Agents championing the use of access coordinators are alerting drama indies to the “crisis” facing disabled freelancers, who they say are trapped in an “Orwellian” situation.
Julie Fernandez and Sara Johnson, who founded disability representation company Bridge06 and are now based at Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, have written to the heads of production at every UK drama producer to urge them to “put access coordinators in every crew list”.
While an estimated 20% of the UK population has a disability, less than a fifth of TV productions have supported disabled cast and crew by using access coordinators, they state.
In a briefing seen by Deadline, Fernandez and Johnson outline that hiring a coordinator for three days costs around £1,500 – around 0.3% of the average budget of a show.
Headed ‘Disabled freelancers are in crisis, and we need your help’, the briefing states: “The downturn in commissioning is taking hold. Access coordinators need more productions to bring them on board. Despite great work, disability targets are still unmet.”
Johnson told Deadline: “There is an Orwellian situation in play for disabled freelancers and the disabled community in the UK, all of which have an effect on our industry.
“The commissioning downturn and slashed budgets are being cited as an excuse for not hiring access coordinators. Even before the downturn the uptake has been glacial if you look across all genres.”
Johnson said that most people that the 24 access coordinators trained by Casarotto are neurodivergent or have non-visible disabilities.
Fernandez, an actor who has appeared in The Office, Casualty and The Outlaws, is herself an access coordinator who has worked on unscripted shows including Dragons Den and The Travelling Auctioneers and dramas such as Doctor Who [pictured], Slow Horses and Shardlake.
