Earlier in January, TV Industry Human Rights Forum published a report called “Let’s fix it in post: why broadcasters and production companies can and should address human rights risks in post production”. This is the second related article that covers a key theme from the research via shorter LinkedIn posts. Read previous article: Let’s fix it in post - part 1: illegal and barely legal practices.
Post production is characterised by precarious work and insecure jobs. Many people work as freelancers, either self-employed or going from one short-term contract to another. (Even where people are employed, this is no guarantee of security as shown by reports in the last few days of the collapse of Technicolor, which has included shutting down UK VFX house The Mill.)
The insecurity of tenure makes people more likely to be grateful for bad jobs, unable to set decent terms and much less likely to raise concerns. It also makes them more prone to intimidation and leads to blame-shifting and bullying.
There is a human right to just and favourable conditions of work, and the Good Work Review for the Creative Industries, published in 2023, defined good work as comprising:
Yet our research and that of others, identifies many examples where some or all of these aspects are lacking for those working in post production. The situation has, however, become so normalised that it was common during the research process to find people expressing gratitude for what should be basic minimum expectations. Interviewees gave statements such as:
However, others recognised that the expectation of gratitude is also used to manipulate and exploit.
Interviewee 2024“We’re told to feel grateful and we’re inclined to be threatened that there might be thousands of people out there who might want the job so we should just accept what it is.”
The insecurity of work also makes it much harder for individual workers to set fair terms and conditions. In concrete terms this is manifesting as being unable to chase payments when owed, not getting overtime paid, being asked to make further changes for free after a job is finished and feeling unable to push back on unrealistic demands. For example, even when overtime is written into contracts, few interviewees felt confident in asking for additional payments.
While this may be an issue for freelancers in other parts of TV production or, indeed, for freelancing generally, the isolated working environment of post production means that it is difficult for individuals to know what is reasonable to ask, what others are doing and how common it is to push back.
The research found that the insecurity of tenure in the industry, combined with the pace of technological change, are both drivers that contribute to bullying. For example, several interviewees suggested that bullying behaviour may stem from senior individuals’ lack of knowledge and insecurities about their own employment in response to the speed of industry changes in post production.
While it is individuals who act as bullies, post production as a context enables them to do so with impunity, as the relative isolation of post production workers means that they are often in a situation of one person’s word against another.
The inherent insecurities of post production also put a significant amount of pressure on people to avoid mistakes – sometimes unrealistically, because in complex projects something is likely to go wrong at some point. Interviewees described post production as a place where blame for problems is pushed downwards, often to the most junior people in the team.
Interviewee 2024“Countless times when someone higher up has messed up, blame has been put on the junior person for not spotting it ”
This shifting of blame downwards further erodes any sense of security and can harm a person’s right to health, which includes mental health. It affects trust within teams, reduces productivity and quality, and means that no one learns effectively from mistakes. Within post production, blame shifting is one consequence of unclear lines of accountability, conflicting hierarchies and conflicting priorities.
The sense of insecurity, and the actual insecurity given the current job market, makes it particularly difficult for those working in post production to raise concerns about impacts to their human rights, whether that is in relation to individual or corporate behaviour. This can affect their right of access to justice for human rights harms.
The difficulty arises because there is a well-founded fear of industry blacklisting, knowing who to trust is difficult and there are usually no human resources teams or employee assistance programmes to fall back on for freelancers. Post production workers on a project may have different statuses, depending on whether they are directly employed by a production, by a facility or via another freelancer, making accountability for addressing issues unclear. And there may not be any channels at all through which to flag something to those in charge of a production.
Interviewee 2024“There’s a fear of speaking out and never working again”
Even when a person is employed permanently and where human resources teams do exist, systems for reporting issues internally may not exist, the fear of blacklisting remains and there is a sense (whether right or not) that a human resources team is there to protect the company rather than individuals attached to it.
Interviewees said it was tempting to put up with challenging situations, knowing that they are temporary. However, there are many problems that arise when people are not able to raise concerns or expect to have them addressed. Some will leave the industry because issues remain unresolved; some experience impacts to their mental health; and others will find alternative outlets for their grievances.
There is an urgent need to identify clear and trusted channels for individuals in post production to report problematic behaviour, whether that is late payments or sexual harassment, and to have such reports acted upon appropriately. Every production needs clear lines of accountability. Such grievance mechanisms can enable issues to be addressed promptly before they escalate and act as an early warning system for potentially bigger problems that could have financial, legal or reputational ramifications for a production or a broadcaster.
Broadcasters and production companies should promote their own systems proactively to those in post and work to create psychologically safe spaces for people to raise concerns. In addition, they should provide tangible support to the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) and help to raise awareness of its impending reporting service to those working in the screen sector.
Note: The report was developed in partnership with The Film and TV Charity, together with post production consultancy from Emma Butt, freelance Sound Editor.