The majority of Muslim, Jewish and Arab people working in the UK film and TV industry have experienced a decline in wellbeing since October, a survey from the Film and TV Charity has found.
According to the survey, 94% of people of Jewish, Muslim, and Arab heritage have felt a negative impact on their mental health or psychological and emotional wellbeing since the October 7 attacks of terrorist group Hamas in Israel, and the subsequent humanitarian crisis in Gaza that has followed.
Only 24% of respondents said they felt supported by their employers as the charity aims to publish a broader analysis of the full survey next month as part of an interim report on how to better support workers affected.
The report will also explore issues and potential solutions raised during the Charity’s roundtable discussions which took place last week between senior leaders from all the major UK broadcasters and industry bodies and representatives of the British Muslim, Arab, and Jewish communities working in the film and TV industry.
Marcus Ryder, Film and TV Charity CEO, noted there had been an “unprecedented rise” in antisemitic incidents in the UK in the aftermath of recent events. “The conflict has also highlighted longstanding systemic problems relating to historical issues of Islamophobia and what is believed to be serious underrepresentation of the UK’s Muslim population in the British film and TV industry,” he continued.
Representatives for the Jewish community at the roundtable included Kelly Webb-Lamb, CEO and founder at Mothership Productions and Trustee of the Jewish Museum London; Hilary Rosen, director of commissioning at UKTV and chair of the Bafta TV Committee; and Anna Mishcon, executive at the Film and TV Charity. “We hope that the mental health and wellbeing of Jewish colleagues across the industry can show dramatic improvement, and that we can unite to tackle the significant impact of anti-Jewish racism,” they said in a joint statement.
Those presenting the views of Muslim and Arab industry workers included Aaqil Ahmed, media consultant and former head of religion and ethics at the BBC; Fozia Khan, head of unscripted, UK Originals at Amazon MGM Studios; and Fadah Jassem, senior producer at Al Jazeera and AI advisor. They called the survey results “sobering” a hoped it would be a “wakeup call for all of us in the film and TV industries to reflect on how people feel and an opportunity to address many of the issues raised, from representation on air to fairness and support in the workplace”.
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