Skillset/UK Film Council Feature Film Production Workforce Survey 2008

Executive Summary

Comparing the 2005 and 2007 reports

This section summarises key similarities and differences between the findings of the first Film Production Workforce Survey (published in 2005) and the present study.

The 2005 Film Production Workforce Survey was based on a questionnaire survey of crew employed on films that began principal photography in 2002, and the survey itself was undertaken in 2004. The reference year for data collection was 2002 (for details about work on a specific film) and 2003 for income data (i.e. the 12 months prior to the survey).

The 2007 Film Production Workforce Survey involved a questionnaire survey of crew working on films that began shooting in 2006, and the survey was undertaken in 2006/07.  The comparative reference period, for both work on a specific film and income, runs between 2005 and 2006.

The following tables present top-level data only, and they should be interpreted in light of the different recruitment methods used in the two surveys and the different types of film production that participated on each occasion (see section 1.5 for further details).

What has remained largely unchanged?

What has increased?

What has decreased?

What else has changed?

• There was a statistically significant difference between white and ethnic minority workers in terms of their perceived training needs. 70% of ethnic minority respondents felt they needed additional training compared with just over half of their white counterparts (51%). This compares with 67% and 51% respectively in the 2005 survey report, a difference that was not statistically significant.
  
  
• There was a marked change between the 2005 and 2007 survey reports in the relative proportions of those with and without media-related degrees. The 2005 survey report showed more graduates with degrees in a media related subject than in other subjects, whereas the opposite was found in the present survey. So while the proportion of graduates increased overall, this was driven by a rise in the number of those holding non-media degrees.
  
  
• For respondents under 35 years there was a difference between men and women in terms of their relationship status. Men in this group were more likely to be married or living as a couple, a pattern repeated in the older age groups. This marks a change from the 2005 survey report,, which showed no difference between men and women aged below 35.
  
  
• Workers from ethnic minority groups were more likely to have been unemployed and seeking work in the previous twelve months than their white counterparts: 89% of ethnic minority respondents were unemployed at some time in the previous twelve months, compared with 73% of white respondents.[1]

   

Summary of results in full

Demographic profile of film survey respondents

Gender

• 60% of the film survey respondents were men, and 40% women.  Compared with the UK workforce as a whole, women remain under-represented in the film industry.  Recent Labour Force Survey (October-December 2006) figures indicate that 46% of all workers in the UK economy are women.
   
  
• While there were almost no women in the camera, sound, electrical and construction departments, the vast majority of those working in make-up and hairdressing were women.  There were more women than men working in costume and production or script development; but women were in the minority in most other occupational groups.
  

Age

• The mean age of the respondents was 38.5 years. Three quarters were aged between 25 and 49 years, while 16% were 50 or over. These findings suggest the film industry workforce has a similar age profile to that of the rest of the audio visual workforce which stands at around 37 years (Skillset 2005 Survey of the Audio Visual Industries’ Workforce).
  
  
• The film industry workforce had a larger proportion of workers in early middle age than the overall UK workforce, and fewer people in the very youngest and oldest age groups.
  
  
• The men in the film survey were older, on average, than the women (the average age was 40 and 36 respectively). There was an even gender split in the youngest age group (16 to 24), but women were much more likely to fall into the 25-34 age group (45% of women and 27% of men). While 21% of the men were aged 50 or older, this was true for only 10% of the women.
  
  
• Age profiles varied by occupational group: those working in production (mean age 36), as assistant directors (30) or in locations (36), tended to be younger than those in the other departments, while the oldest occupational groups were construction (44) and sound / electrical (41).
  

Ethnic background

• 5% of the workforce comes from minority ethnic groups, compared with 7% of the UK workforce as a whole, and 24% of London's workforce, where a large part of the film industry is based. The proportion of ethnic minorities in the workforce is higher in the youngest age groups (7% of 16-24 year olds, dropping to 3% of respondents aged 50 or older).
  
  
• There was a small, statistically significant difference by gender, with more women from ethnic minorities than men in the workforce. There was no significant difference by occupational group.
  

Disability

• 3% of respondents considered themselves to have a disability as defined by the 2005 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)[2], a lower figure than for the wider audio visual workforce estimated to be 5% (2005 Survey of the Audio Visual Industries’ Workforce) and for the workforce across the whole economy which is also estimated to be 5% (Labour Force Survey Historical Quarterly Supplement, Summer 2005).
  

Marital and family status

• Nearly six in ten were married or living as part of a couple, and just over a third (34%) had dependent children. As might be expected, this varied by age: the majority of those under 24 were single while over two-thirds of those aged 35 or older were married or living as a couple.
  
