The UK’s Film and TV Charity’s 2022 mental health survey has found that 80% of those working in the industry have sensed positive change in culture and behaviours.
This year’s Looking Glass survey had over 2,000 responses from people working across film and TV and found minor improvements in mental health and wellbeing across the board.
Those reporting their mental health as “poor” was at 24%, down from 29% in 2021. Scores on the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, a measure of a population’s mental wellbeing, increased from 19.3 to 19.7. This is, however, still down on the UK average which stands at 23.6.
Respondents who had considered leaving the industry due their mental health also decreased to 60% having been at 65% in 2019.
Room for improvement
In spite of generally positive findings, only 11% of respondents deemed the film and TV industry a “mentally healthy” place to work.
The cost-of-living crisis still remains at the forefront for many industry workers with 75% of respondents reporting concern for their future income. In November, the Film And TV charity calculated that up to 5000 workers were at risk of poverty this winter.
Elsewhere in the survey, reports of bullying, harassment and discrimination have dropped to 46% - they were previously at 53% in 2021 – though the charity stressed that many people do not necessarily report incidences.
Additionally, 45% of respondents in management roles said they did not feel “appropriately skilled” to deal with any complaints that were made.
This is the third iteration of the Looking Glass survey. The first was completed in 2019 and received 9000 respondents. It found that 87% of workers were experiencing a mental health problem.
Film and TV Charity’s CEO Alex Pumfrey said: “Although the picture is a complicated one, the latest Looking Glass Survey results show that positive change can be achieved. In the period since 2019 we have seen a concerted effort by many across the industry to improve on a pretty bleak situation and it is heartening to see that some of that effort is starting to pay dividends, with attitudes and overall mental health scores beginning to move in the right direction.
“The release of this latest research is an opportunity to galvanise and to develop partnerships with the members of our Mental Health Task Force, to re-focus our strategy and to ensure that people across the industry understand that improvements, although sometimes hard won, can and must be made.”
No comments yet