This post follows on from the polls that i ran a couple of weeks ago.To start with, I asked the question, how much work you had either done, or have been booked for this year. The results were quite eye opening. 60% of us have had 6 months work or less; With over one third of us having had less than 3 months. This... Read more
This post follows on from the polls that i ran a couple of weeks ago.
To start with, I asked the question, how much work you had either done, or have been booked for this year. The results were quite eye opening. 60% of us have had 6 months work or less; With over one third of us having had less than 3 months. This is a significant proportion of our freelance workforce.
Following on from that, I asked how much of that work had been job shared. This is an important question, as 40% of us seem to be doing, either okay, or have had bookings that are very healthy indeed. This shows that there is work out there. Most of my colleagues, including myself, have embraced the idea of job-sharing, as it hopefully keeps more of us gainfully employed. The results of this poll are alarming. 99% of people said that none of their bookings had come from job sharing. Only 1% said that it was 50-60% of their workload. Clearly, the responsibility for whether a contract is advertised as 'job share', lays with the employer, not the freelancer, although as freelancers, we can use our voices. More on that in a minute. So the question is, why are roles NOT being split?
The last question asked was, what you had determined about your future within this industry. Only 12% of people think that the industry is fine. The rest of the people are either leaving the industry, don't know what to do, or are getting completely different jobs.
It appears to me that this industry, in its current state, is unsustainable. It's unsustainable for the 60% of the workforce, who are literally running out of money. It's unsustainable for the businesses that operate within this space, as a third of the creative talent is going to leave the industry, with potentially another 56% not far behind them. It's unsustainable for all of the new graduates that are fresh out of university looking for their first gig, as there are very few jobs. For the ones lucky enough to find a job, there will be no-one left to nurture this incoming crop of TV film makers. It's a grim state of affairs, and it needs all of us, working together, to highlight the issues, the bigger picture, and the things that we are getting so wrong, so that this industry doesn't implode on itself.
So what can be done? What can be learnt? - What I do know is that common sense should prevail. Companies should advertise more shared contract gigs. As freelancers we are constantly adapting to new projects, new work places, new colleagues. So the concept of sharing a gig shouldn't put companies off. A project can still be as fluid and successful with a split workforce. Creatives that are in the top 40% of bookings, SHOULD push for these types of bookings, as we all know someone, or have been contacted by a fellow colleague, who can't afford to pay the mortgage. Companies and freelancers need to work collaboratively, and work for the greater good of our industry.
This next one is for companies. Stop trying to replace us with AI. I don't want to confuse AI that helps and enhances someone's ability to do their job, with the AI that actively eradicates their job. Enhancement can potentially be a good thing. However, this idea that TV will be better for '100% AI workflows', is naive, reckless, and just plainly not true. Recently, I had to sit at an industry Christmas dinner, where the CEO basically introduced a new wave of AI investment, that was set to decimate its workforce. Profit before people never works!
Our industry literally has a mountain of problems that it's facing, and these are only 2 areas of our industry that I'm looking at here. However, there are multiple reasons that there has been a downturn in this industry. - Commissioning freezes, writers strikes, less advertising revenue (resulting in lower budgets), viewing habits, the list goes on.
I had a thought the other day. A realisation. As a freelance editor, with 30 years experience, I have put in my 10,000 hours. And yet, my worth and my potential are governed by companies that are nothing to do with me. I don't have an HR Department. There is no guaranteed career progression, for me. In other words, if you do XYZ, you'll get a pay rise, or a promotion. Instead, every time I leave a gig, I get reset to nothing. I'm reliant on other companies, to tender good ideas, pay attention to market trends, find me or I find them, remunerate my talent accordingly, and reward my contribution by booking me again.
You know, there's that scene in the movie, ANTS, where the hero ant reminds all of the other ants, that they are stronger together! I feel as though this is one of those times.
Anyway, that's all i have to say on the matter. Someone else please write something. :(
To start with, I asked the question, how much work you had either done, or have been booked for this year. The results were quite eye opening. 60% of us have had 6 months work or less; With over one third of us having had less than 3 months. This is a significant proportion of our freelance workforce.
