Editor’s note: The latest in a series of Deadline reports looking at how the current upheaval in the media & entertainment industry is impacting mental health. Today: how well-being conversations are shaping up in Britain, Hollywood’s home away from home.
Hollywood’s Mental Health Crisis: How Film & TV Workers Can Seek Support From Their Unions
Before TV producer John Balson took his own life , he told loved ones that he wanted to raise awareness about mental health and burnout in the UK screen industry. A month on from news of his death, the early signs are that Balson could leave the legacy he intended.
Balson’s death shook a film and TV business that has long discussed the well-being of crew who stock studio shelves with world-class content, but are always at the sharp end of the sector’s peaks and troughs. His tragic passing has also combined with a conversation about the welfare standards on Strictly Come Dancing , the iconic BBC show that has been tarnished by allegations of bullying and abuse. Other high-profile incidences, such as the allegations against Russell Brand, have brought these discussions to the fore. As one observer puts it, the issues have collided to put “rocket boosters” under conversations about mental health in Britain’s screen business.
There has been a flurry of activity in recent weeks, as decision-makers at broadcasters and major production companies have come together to discuss how to prevent another suicide. The nascent Association of True Crime Producers has stepped up its efforts , while a Film & TV Welfare Association sprung up in the immediate aftermath and will launch in earnest in a few weeks.
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Marcus Ryder, the CEO of the Film and TV Charity, explains: “The conversations I’m having are of a different magnitude now. The level of engagement that we are getting from broadcasters and major indies has qualitatively changed.”
There are quantitative measures as well. Ryder says engagement with the Film and TV Charity’s Whole Picture Toolkit, an information pack that helps producers design mentally healthy TV and film productions, has risen. More than 100 companies are using the toolkit, while a further 200 individual productions have adopted the standards. The charity has also seen substantial growth in responses to its latest Looking Glass mental health study, which is currently taking submissions. The 2022 survey had 2,000 responses. Based on levels of engagement over the past two weeks, Ryder is hopeful that this could double for 2024.
The Film and TV Charity’s last set of findings made for chastening reading. Only 11% of the 2,000 people surveyed agreed that the film and TV industry is a “mentally healthy place to work.” Nearly 30% of respondents — the equivalent of around 600 people — considered taking their own life in 2022. Two of this group of 600 said they made a suicide attempt, while 11% revealed that they had self-harmed.
Adeel Amini, an entertainment producer and founder of mental health support group The TV Mindset, worries that conditions for freelancers could have become more acute amid a chronic production slowdown. The TV Mindset’s social media pages boast around 20,000 followers and Amini has seen colleagues sharing “harrowing stories.” He has personally had to intervene after two individuals anonymously declared suicidal intent.
“I’ve looked at this from every angle and we’ve tried to provide the pastoral care, but I think honestly, it’s ultimately about survival for people,” he says. “You can have all the helplines and anti-bullying [initiatives], but if people can’t get jobs and put food on the table, that’s the thing that’s going to drive them [to the brink].” He recalls a recent story from a single mom in the industry, who had to sell her furniture to keep providing meals for her children.
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Philippa Childs, who runs broadcasting union Bectu, has been in constant conversation with sister union, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, over the impact of the slowdown on well-being, especially in the wake of last year’s American labor strikes.
While progress on issues such as well-being and mental health can stall during times when simply making ends meet becomes the central focus, Childs says that bodies and industry stakeholders have instead used this opportunity to keep the issues front of mind.
She points to the work Timewise, Bectu Vision and the BBC have been doing looking at the possibility of reducing daily working hours on scripted series, which she believes could make a huge difference to well-being, would not necessarily be costly for broadcasters, and is already in force in some form in nations like Sweden.
“There is a tendency when there is lots of work around for people to just focus on where their next job is coming from,” she adds. “But at the moment there is quite a focus on the long hours culture and what that means. John Balson’s death has caused pretty much everyone to sit back and really think about how they can better support the workforce.”
“Elephant in the Room”
In a time of belt-tightening, Ryder says funding sufficient mental health support is often the “elephant in the room” for broadcasters and producers — even though they recognize that it is required more than ever when freelancers are struggling. “It’s not a ‘nice to have,’” he says.
