Jumping Hurdles, But The Race Is Not Won

2010 is a big year for Women in Film & TV UK (WFTV). This is the year we celebrate our coming of age. That’s right, we’re 21 years young! But we’re not the eldest in the family. WFTV UK was the third chapter to be established (our older siblings being LA and New York) as part of an international community of women working in the media that has grown to include over 10,000 members within 37 chapters worldwide. Women in Film and TV, as a brand, is well established in the industry, and well respected.

As Head of Communications here in the UK, I’m often asked (usually by men) why there’s a need for our organisation to exist in the 21st Century. I would love to be able to say there isn’t one (even though it would mean I’d be out of a job). But the statistics clearly show that, 21 years on from our founding, there most certainly still is.

The 2009 Skillset Employment census showed us that nearly 5000 women had left the TV industry since the recession, compared to just 750 men. It also found that, in general, women were over-qualified, over-worked and underpaid compared to their male counterparts. Broadcast Magazine’s annual survey of women in the TV industry for 2009 seemed to paint a similarly worrying picture. It found that the gender pay gap, ageism, and sexism had all worsened in the industry since their first survey of 2006.

Awarding Those Who Matter

This week PB’s Joe Mahoney gives a brief update on the forthcoming Freelancer of the Year Awards and networking event.

Many thanks to all the production companies and freelancers that have sent in their nominations to this year’s Freelancer of the Year Awards. The response has been fantastic and has made the selection process for the judges a real headache – but we wouldn’t want it any other way!

We are delighted to welcome on board our sponsor, Sony Professional Media, who have graciously offered up prizes worth a few thousand pounds to the category winners.

I think it’s important to remind people why we do this; so many production people miss out on the usual gongs that are handed out every year via the well established ceremonies. Of course, richly deserved though they are, many talented and hard working people simply don’t get a look in.

Why Has It Gone Wrong?

In place of our usual editorial piece this week, I wanted to highlight a debate that has been going on in the PB Watercooler discussion forum this past fortnight. It’s an extremely interesting thread from experienced freelancers within the TV industry discussing how working life is now very different than in the past. And not always for the better.

Below are some extracts to give you a taster but please take a look at the Watercooler for the entire thread. It’s well worth a read, particularly for our less experienced members…

Ageism in TV: A Perception or Reality?

Judging by the constant debate on our discussion forum, it seems this sensitive topic of ageism just won’t fade away. Looking back over the previous weeks’ threads it seems there is a genuine fear that anyone over the age of 35 is finished in this industry. Is this being fuelled by the high profile spates covered in the media of late or a genuine belief that talented, hard working people are being overlooked simply because they can be easily replaced by someone younger?

I’m sure you all remember the Arlene Phillips/Alesha Dixon debacle and the more recent ranting of Kirsty Young which implied that it was women in particular that were being discriminated against. And as Brucie signs up for another series of Strictly Come Dancing (what is it about that show?) alongside the much younger, Tessa Daly, its easy to see where that opinion manifests itself. Its probably fair to say that there are not too many shows of aging women working alongside younger men.

What does the research say? A recent Daily Mail article claimed that the average age for female presenters appearing in prime time slots has jumped from 32 years and 7 months from the 1950s to an average age of 40 today. In contrast, the average age of men on TV has actually fallen slightly from 46 years and 9 months in the 1950s to 46 years today.

The Whole Truth And Everything But The Truth…

The Whole Truth And Everything But The Truth...

This week, award winning editor, Joby Gee, discusses the moral dilemma of showing people in their ‘true’ light.

I like the clip where she says, “He’s not an a***hole”…. can we just take the “not” out”. (From the Facebook page, Edit Suite Stories).

The most frequent question I am asked when I meet non-telly people is the “truth and honesty” one for want of a better phrase. Often, their first question is “why do you spend your days trying to contort people in the film your cutting to create some sort of twisted version of reality for our entertainment?”. Decent, hard working folk assume that it happens to almost everyone (including the Queen).

Well, recently the BBC interviewed me about editing (I babbled on) and I said all sorts of nonsense which hopefully someone can extract into two minutes and make me look like I know what I’m talking about. But it got me thinking; if I was a contributor in a documentary then what should I expect? What will those people who came round to film me do when they get into the edit suite? I’m starting to worry about all the things I’ve said on camera now. Oh my God, what have I done….?

