The COVID-19 pandemic and associated government lockdowns have been nothing short of a disaster for mothers working in the UK television sector.

Locked Down and Locked Out: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mothers working in the UK television industry is research led by the Institute for Screen Industries Research in collaboration with sector organisations SMTJ and Telly Mums Network, and with the support of Bectu.

More than 500 respondents were asked about changes to their work patterns, home-schooling responsibilities, the sharing of childcare and their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing during the pandemic.

The report recommends a range of actions to mitigate the effects of disrupted working lives on mothers in TV in the future. These include changes in attitudes of partners, colleagues and friends to the gender-biased burdens that continue to be placed on mothers; management training; flexible working patterns such as job-shares, home working and flexitime; programme budgets with built-in childcare provision and funding; better compliance to production company and regulators’ obligations to the Equality Act 2010 and motherhood being included in diversity and inclusivity debates within the industry.

To download the full report, visit: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/Research/Groups/ISIR/Locked-Down-and-Locked-Out.aspx

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Hosted by Michelle James Reynolds from Share My Telly Job, the webinar aimed to demonstrate how new ways of working have been a proven help to retain brilliant talent and make our industry more diverse, and how ultimately we need to move away from the archaic notion that job-sharing is ‘something that’s nice for the Mum’s’ and realise the very strong business and economic case for implementing more flexible working practices – particularly in the aftermath of a global health pandemic.

The hosts tried to answer as many questions as they could during the session, but for anyone who still has anything they’d like to ask, please do check out the Share My Telly Job website for more information and links to other organisations.

If you’re an employer or broadcaster looking for advice on how to implement job-sharing at your company, Share My Telly Job also offers training and consultancy and would love to chat to you more about that, so do please get in touch!

Share My Telly Job is planning to host a number of further webinars including specialised job-sharing advice sessions for particular job roles and networking events for people looking to find a job-share partner – so please keep an eye on their Facebook page for more details.

“The industry has a huge opportunity to re-think how people are able to work right now and really re-shape how things are done.”

Share My Telly Job acknowledge the panellists involved for gifting their time and expertise.

Emma Stewart MBE – CEO and Founder at Timewise UK
Emma spoke brilliantly about how other industries are really embracing changes to the way they are employing and treating their workforce and how the TV industry can and should be seeing this crisis as a real opportunity for positive change. “The industry has a huge opportunity to re-think how people are able to work right now and really re-shape how things are done.” You can find out more about Timewise UK’s approach via their website.

Alex Pumfroy – CEO Film and TV Charity
Alex talked about the findings of the recent Film and TV Charity Report ‘Through the Looking Glass‘ and how having greater control over our own time and the ways in which we work can really benefit our mental health (and ultimately improve the quality of what we see on screen).

Alex spoke about how the industry needs to adapt to new ways of working, or face losing an overwhelming number of talented freelancers. She highlighted how our industry was already facing a mental health crisis even before lockdown (with more than 88% of people experiencing poor mental health) – and that COVID-19 has only accelerated that and left the industry facing what she called a ‘collective trauma’.

Waqas Ali – Manager for HR, Production (UK & EMEA) at Netflix
Waqas spoke about the responsibility of Broadcasters and Indies to really value and work to retain their freelance workforce and Netflix’s own commitment to this and their desire to work with others who share these values. He discussed the need for employers to take the lead in normalising conversations about caring commitments and encourage people to have a life outside of work. He advised that all employers in the industry need to “Be Human. We work with people, let’s not forget that”.

“the COVID crisis has made job-sharing more important than ever before.”

Mark James – Exec Producer at Studio Lambert
Mark talked about his own experiences of employing job-share pairs at Studio Lambert and how when they first decided to “just give it a go” they “found it didn’t just benefit the job-sharers, it benefitted the whole production”. Mark gave brilliant examples of how employing job-sharers allowed for reciprocal flexibility and made it much easier when it came to things like covering holidays, unexpected sick leave and increases in workflow. Indeed, it worked so well at Studio Lambert that it is something the show and indeed the company are continuing to proactively support. He summed it up by saying, “For me, it’s just a win-win”.

Rebecca Kenny-Smith – Creative Director at Lime Pictures
Rebecca talked about Lime’s commitment to supporting job-shares “for us it’s really important and absolutely something we’ll continue to embrace moving forward”. She explained how the pandemic has forced companies to look at new ways of making shows and how “right now we have job-sharing SP’s working from home through lockdown.” She also talked about how she felt that “the COVID crisis has made job-sharing more important than ever before.”

Sarah Lee – Managing Director of The Talent Manager
Sarah discussed the new Talent Manager website functionality designed to help make employing a job-share pair even easier. For more information on how to find job share vacancies, register as open to job sharing or add experience as a job sharer as well as how to apply as a pair or if you’re an employer with a Talent Manager account contact Sarah for more details on how this works.

Philippa Childs, Head of Bectu, is the first woman to hold the top job at our industry union and chats with Michelle Reynolds, co-Director at SMTJ all about her journey to get there, the trials of the past year and her hopes for the future of the union.

It’s well worth a watch and if you’re not yet a member of the union, we’d really recommend getting involved - https://bectu.org.uk - great things happen when people (and especially women!) come together!

Happy International Women's Day 2021

Happy International Women’s Day to all the amazing women in our community!

Today we’d like to share with you all an interview SMTJ’s Michelle James-Reynolds did with the utterly incredible Dorothy Byre, Channel 4’s Editor-at-Large.

In the interview Dorothy gives her take a whole range of issues affecting women in our industry, including her own experiences of sexual harassment and gendered discrimination and her experience of becoming a single mum at 45. She talks about why for many women in television, choosing to have a baby is “like Hannibal planning the crossing of the Alps”, how the culture of the industry and a lack of support for young women leads to a disproportionate number now freezing their eggs and why senior figures should be doing more to facilitate change.

She talks about why she thinks more employers should be hosting training on issues around childcare and flexible working, fertility issues and what compelled her to push for the introduction of a Menopause Policy at Channel 4: the first of its kind at any UK broadcaster.

Negotiate your rate as a TV freelancer. Learn how to get the rate your want with Sara Putt & The Television Freelancers Taskforce

Share My Telly Job were on the panel of ScreenSkills Diversity in Action Conference in March 2019. We talked job-sharing and how flexible working will enable the TV and Film industries to retain the best talent. Also on the panel were Raising Films, Media Parents, and Film London.

Jonathan shares his high profile role at BBC Breakfast with Kelly Crawford. Jonathan joined us as a guest speaker at our flexible working in TV event in May 2018. By Share My Telly Job.

Anna joins us as a guest speaker at our flexible working event, May 2018. By Share My Telly Job.

A film promoting the benefits of job sharing in the TV industry. Enabling flexible working for freelancers provides a solution for retaining highly experienced talent. By Share My Telly Job