One positive aspect of working as a freelancer in the UK Film and Television industry is that there are numerous organisations set up to offer support. The British Film Institute and the organisations it funds, such as ScreenSkills and WorkWise for Screen, the Film & TV Charity, Directors UK, BECTU, and many more offer resources to help resolve the variety of issues that freelancers face.  

However, the research showed that Screen Industry freelancers felt they lacked a quick and straightforward route to discovering those resources. Participants in workshops and online forums were often surprised to find out about existing networks, schemes, programmes and resources, that they felt were not sufficiently or consistently signposted. Freelancers need time, money and connections to identify and access the resources they need.  

Training and education available for those starting out in the screen industry is well developed but limited in its scope. Film producer Rebecca O’Brien told the Film and High-End TV Parliamentary Hearing that while the UK has good film schools and “nursery slopes” of television that successfully develop skills, there is still a lack of understanding about the range of opportunities available for those entering the industry: 

That said, it is easier for those new to the industry to find opportunities than it is for mid-career individuals, leading to a stagnation in career progression that subsequently generates problems for productions struggling to fill roles. A film events producer we interviewed summarised the problem here: 

Interviewees reported seeking out their own training or mentorship opportunities, spending their free time and often their own money developing the skills they felt were necessary to progress in their careers. But freelancers are notoriously time-poor and concerned with where the next job will come from. Seeking out future work will always take precedence over researching the best training or business development resources.  

Providing the precise resources for every specific type of freelancer in need of support is made trickier by several compounding factors. The very term freelancer encompasses multiple tax categories and is not clearly defined in employment law. Generally, it means an individual who works a series of short fixed-term contracts. Screen industry freelancers often start out as self-employed sole-traders, responsible for paying their own tax and national insurance. Those with more experience and higher income often start a limited liability company in which they are the only employee, paying themselves dividends from the fees paid into the company. While this can be more tax-efficient, it requires someone to prepare annual reports. In some cases, freelancers might work through a short-term PAYE scheme, with tax deducted when fees are paid out, much like a full-time salaried employee.  

Often, freelancers will work in more than one category within a financial year, adjusting according to the structure of the businesses who engage them. Regardless of how they work, freelancers are expected to understand and comply with the complex relevant tax and legal regulations of each tax category. They often operate like small businesses, sending out and chasing invoices in between gigs, bookkeeping in their downtime, and managing their own pensions, often with no contributions from the businesses for whom they work.  

The complexities and in many cases costs of finding and accessing existing resources become impossibly difficult in the context of busy working lives and often volatile financial circumstances. When we consider the geographic locations, class, ethnic and gender diversity, and potential disabilities affecting freelancers, the problems become even more complicated. 

Access to support for screen industry freelancers varies regionally. Initiatives in Bristol and Cardiff, for instance, support creative work in a manner that leads to fruitful cultural networks. While this works well in those areas, it creates uneven opportunities and access to creative communities for freelancers depending on where they live, even beyond the central pull of London.  

To further complicate matters, several official or casually organised schemes only have a limited window for application, or support is offered for a short period of time. This restricts existing opportunities and also makes it harder to find the ones that are both relevant and still available.  

To make matters worse, the screen industry consistently underperforms when compared to the wider UK workforce in the representation of women, people of colour, LGBT+, disabled people and people from working class backgrounds (see The Diamond Report; A Class Act; Screened Out for some examples). The COVID pandemic had an outsized impact upon these groups, who historically have less savings and wider family resources to draw upon in lean times, not to mention more caring responsibilities.  

Interviews also revealed that underrepresented groups find it hard to even imagine themselves in the screen industry. The lack of visibility of people from diverse groups working in film and television make it harder to perceive as a viable career pathway.  

This perception is intensified by a fear of the personal challenges posed and potential sacrifices implied by working in an industry that persistently favours the privileged. The lack of visible diversity implies a lack of support for the specific needs of those who are from less privileged backgrounds. 

Increasing the visibility and transparency of available resources provides evidence to aspiring entrants to the screen sector, hiring managers, and the wider public that underrepresented groups belong in the industry. 

The Report suggests that screen industry businesses should commit to truly tackling inequality by prioritising the promotion of individuals from diverse backgrounds into senior positions and roles and invest in making them visible to the wider public.