Marcus Ryder

Source: Film and TV Charity

Marcus Ryder

The UK’s Film and TV Charity’s mental health and wellbeing Looking Glass survey is back.

The survey is aimed at all freelance workers and permanent employees involved in the development, creation, distribution, and exhibition of film, TV and cinema. It is open to those working in the sector and those who have done over the past 12 months.

Five years after the survey initially launched, and uncovered a mental health crisis affecting nine out of 10 workers, the charity is aiming to engage as many people as possible to take part from across the UK’s nations and regions for its fourth iteration, as well as people from under-represented backgrounds.

It will ask whether respondents have seen changes in working culture and behaviours; examine the prevalence of bullying and harassment; and the impact of working in the industry on people’s personal lives. It will also explore the relationship between financial wellbeing and mental health in the face of continued uncertainty across the industry.

The survey launches against the backdrop of what the charity has identified as a “sustained production downturn and widespread redundancies which are adding to pressures identified in 2019 caused by workplace culture, conditions, and the industry’s capability to support its workers”.

“The most recent survey in 2022 indicated that many in the industry felt there were positive changes in attitudes and behaviours around mental health,” said Marcus Ryder, CEO of the Film and TV Charity, “but that was before the cost-of-living crisis, strikes and production downturn had begun their sustained assault on workplace wellbeing. For these reasons, it’s absolutely vital that we hear from everyone in every corner of the industry again now.”

The 2024 Looking Glass survey will be available online to complete from today (June 26).