With film, TV, and cinema workers continuing to experience one of the most sustained periods of financial uncertainty in its 100-year history, the Film and TV Charity is launching a follow-up to the financial resilience survey it issued earlier this year. The Charity is using this research to build a longer-term picture of the financial circumstances of people working behind the scenes and has issued a call for as many people as possible from across the industry to take part.
The first financial survey ran in May 2023, before the current production slowdown and strikes in the US had taken full effect, and uncovered shocking levels of financial exposure:
- 46% of respondents had less than £1,000 in savings
- 50% weren’t contributing to a pension
- Workers from under-represented groups were more likely to be impacted by financial concerns
With the Charity experiencing an 800% increase in applications for Stop-Gap Grants to meet urgent financial need, it presented the results of the first survey at the Edinburgh TV Festival in August, resulting in donations in excess of £250,000 from major partners to help fund urgently needed support.
The organisation hopes that the results of this second survey will provide a fuller picture after a summer of pain for many, with CEO, Marcus Ryder, saying: “We’ve made no secret of the fact that people in our industry are facing an emergency. As we go into the winter, our real concern is that things are only likely to get worse for many with the US strikes continuing to impact UK productions and compounding other issues affecting the landscape.”
He added: “It’s vital that as many people as possible complete our short survey to help us see the real picture, and so that we can shape our support services to ensure those who need help the most are able to receive it. We especially want to hear more from workers outside London and the Southeast, and from workers from under-represented or marginalised groups. This year, we’ve shown what we can do with hard evidence to back us up and are grateful for the support our partners have given us. We’re about to launch an urgent winter appeal and the data this survey will give us is going to be crucial as we set out our case for support to everyone who is able to help.”
The survey is open until November 14th and only takes 10 minutes to complete, with all responses remaining completely confidential.
Click here to take part.