  
• Men in the film survey sample were much more likely than women to have dependent children  (40% compared with 14%). This difference by gender is more marked than for the workforce across the entire economy where 62% of men and  63% of women has dependent children (Labour Force Survey Historical Quarterly Supplement, Summer 2004).
  

Place of residence and work

• The majority of respondents were based in England (88%) and almost all of these were concentrated in London (57%) and the South East (17%).
  
  
• 6% of the survey respondents lived in Scotland, with 2% in Wales, 3% in Northern Ireland and 1% outside the UK.
  
  
• The pattern of work across the regions and nations was rather different to the pattern of residence, indicating the necessity of travel for many in the industry.  Although the vast majority (94%) had worked in England, most commonly London (87%) and the South East (39%), there were sizeable proportions that had also worked in other English regions, particularly in the South West (23%) and the North West (14%).
  
  
• 16% had worked in Scotland, 14% in Wales and 7% in Northern Ireland. A further 6% had worked in the Republic of Ireland.
  
  
• While around half those based in London or the South East of England had to stay away overnight while working, this was true for 62% of those based in other English regions.
  

Nationality

• The vast majority of respondents described themselves as British (91%), while 6% were from other EU countries, and less than 1% of respondents were from the USA. A further 3% were originally from other countries.
  
  
• Editing/post production/VFX and make-up/hairdressing had the highest proportion of foreign national workers, and sound/electrical, locations and other departments had the highest proportion of British nationals.
  

Working patterns

• On average, respondents had worked on three feature film productions during the past twelve months (median number of productions = two).  Over half had worked on one or two productions; a further quarter had worked on three feature films, and less than one quarter had worked on four or more.
  
  
• Over three quarters (78%) of respondents worked on average for 5 or 6 days a week on a recent production, while 7% worked ‘11-day fortnights’.
  
  
• When working on a production, the working day tended to be very long, with 66% working for 11 hours or more on average (23% for 13 hours or more).
  
  
• On average respondents worked for 23 weeks on feature film production in the previous twelve-month period. 37% had spent between 11 and 29 weeks on feature films, and a further 16% had spent 30-39 weeks on such work.
  
  
• The majority of respondents (86%) had worked on some other type of audio visual production in the past year.  Half had worked on television programmes and less than one quarter on film shorts. Respondents had spent 11 weeks on average working on other types of production in the previous 12 months.
  
  
• Nearly two fifths had worked on audio visual productions abroad over the past twelve months, in the most part for 10 weeks or less.
  
  
• Rates of unemployment were high, with 74% having been unemployed and seeking work at least once in the past year, and more than a third (35%) having spent more than 10 weeks of the year unemployed.
  
  
• Those living in the South East and London had worked on more feature film productions in the previous twelve months than those living in other UK regions or nations.   They were also more likely than those living elsewhere to have worked for substantial periods of time on single feature film projects, and they were more likely to have spent at least 40 weeks of the past year on feature film work.
  
  
• Men tended to have worked on more feature film productions than women in the past twelve months, with an average of 2.9 compared to 2.5 for female workers.
  
  
• However, women were more likely to have worked 13 or more hours on an average day on a recent feature film, and were more likely than men to have been involved in the pre-production phase of feature film work.
  
  
• The youngest workers were more likely to have worked on only one feature film in the past twelve months, while there was a greater likelihood that those aged 35 and over worked on three or more. Younger workers were also more likely to have worked for a shorter period on a recent feature.
  
  
• Ethnic minority workers were more likely than their white colleagues to have been involved in other audio visual work in the previous twelve months, and they were also more likely to have been unemployed and seeking work during that time.
  

Income from work in the audio visual industry

• On average respondents earned £33,726 from all audio visual work in the previous twelve months (median income = £34,999).[3] This is higher than the average income received by the workforce across the wider audio visual industries at £32,239 per year (for a twelve month period between 2004 and 2005, Skillset 2005 Survey of the Audio Visual Industries’ Workforce), and also the average received by the entire economy’s workforce at £29,331 (2006 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, ASHE).
  
  
• Just over a fifth of the sample (22%) earned £50,000 a year or more. The majority (77%) earned between £20,000 and £49,999 and a minority (6%) earned no income from audio visual work during the previous year.
  
