A new intervention, developed by Dr Richard Wallis from Bournemouth University’s Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP) in partnership with Fremantle Global Entertainment, will better support freelance staff in the TV industry as they come to the end of their contracts.
Speakers at the Supportive Offboarding launch event (Image courtesy Tom Dymond) Television is reliant on a large number of freelancers, who are on short-term contracts to work on a particular project or production.
However, many freelancers finish their contract and leave without any formal ‘offboarding’ process to reflect on their experiences and provide and receive feedback. This is symptomatic of a broader lack of support.
Freelancers are generally treated more like arms-length suppliers than the skilled workforce on which the industry depends. It is a factor in explaining the high number of skilled workers who leave the industry by mid-career.
“Supportive offboarding refers to the period of time when someone is leaving the company,” said Dr Wallis, a Principal Academic at Bournemouth University.
“However, we have a situation where people are coming to the end of a contract working on a show and they will literally leave and barely say goodbye, let alone have any supportive process involved.
“Freelancers are in a constant state of change, which makes them particularly vulnerable when contracts come to an end. It is important to offer support at that stage in terms of both performance and wellbeing of the individual and in terms of the industry retaining a skilled workforce.”
Dr Wallis has been embedded in Fremantle, a London-based multinational television production and distribution company, for the past 12 months as part of the British Academy Innovation Fellowship scheme, which enables researchers to partner with organisations to address challenges that require innovative approaches and solutions.
Together they have developed a supportive offboarding intervention – a conversation of around 20 minutes at the end of a contract which includes four essential components: expressing gratitude for their contribution; an invitation to feedback on their experience and the company; an offer of feedback to the individual; and a career chat.
The conversation is facilitated by someone not directly involved in the production to better enable honest feedback. It has been trialled by UK talent managers at Fremantle alongside HR staff working on Fremantle production Neighbours in Melbourne, Australia to test across different countries and cultures, as well as different television formats.
The intervention was launched at an event at Fremantle on 5th February, which was attended by media policy and industry leaders, including representatives from the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), the Parliamentary Select Committee, Creative UK, the British Film Institute (BFI), the union BECTU, and many of the major broadcasters and production conglomerates.
The audience at the Supportive Offboarding launch event, which took place at Fremantle (Image courtesy Tom Dymond) The event was opened by Alex McBride, Fremantle UK’s Head of HR, followed by Dr. Ken Emond, Head of Research Funding at The British Academy, who spoke about the value of the Fellowship in facilitating applied academic research such as this project, with the potential to make a genuine contribution to the industry.
Speakers also included Talent Manager Vic Roye, a project facilitator, and Series Producer (The Rap Game) Abi Adetoye, a project participant, who described the experience of taking part.
“I got very positive feedback from those who attended the event and a lot of people saying this is what the industry needs,” said Dr Wallis.
“It is not a silver bullet – issues in the industry are deep rooted and systemic, but it is a step in the right direction and emblematic of a much needed culture change.”
The event ended with some concluding words from Louise Benson, Director of Development at the Film and TV Charity, who announce the charity’s intention to partner with BU to roll the intervention out across the industry through its integration with The Whole Picture Tool Kit.
“The plan is to use HEIF funding to work with them to roll out the principles of supportive offboarding to a wider range of organisations,” Dr Wallis said.
“I am very grateful that the Film and TV Charity are actively collaborating and committed to further development and dissemination of this intervention.”
Watch the launch event video:
