17th February 2023

That’s the verdict of an independent group of Unscripted editorial and production management freelancers in the industry, delivered in a report published today. They base that on a survey mounted in September which found that:

• There were high levels of job dissatisfaction, with 84.3% of respondents either having left Production Management or considered leaving the department.

• The main issues were pay inequality, working conditions, departmental welfare, skills shortages and increasing workloads.

• Production Management resources were being cut to the detriment of the industry as a whole.

The report concludes with 5 Fixes the authors would like to see to address the issues they raise and will be publishing updates on their Instagram page in the following months.

**UPDATE**

Since the publication of the report, the authors have been in contact with a number of broadcasters, production companies and industry bodies, seeking to encourage a conversation about the issues raised.

As a result of this, PACT (led by the notoriously unhelpful John McVay) told its members not to engage with the report’s authors and then refused to engage with them, saying that it needed their names if they wanted to talk. He did this knowing full well that it was a necessarily anonymous report (they all want to continue working in the industry after all) and thereby effectively closed down the conversation.

In case it wasn’t entirely obvious, PACT and John McVay are not in any way sympathetic to freelancers’ concerns, as well demonstrated by their obduracy over Covid furlough. There is of course no hope that they would ever be of any help in this particular cause, even when many of their members seek to be. Best avoided.