In the past, mental health provision may have fallen in the cracks between broadcasters and indies, but our interviewees broadly feel that this issue is being overcome. “Generally speaking, there seems to be a much more joined-up approach between production company and broadcaster,” says an indie boss who campaigns on these issues. “I used to have to argue about cast welfare being a priority over the editorial of the show, but don’t anymore.”
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With broadcasters, indies, and bodies cooperating more closely, the final piece of the jigsaw has emerged in the form of the Time’s Up UK-backed Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA), an independent reporting body for bullying and harassment claims that was born from the #MeToo movement and several high-profile incidences.
CEO Jen Smith, who used to work for the BFI, says CIISA’s independent nature will act as a “circuit breaker” for bullying and harassment, which can of course be hugely detrimental to mental health and well-being and has reared its head with recent cases such as Brand and Noel Clarke, both of whom deny the allegations made against them. A recent Bectu report, which found that the overwhelming majority of workers in UK film and TV had witnessed or experienced sexual harassment, posited that Channel 4 News and The Sunday Times ‘ bombshell allegations about Brand had “failed to shift the dial” when it comes to reporting these issues.
“We know you can’t unpick the impact on mental health from bullying and harassment and we also know that colleagues are not currently as safe as they should be,” says Smith. “CIISA therefore has a significant role to play in addressing a missing gap in the landscape. And the blueprint we are building could help the creative industries internationally.”
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The five-staff-strong CIISA is in the midst of its next funding round, unveiled a top UK lawyer as its new chair on Thursday and a full launch is anticipated soon, with Bectu’s Childs praising broadcasters and indies for showing a “tangible commitment” towards the body.
Others are more skeptical. BAFTA-winning director Brian Hill, who runs Century Films and in 2022 made a short film about bullying and harassment in TV, is not convinced by the broadcasters’ and indies’ commitments.
He says he “didn’t even bother” seeking funding from UK networks for the short film Toxic, which eventually landed with YouTube Originals and was shown at Sheffield DocFest.
The film uses powerful testimony from real-life survivors of abuse working in the industry, with actors delivering their stories to create a potent look at what was going on. Through the making of Toxic , Hill says he discovered the identities of many of the UK’s biggest troublemakers.
“I have told senior people at broadcasters that they have a problem in their organization and if they don’t know who then I can tell them,” says Hill. “They have always said, ‘We do know who’.”
Call for Well-being Officers
Hill believes that some indies are not prepared to “skim off 15% to 20%” of their profit margins from shows in order to spend more on well-being provisions.
But Matt Longley, co-founder of mental health consultancy 6ft From The Spotlight and a well-being instructor on productions like Harry Potter , says there is evidence to suggest that a happy shoot is a cheaper shoot. “If you invest money into mental health and well-being you reduce presenteeism, and people are more effective and efficient,” he explains. “And then also when you deal with issues early, they don’t become things that people take to tribunal or court afterwards.”
Longley thinks productions should hire well-being officers in a similar way to how intimacy coordinators have become a mainstay on scripted shoots in recent years. Major productions do appoint mental health first aiders and have “employee assistant programs,” but do not necessarily have someone to proactively advocate for these services and spot issues before they become serious. He explains: “With the Film and TV Charity and CIISA we’re trying to change the dynamics so you’re not just providing the support, you’re looking at why people are struggling. It can be hours, loneliness, difficulty in knowing what job you’ve got next, or not getting on with the people you are working with.”
Longley suspects that the issues on Strictly Come Dancing — where celebrity Zara McDermott felt unable to report alleged abuse until nine months after it occurred — could have been prevented with better signposting of mental health services. “People may have known what was going on, but didn’t know how to deal with it,” he adds. BBC Director General Tim Davie apologized directly for the incidents this week and said “with the benefit of hindsight we should have done more.”
Amini says his employer, Lingo producer Objective Media Group, has appointed a “head of welfare for off-screen talent” and it has been a “game-changer.” This individual is seen as independent of Objective and signposts resources and checks in with crew members, including on personal matters. “I know people who’ve benefited from it. They’ve said it’s an absolute godsend, it’s allowed them to do their job,” he says.
Had Balson been given access to a similar service on In the Footsteps of Killers , the Channel 4 true-crime series he was producing at the time of his death, it is possible that tragedy could have been avoided. No single factor should be attributed to the reasoning behind a person taking their own life, but his suicide may yet galvanize support for those suffering a similar level of trauma.
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