EXCLUSIVE: The mental health challenges facing producers are the topic of a Think Tank report by EAVE, the European development and networking organisation, published today (May 16) in Cannes.
“A lot of the work on mental health we have seen in the last few years focuses on cast and crew, and rarely on producers,” noted Kristina Trapp, CEO of EAVE. “However, producers are at the centre of any screen production. They carry the creative, financial, and emotional weight of projects.”
The number of producers reporting cases of burnout is rising sharply, the report said, as budget cuts at public funds and broadcasters exacerbate the challenges.
“Risk has increased incredibly in recent years [in line with] the state of financial precocity that independent producers are in,” said producer and funding executive Tamara Dawit, who co-authored the report with Trapp.
“You have to finance the project, you have to keep yourself afloat, you have to be the emotional core of the project,” said Linda Mutawi, the Swedish-based Palestinian producer, Eagles Of The Republic. ”You’re expected to work for free during development and defer your fees.”
“The producers are the ones who are left behind because they have to take care of everyone,” agreed May Odeh of Berlin-based Mayana Films. “Everything is [being done for] less and, at the same time, everybody is expecting more.”
The report is calling for long-term structural safeguards and also for ways to protect producers working in “politically unstable and low production contexts”.
Suggestions include extra investment in company development and slate support schemes, and for funders to protect producers from having to defer fees.
The report also encouraged producers to set stronger work-life boundaries and to establish peer groups where they can share ideas and work collectively. “Listen to your body before it forces you to stop,” is one recommendation in a section of the report looking at ways to “safeguard Personal Health and Life Outside Production.”
Other suggestions include taking recovery days after intense travel or premieres, as well as carving out clear no-work hours in the evenings and at least some weekends free from professional obligations.
“What became clear through the think tank is that a producer’s mental health is not a personal issue. It is a structural condition shaped by economic and institutional frameworks,” Trapp observed. “This report offers practical strategies at the level of individual practice, company, and institutions. Supporting producer mental health is essential to the future of independent storytelling.”
The report is launched with a talk, ’Producing Under Pressure: Producer Care and Sustainable Practice’, taking plac on Saturday 16th May, 11:30 -12:30, in the Palais, moderated by Tamara Dawit.
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