Disability & Television – Why Does It All Still Feel So Difficult?

I’ve been banging on about this for years. If 1 in 5 of us is disabled why are there so few disabled people on the telly? And even fewer making our programmes? I guess the two things are almost certainly connected.

Yes I know there’s the argument that you can’t see lots of disabilities so there are alot more disabled people ON telly and IN telly than you think, and that’s probably true. But I doubt either figure gets anywhere near the level you’d expect if TV was reflecting real life, as many of us programme makers like to think it does.

Researchers recently took a snapshot of three weeks of programming across British TV. Against the 20% of the real population with a disability, only 0.9% of people in TV land had one. Not good. The current data suggests that disabled people make up only 2% of the TV industry workforce. Not much better.

Success, Zeitgeists & The One Man Band

This week we are pleased to welcome freelance producer/director, Abi Kelly, who highlights the joys of multi-tasking and the lows of being everything to everyone.

When I was fumbling through my teens, dreams and ambitions were usually grounded in being part of something really exciting. If it was buzzy, creative and fun and didn’t involve Pythagoras’ Theorem or Bunsen Burners, then I was happy and motivated.

When I was at school and uni, success leading to immediate happiness stemmed from a whole spectrum of events: mastering lead roles in plays and musicals, writing ‘A’ grade poetry, organising a charity fashion show and winning The Effort Award in assemblies (“well done Abigail for scoring maximum in that whole ‘trying’ thing, but The Success Award once again goes to Beatrice Van Horn Alkema”.)

The Currency Of Ratings

This week, Steadfast TV’s Paul Crompton, delves into the black hole of audience ratings.

You’ll have seen those city workers on the train each morning with their blue suits and pink newspapers. They scour the FT to see if they’ve still got an office to go to. Has the gross domestic product of Portugal gone for another siesta? Has Sterling been sushi’d by the Yen? It’s the same for us TV lot, we’re obsessed with overnight figures too. The main difference is that when city workers screw up, the world caves in. When we screw up… it’s worse… AA Gill slags us off.

It’s said that television is democratic. The viewer votes every night with the remote control, singley affecting our careers as they flit from one channel to another. If your latest programme rates well it puts a spring in your step and gives you a strong bargaining tool for the next commission. The overnight ratings are TV currency.

Creating a TV Brand

This week, Shine TV’s Jamie Munro, explains the importance of brand-power when developing a hit series and demonstrates its significance in the domestic and international marketplace.

At Shine TV, creativity is at the heart of everything we do, from the creation of new ideas, to the execution of our hit shows but crucially, the way that our commercial and creative teams can interact to bring a new life to content both in individual markets and overseas.

There are 3 key components we prioritise as we push forward to propel our existing global franchises and fast track the best new ideas to screen: ‘Brand Creation’, Brand Building’ and Brand Exploitation’.

When do you start to think of your programme as a ‘Brand’? From the moment the programme idea is conceived, we are thinking about what it will mean to viewers and the relationship it will have. We are thinking right from the start in terms of ‘Brand’.

Is Sky 1 Still Millwall?

Steadfast TV’s Paul Crompton tackles the changing formation of Sky’s brand and programming.

Other than the tag line, I always sensed there were other comparisons between Millwall and Sky. They’re both based in unfashionable parts of London. Each business has strong links to newspaper giants; Sky has Murdoch (huge globally) and Millwall has Rod Liddle (huge personality) and yet the most obvious, they both suffer class snobbery.

Like Sky, Millwall work hard at brand perception. When they recently offered a load of free tickets to primary schools in south east London, I took my 9 year old son and some of his mates to the New Den. It was hardly a grudge match, Millwall were against lowly Hartlepool who mustered around 80 fans and were hapless at football. However, the Millwall regulars generated enough anger to melt a satellite dish, even after they took the lead. I was in earshot of several blokes bellowing C-word rants every 20 seconds or so, for the entire 90 minutes. And this was in the “family stand”. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t unsafe, I’ll credit the Millwall stewards with that, but there was a frisson of 1980s menace in the air.

ProductionBase Community

Category: Word of Mouth