This week, our Chief Executive Andy Harrower wrote to the Secretary of State for DCMS, Lucy Frazer MP, echoing Bectu’s call for an urgent industry summit to address the shortfall of work in the industry.
These calls followed the results of a survey released by Bectu, showing that 68% of respondents are currently out of work. Here is Andy’s letter:
Dear Lucy Frazer,
I understand that my colleague, Philippa Childs, has written to you, requesting that you call an urgent industry summit to discuss the UK’s production workforce crisis.
I wish to echo that call.
In November last year, a Directors UK poll of its members — television and film directors — found that 62% were without work. This is grimly similar to the latest survey published by Bectu today with 68% of respondents currently not working. 58% say they have not seen any recovery in their employment since the end of the US strikes.
The Bectu survey also found that 75% of respondents are struggling with their mental health. There is also a price to be paid in diversity with 50% of black respondents seeing themselves quitting the industry in the next five years as well as 40% of women respondents.
The UK simply cannot afford to haemorrhage more vital production talent and the Government must hold an industry summit to discuss how the UK’s production and commissioning ecosystem needs to be reformed in order to address this unrelenting crisis.
Directors are about finding solutions to difficult problems and Directors UK is also determined to find positive solutions to these systemic issues. We look forward to working with you and other stakeholders in order to find the best, most robust and long-term answers to this dire situation.
I look forward to receiving your reply.
Andy Harrower
Chief Executive, Directors UK
We await a response.
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