  
• The disparity between male and female earnings still persists: while 54% of women had earned less than £29,999 in the past year, this was true for only 45% of the men.  And 27% of men had earned £50,000 or more, compared with only 15% of women.[4]
  
  
• Ordinal logistic regression analysis also found that age had a stronger effect on the level of total audio visual income than gender, and the difference in age composition between men and women in the workforce exacerbates this inequality in income between the genders. In particular, the lack of older women in the workforce prevents women as a group from achieving the higher level of income that older workers would expect to receive across the board.
  
  
• On the whole, audio visual income increased with age: nearly all 16-24 year olds (84%) earned less than £20,000 a year from audio visual work, compared with 38% of those aged 25-34, 15% of those aged 35-49, and 17% of aged between 50 and over.
  
  
• On average 82% of the audio visual income earned by the workforce came from feature film work alone. The mean annual earnings just from film work stood at £27,699 (median = £24,999).
  
  
• Just 2% of respondents to the present survey had earned no income at all from feature film work in the past year, and a further 47% had earned less than £20,000 (27% less than £10,000). 26% had earned between £20,000 and £39,999; 7% had earned between £40,000 and £49,999, and 17% had earned £50,000 or more from feature film work in the past year.
  
  
• There was further evidence of a gender difference in earnings: 32% of women earned no income or less than £10,000 from feature film work in the past year, compared with 28% of men, and while 29% of men had earned £40,000 or more in the past year from feature film work, this was true for 19% of women.[5]
  
   
• As with audio visual earnings more generally, feature film income increased with age.  Three quarters of 16-24 year olds (77%) had earned no such income or less than £10,000 in the past year, compared with 36% of 25-34 year olds, 20% of respondents aged 35-49, and 15% of those aged 50+.
  
  
• Assistant directors (a category that includes relatively low earning 3^rd ADs and floor runners) were more likely to earn less than £30,000 from audio visual work than any other occupation group, while those working in hair and make-up and construction were least likely to earn £50,000 or more. Those working in editing/post production/VFX had the highest mean income from audio visual work (£42,657).
  
  
• Those working in production/ script development and editing/post production/VFX were the most likely to be earning substantial incomes from feature film.  In particular, they were the most likely to have earned £50,000 or more in the past year from feature film work.  Those in editing/post production/VFX were also the least likely to have earned £20,000 or less from film work, and they had the highest mean income (£35,737). Those in construction and the camera department were least likely to earn £50,000 or more from film work.
  
  
• Of those who were paid on a weekly rate (75% of the sample), 27% received less than £800 per week (an increase from 18% in the 2005 survey report), 33% were paid between £800 and £1,199 a week, 23% between £1,200 and £1,599 a week, and 19% £1,600 or more a week (down from 26% in the 2005 survey report).
  
  
• Of those reporting a daily rate of pay (20% of the sample), nearly one in five (17%) received less than £100 a day (up from 7% in the 2005 survey report), 34% earned between £100 and £199 a day, and similar proportions (27% and 23%) between £200 and £299, and £300 or more a day.
  
  
• Women tended to have lower weekly rates than men.  32% of women reported a weekly rate of less than £800 for feature film work, compared with 22% of men; and women were also less likely than men to report weekly rates of £1,600 or more (22% compared with 14%).[6]  A similar pattern was evident among men and women who reported daily rates of pay, although the differences are more striking: 60% of women paid daily earned £199 or less compared with 45% of men, and only 16% of women on a day rate earned £300 or more compared with 27% of men.
  

Membership of industry organisations

• Exactly half of respondents were members of an industry union, guild or professional association, most commonly BECTU (30%). 
  
  
• Union or guild membership increased considerably with age, from less than a quarter of 16-24 year olds to over three quarters of those aged 50 or older.
  
  
• Those working in sound/electrical and the camera departments were the most likely to belong to a union of some kind, principally organisations such as BECTU, GBCT, AMPS, British Society of Cinematographers and BAFTA. 
  
  
• Construction workers, those in editing and post production, and make-up/hairdressing were the groups next most likely to sign up to membership, with organisations such as BECTU, BKTS, IATSE and BAFTA. 
  
  
• Fewer than half of those working as assistant directors, or in the costume or location departments were members of a union, guild or professional association.

Feature film working arrangements

Routes into the industry

• The majority of respondents were relatively recent entrants; a third had started paid work in the film industry in the 1990s (36%) and since 2000 (36%).
  
  
• Nearly two fifths (37%) of respondents had done some unpaid work experience in the film industry before getting a paid film industry job.
  
  
• Those entering the industry in earlier decades were less likely to have undertaken unpaid work experience prior to entry. Over half of those entering since 2000 had undertaken such work compared with 40% of those entering in the 1990s, 23% of those entering in the 1980s, 10% of those entering in the 1970s and 2% of those that started in or before 1969.
  
