depth study of film production workforce highlights need to broaden recruitment and tackle the barriers faced by those within it, or risk losing valuable skills and experience

Women working in the film industry earn less than their male counterparts, despite being better qualified, and most people working in the industry get their jobs through word of mouth and live in London and the South East, according to the most in-depth survey ever of the UK’s film production workforce published today.

The survey, which was conducted by the UK Film Council and Skillset, underlines the need for the film industry to be more open and recruit from the widest possible pool of talent, while providing better skills training for new entrants and those already working in the industry.

Gender

Increasing opportunities and improving skills training for new entrants and existing industry workers are key areas being addressed by A Bigger Future, the five year, £50 million UK Film Skills Strategy launched last year by Skillset and the UK Film Council, and through the industry’s Leadership on Diversity Group which is developing an industry-wide equality standard.

The Feature Film Production Workforce survey also found that:

Women make up 33% of the workforce and earn less than men. 35% of women earn less than £20,000pa compared to 18% of men. In the higher salary brackets 30% of men earn £50k+ compared with 16% of women;

Women are more likely to be qualified to graduate level than men (60% compared with 39%). While 17% of men had no qualifications, this was the case for only 5% of women;

Women working in film were less likely than men to be married or living as part of a couple (44% compared with 69%) and less likely to have dependant children under 16 (21% compared with 39% of men);

There were almost no women in the camera, sound, electrical and construction departments while the majority of those working in make-up and hairdressing were women.

Ethnicity

Findings also indicate that:

Film production is also predominately white with only 1 in 20 from a minority ethnic background. This represents just 5% of the workforce. In London, where the survey found the majority of the workforce was concentrated, minority ethnicity groups make up 24% of the working population.

The main route into the film industry is through word of mouth - 81% had been recruited in this way. More than half had been approached directly by a contact on the production;

Before the 1980s, only 5% of people had done unpaid work prior to getting their first paid job in the industry, this climbed to 45% for those entering in 2000 or later and more than half the respondents (58%) lived in London and a further 20% lived in the South East.

Training

Film production has a highly qualified workforce. 46% are graduates compared with 19% of the UK workforce as a whole. However, very few people had experienced formal, organised film industry training. 13% had attended a course (with 45% of those paying the fees themselves) while 33% had taught themselves relevant skills - of those that had attended a taught course, 33% had gone on a health and safety course;

55% of people felt they needed further training and almost a third wanted it in business and finance (32%) and to keep up with changing technology in the industry;

60% of people face barriers in getting training - most commonly taking time off work (32%); the fear of losing work through committing time for training in advance (23%);

19% felt that the possible loss of earnings while training was too high a risk; and a similar proportion found the training fees too

high.

Film Production

Incomes vary hugely in film production - 25% of survey respondents reported a gross income of £50,000 or more from all their audio-visual work, yet 23% earned less than £20,000. Almost half (48%) of all 16-29 year olds surveyed earned less than £10,000 in the past year;

Unemployment rates are high with 71% having been unemployed at least once over the previous year and more than a third (35%) having spent more than 10 weeks of the year unemployed.

A Bigger Future will support a range of initiatives including the creation of centres of academic excellence for film in the form of a national network of Screen Academies, the establishment of a new film business academy to raise the level of business, leadership and management skills in the industry, as well as mentoring programmes, and a new industry approvals scheme for film courses.

Dinah Caine, Chief Executive of Skillset, said: “Film has a highly qualified workforce but one which faces a multitude of difficulties keeping their skills levels apace with the changing needs of the industry. The industry also has, on average, an older workforce with few structured, equitable routes in for new talent from a diversity of backgrounds. A Bigger Future was introduced last year to address many of the issues highlighted by these results. It’s a five year strategy but is already making a positive impact and with skills development firmly at the top of the industry’s agenda, can only go from strength to strength.”

John Woodward, Chief Executive of UK Film Council, said: “Whilst the UK has benefited hugely from its highly qualified film production workforce there are still many barriers facing people who want to get in and stay in the industry. Developing the film production workforce must be underpinned with a commitment to diversity as well as training.

“These findings show that if we are to attract the brightest and the best into the industry, and make the most of our existing talent we need to make significant progress in opening up more concrete career paths into the industry and opportunities for advancement for those already working within it.”

For more information on the UK Film Council, visit the official website: www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk

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