The Film and TV Charity has snapped up former BBC News senior head of production Anna Mishcon to develop and drive its mental health resource the Whole Picture Toolkit.
Starting this week in the newly-created role of development executive, reporting to the charity’s director of impact and innovation Rachel Hillman, Mishcon will oversee the next phase of the free-to-use Whole Picture Toolkit which launched in March. The resource aims to improve the mental health and wellbeing on productions of all sizes and embed mentally healthy productions as an industry standard.
Mishcon will build on the implementation of mini guides, wellbeing plans, risk assessments and senior leader training that the charity has so far provided for over 20 productions for Banijay, ITV Studios and Rare TV.
The release of The Whole Picture Toolkit followed the Let’s Reset behaviour change campaign in October 2021, which called on industry leaders to make public pledges on action they are taking to create mentally healthy work environments, and the 2021 Looking Glass survey which revealed that only 10% of those working in the sector currently believe that the industry is a mentally healthy place to work.
The Whole Picture Toolkit was endorsed at the Edinburgh TV Festival by industry leaders including Channel 4’s chief content officer Ian Katz, who said one of the problems is that the industry hasn’t collectively agreed what constitutes bullying behaviour and is “probably still too forgiving” of individuals who should be considered as bullies.
Mishcon takes over the reins from the team behind the £3m two-year mental health programme – the Whole Picture programme - which came to an end last month.
Mishcon joins after a brief stint at Raw TV, where she managed a slate for National Geographic and CNN.
Previously she spent 24 years at the BBC where she managed a range of factual departments before heading up production management at BBC News with credits including Panorama, Newsnight and BBC Breakfast.
Whilst at the BBC she mentored a diverse range of staff and launched a disability programme Extend in News to improve access for disabled journalists and production staff. She was also instrumental in getting Bafta to agree to recognise production management talent in its awards this year.
“Post pandemic, there couldn’t be a more important time to be working with industry colleagues to acknowledge the mental health crisis across our Film and TV industries and to drive positive change,” said Mishcon.
Chief executive of film at the Film & TV Charity Alex Pumfrey said Mishcon has a “passion for broadcasting and keen interest in promoting positive mental health and inclusion within the industry.”
“Her reputation within the industry is of the highest level and with her track record of support for those working behind the scenes she will play an integral role in developing the toolkit even further,” she said.
This story first appeared on Screen’s sister site Broadcast
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