  
• Half of all respondents had undertaken work outside the audio visual industries (including film production) before working in feature film production. The majority of these had worked in other business areas, hotels and restaurants, the retail trade and in construction.

Qualifications, training and skills

Qualifications

• The vast majority of the sample (88%) held some kind of qualification.
  
  
• Over half of those surveyed (58%) held a graduate qualification (an undergraduate or postgraduate degree or diploma), which is higher than the proportion of graduates in the workforce across the entire economy which stands at around 31% (Labour Force Survey 2006).
  
  
• However, the feature film workforce is still less likely than those in the rest of the audio visual industries to have graduate level qualifications (69%, 2005 Survey of the Audio Visual Industries’).
  
  
• The highest proportion of graduates was found in the costume department (82%) and in production and script development (79%). Construction had the lowest (12%), although one third of construction workers had non-academic qualifications- higher than any other occupational group.
  
  
• Nearly two thirds of those entering the industry in the 1990s had a graduate qualification (rising to over 70% of those entering since 2000) compared with 43% of those entering in the 1980s, 29% of those entering in the 1970s and 10% of those starting in the film industry before 1969.
  
  
• Three quarters of women had graduate qualifications compared to just under half of the male respondents (48%). 16% of men had no qualifications at all, but this was true for only 6% of women.

Training

Figure E1 Training in the past year

Base: Taught yourself any relevant skills = 1,117, Received any other supervised job training = 1,131, attended training attachment or work placement = 1,140 and attended taught training course = 1,141.

• Very few of those surveyed had experienced any kind of formal, organised film industry training in the past year.  15% had attended a taught course, designed to help them develop skills for use in the film industry; 6% had been on a training attachment or work placement within the industry; and 14% had received some other supervised on-the-job training.
  
  
• More common was self-tuition, with a third of the sample (33%) having taught themselves some industry-relevant skills in the past year.
  
  
• Half of those who had attended training courses had paid the fees themselves; and a quarter had attended courses that had been paid for by their employer.  About one in eight of the course attendees said that there had been no fees to pay.
  
  
• Around half the sample (52%) felt that there were areas in which they needed further training. The groups most likely to feel they needed training in certain areas were those in locations and the camera department. Over two thirds of respondents in these groups reported areas for which they needed further training.
  
  
• Two thirds of respondents under the age of 35 felt that they needed further training in particular areas.  This dropped to just under half of those aged between 35 and 49 (46%), and a third of those aged 50 or older.
  
  
• 70% of ethnic minority respondents felt they needed additional training compared with just over half of their white counterparts (51%).
  
  
• By far the most common area in which further training was felt to be needed was finance, business, marketing and management, mentioned by 25% of those wanting training (16% of the sample as a whole).
  
  
• The most commonly given reasons by respondents for needing further training were to keep up to date with current skills, develop new technical skills or to move on in their careers.  Each of these reasons was mentioned by more than 60% of those with training needs. Nearly two fifths (38%) also wanted further training to help them earn more money, an increase of 10% on the same finding in the 2005 survey report.
  
  
• Ethnic minority workers were more likely than those describing themselves as white to want further training in order to develop new technical skills, to help them earn more money or to improve their communication skills.
  
  
• The majority (83%) of respondents reported some difficulty obtaining training. The most common difficulty was the fear of losing work through committing time to training in advance (36%) and difficulty taking time off work (34%). Concern that fees were too high (27%), and a lack of suitable courses and information about available training (26% each) were also recognised as barriers by around a quarter of respondents.
  
  
• Women were more likely than men to have experienced difficulties in obtaining training.  In particular, they were more likely than men to have found the fees too high.
  
  
• A new question introduced in the present survey asked respondents about their likelihood of attending a suitable training course held on set during a production (e.g. at lunchtime). Over one third (35%) said they would be very likely to do so, and another quarter said they would be fairly likely to. However, a sizeable minority (21%) said they were not at all likely to do so.
  
  
• The most common sources of training information indicated by respondents were colleagues (39%), and the trade press (31%).

Skills

• 30% of respondents felt that there were particular specialist skills that were in short supply in their field.  However, only 7% thought there was a shortage of people specialising in their field. 39% felt that there were too many people in their field.
  
  
• The majority of respondents (89%) felt there would be changes to the type of skills needed in their field over the next few years. Future demand was felt to be strongest for skills linked to new technology: six out of ten respondents felt there would be a need for better knowledge of digital or computer based technology or formats, while just under half (47%) saw the need for better knowledge of other types of new technology.