Following on from that, I asked how much of that work had been job shared. This is an important question, as 40% of us seem to be doing, either okay, or have had bookings that are very healthy indeed. This shows that there is work out there. Most of my colleagues, including myself, have embraced the idea of job-sharing, as it hopefully keeps more of us gainfully employed. The results of this poll are alarming. 99% of people said that none of their bookings had come from job sharing. Only 1% said that it was 50-60% of their workload. Clearly, the responsibility for whether a contract is advertised as 'job share', lays with the employer, not the freelancer, although as freelancers, we can use our voices. More on that in a minute. So the question is, why are roles NOT being split?
The last question asked was, what you had determined about your future within this industry. Only 12% of people think that the industry is fine. The rest of the people are either leaving the industry, don't know what to do, or are getting completely different jobs.
It appears to me that this industry, in its current state, is unsustainable. It's unsustainable for the 60% of the workforce, who are literally running out of money. It's unsustainable for the businesses that operate within this space, as a third of the creative talent is going to leave the industry, with potentially another 56% not far behind them. It's unsustainable for all of the new graduates that are fresh out of university looking for their first gig, as there are very few jobs. For the ones lucky enough to find a job, there will be no-one left to nurture this incoming crop of TV film makers. It's a grim state of affairs, and it needs all of us, working together, to highlight the issues, the bigger picture, and the things that we are getting so wrong, so that this industry doesn't implode on itself.
So what can be done? What can be learnt? - What I do know is that common sense should prevail. Companies should advertise more shared contract gigs. As freelancers we are constantly adapting to new projects, new work places, new colleagues. So the concept of sharing a gig shouldn't put companies off. A project can still be as fluid and successful with a split workforce. Creatives that are in the top 40% of bookings, SHOULD push for these types of bookings, as we all know someone, or have been contacted by a fellow colleague, who can't afford to pay the mortgage. Companies and freelancers need to work collaboratively, and work for the greater good of our industry.
This next one is for companies. Stop trying to replace us with AI. I don't want to confuse AI that helps and enhances someone's ability to do their job, with the AI that actively eradicates their job. Enhancement can potentially be a good thing. However, this idea that TV will be better for '100% AI workflows', is naive, reckless, and just plainly not true. Recently, I had to sit at an industry Christmas dinner, where the CEO basically introduced a new wave of AI investment, that was set to decimate its workforce. Profit before people never works!
Our industry literally has a mountain of problems that it's facing, and these are only 2 areas of our industry that I'm looking at here. However, there are multiple reasons that there has been a downturn in this industry. - Commissioning freezes, writers strikes, less advertising revenue (resulting in lower budgets), viewing habits, the list goes on.
I had a thought the other day. A realisation. As a freelance editor, with 30 years experience, I have put in my 10,000 hours. And yet, my worth and my potential are governed by companies that are nothing to do with me. I don't have an HR Department. There is no guaranteed career progression, for me. In other words, if you do XYZ, you'll get a pay rise, or a promotion. Instead, every time I leave a gig, I get reset to nothing. I'm reliant on other companies, to tender good ideas, pay attention to market trends, find me or I find them, remunerate my talent accordingly, and reward my contribution by booking me again.
You know, there's that scene in the movie, ANTS, where the hero ant reminds all of the other ants, that they are stronger together! I feel as though this is one of those times.
Anyway, that's all i have to say on the matter. Someone else please write something. :(
What’s next? Well hopefully the production companies on here will start sharing the love, for a start. It’s time to start feeding the 5000, so to speak.
The AI bubble needs to burst. There are way too many production companies jumping into bed with AI, without a thought or a care for the long term effects to our industry. It’s just pound signs and short term gain, from my viewpoint.
Next, streamers, like Netflix et al; After a decade of saturating the market with high end content, all to increase subscriptions, need to increase their flat spend, so more commissions can be green lit.
Broadcasters will finally work out how to entice advertisers to spend more money, which will open the commissioning flood gates.
And Donald Trump will finally go to prison. We can but hope. :-)
If those things happen soon, then there may be hope for us all. If they don’t, then there will be a mass exodus/
brain drain of talent, the likes of which our industry has never seen before!