The Price of Burn-Out: how do we start to shift the culture of over-working In TV?

“Long-working hours are just part of the job.”

That’s the story that many of us tell ourselves and each other when we take on a new project, or get a promotion in the exciting and fast-moving world of TV and Film production.

And it is true - sometimes a job ‘takes the time it takes’ - you put the hours in to ‘get across the line’ and then hopefully rest afterwards.

But what happens if you don’t rest? What happens if you go from job to job, expected to work over-time as the norm? What if it starts to affect your health, but you can’t take time out to recover or get treatment, because you’re afraid of losing your job, or being seen as weak?

And what if you get to a point in your life when working consistently long-hours is not possible? You’re a caregiver; you have a long-term health condition; you need time out to recover after a bereavement. You’re approaching burn-out and need to get off the hamster wheel. Do you leave the sector all together, or just soldier on until you reach crisis point? 

Last month an anonymous open letter to all UK broadcasters and production companies began to circulate on social media, calling for a set of clauses to be put in place to better support freelancers -  the group that often bear the brunt of overtime, budget cuts and tight deadlines. 

It’s clear from the letter, and recent findings from The Looking Glass report ‘22 and The Time Project  that an intervention is needed that goes further than the occasional lieu days or tips on resilience and wellbeing.  

‘We don’t need tips on mindfulness. We need employers to make sure schedules are not damaging the health, mental or physical, of the freelancers who make their shows. Then, freelancers won’t need help with coping – instead we’ll have a workplace that isn’t harming us. - [signed] an experienced freelancer who, like most, has no choice but to remain anonymous if I ever want to work again.’ 

This quote taken from an article in Broadcast titled ‘Breathing exercises can’t fix production’s mental health crisis’ helps us see the structural nature of the problem - productions and broadcasters need to put team welfare at the centre of production planning and commitments for meaningful change to happen. There needs to be accountability and a robust reporting system when standards are not met - the way we might examine an overspend, or a health and safety breach, for example.

In the last two years we’ve seen some positive strides towards addressing the problem as a collective. The Freelance Charter launched in 2021 sets out the standards we want to achieve - but it is not of course legally binding. Maybe the most important point it makes is on the collective responsibility of broadcasters and indies to, “collaborate to ensure that productions are adequately resourced from the outset, and maintained, to protect the health and wellbeing of the people working on them and be reactive mid-production where problems arise.”

We’re probably some way off this being the norm - but if you’re an indie or production manager - these are some things you can do now to work towards this:

• Look at your contracts and HR policies. What are the working hours that you contract freelancers to do? Do these marry up with your shooting schedules and delivery dates? Freelancers swap notes. If you want to attract the best talent from all groups, your track record on working practices could be a deal maker or breaker.

• Require ALL members of your productions - especially team managers -  to complete training on mental health and wellbeing. There are many free online modules available - like these from ScreenSkills.
  

• All major UK Broadcasters have signed up to the Coalition for Change, which has at its core the Freelance Charter. There’s no harm in reminding your commissioner of the terms of this charter and asking for their support in achieving a healthy, achievable shooting schedule and budget, that does not compromise the welfare and safety of your production talent.  

For freelancers -

•  Why not consider signing the open letter and joining the Time Project? Both are anonymous and are working towards evidencing the volume and effects of overworking to create change. To find out more about The Time Project - see our round-up of the stats here. 

• You can also explore the Unscripted TV Union (BECTU) who, amongst other industry issues, are fighting for the rights of freelancers.