Australian Case Studies
On-site creche at Gold Coast Film Festival (Australia)
In late 2015, attendees at the Screen Queensland Gender Matters session stated that childcare was their biggest barrier to working in the screen industry. Further research on whether festivals or other industry conferences offered creches highlighted that this was a new opportunity to support parents and help remove a barrier, for women in particular, to access the professional development and networking that festivals provide. A child-care service that specialised in conference creches was contacted for the Gold Coast Film Festival. A free crèche was offered for the first time in April 2016 across four panels and two films. By April 2018, the third time a crèche was offered, two sessions were fully booked and other festivals and industry conferences are now offering creches. Attendance to industry panels has doubled and will continue to grow as we support parents to attend. Whilst the bigger issue of year-round flexible daily childcare remains, free crèches at events can make a difference for participants to attend some of the panels, films and networking that the Gold Coast Film Festival offers.
On-site crèche at Screen Forever (Melbourne, Australia)
The first ever creche was offered to delegates at Australia’s premier Screen Industry conference event SCREEN FOREVER in 2018. SAFC and Create NSW in partnership with Screen Producers Australia (SPA) and Women in Film and Television (WIFT) Australia, funded the free crèche which was fully booked ahead of time. The aim of the crèche service is to help parents and carers working in the industry more easily access SCREEN FOREVER’s business and personal development opportunities. The crèche proved to be a success that is was offered again in 2019.
https://www.filmink.com.au/public-notice/creche-screen-forever/
Different ways of working – 52 Tuesdays (Adelaide, Australia)
“A landmark example of Doing It Differently is 52 Tuesdays, which five years ago the SAFC enabled through development, financing and production. Adelaide-based Closer Productions developed a unique methodology for 52 Tuesdays, shooting only every Tuesday, for whole a year, while they kept working on other projects the rest of the week. The result was a calling card film for Closer - for producer Bec Summerton and director Sophie Hyde - and the film was awarded the Crystal Bear at Berlin and Hyde the Best Director World Cinema at Sundance, among many other awards.”
Director Sophie Hyde discussing the filmmaking process of 52 Tuesdays: “I wanted to see if there was another way to make, outside of the industrial model where for 6-8 weeks I couldn’t do anything else and I couldn’t see my child. It intrigued me to consider another way – perhaps a way that is closer to the working model of documentary making, which we were used to – but it was still consuming.” https://filmmakermagazine.com/83648-interview-with-52-tuesdays-director-sophie-hyde/#.XAOpRGgzbIU
“The filmmakers had set themselves the same rule, that they could only shoot on Tuesdays up until midnight and only consecutively, so whatever filmed on that day is what happens in the story on that day.”
http://my52tuesdays.com/about-the-film/
Australian Director’s Guild
The ADG recognises that all working directors are entitled to parental leave. This is a right that is afforded to all Australian workers. The standard for parental leave in Australia is 12 months. Any ADG members may take parental leave from their membership without losing any benefits. This also includes not having to pay their annual membership until they have completed that leave.
International Case Studies
Raising Films UK
The Family Support Fund
The Family Support Fund provides a helping hand to families juggling a professional career with their caring responsibilities on a limited budget. The Fund aims to provide short-term support to individuals or families to bridge a period of reduced income, rather than to provide financial support for a long period of time.
https://www.raisingfilms.com/support/financial-support/
The Raising Films Ribbon
The Raising Films ribbon is available to people, productions, production companies, festivals and conferences, training schemes and educational institutions. It will be awarded to acknowledge activity that takes into account the needs of parents and carers.
https://www.raisingfilms.com/raising-films-ribbon/
Media Parents (United Kingdom)
Employment organisation Media Parents connects job sharing and flexible roles with parents and carers in the UK screen sector, enabling hundreds of carers who through circumstance need flexibility to continue working in the industry.
How it works: “There are many ways to get a job on Media Parents. You can apply to a job ad that’s been posted by a company on the website. You can also be found through the talent database by setting up a personal profile. Members can contact companies direct on the Media Parents site, with all companies listed on the site supporting flexible working and Media Parents. Members are encouraged to find a freelancer to job share with and present yourself as a team. Members can view other talent profiles and direct email people to see if they are interested in collaborating on future job-sharing opportunities. These collaborations can then be highlighted on your personal profile.”
Media Parents offer numerous events and workshops for members to network and connect, further building relationships that can lead to job opportunities. The Media Parents blog is a terrific resource for understanding how members are making flexible working and job-sharing work for them in the UK screen sector.
https://www.mediaparents.co.uk/
Media Parents’ previous initiative High Quality Television scheme, funded by ScreenSkills, provides carers the opportunity of free return-to-work training and mentorships into industry roles that would suit their current caring and job-sharing needs. This results in a paid attachment on high-end drama or children’s television to get back into the industry and into their first job.
Media Parents High Quality Television scheme blog and testimonials: http://blog.mediaparents.co.uk/2018/10/back-to-work-as-a-hetv-drama-coordinator-by-zenna-barry/
Film London and ScreenSkills (United Kingdom)
Film London’s Returnship scheme encourages carers who are returning to the screen industry after an extended career-break. This scheme offers free re-training, networking and mentoring as well as a paid attachment to a production for mid-level professionals.
Commissioned by ScreenSkills High End TV Levy Fund, the return to work scheme returned for a second round in November 2018 – March 2019. This second round focused on the Post and VFX sector, however, Film London also encouraged applicants with production experience who are looking to move across into Post and VFX. Eight applicants across the UK were selected to undertake 1-month (part time, 3 days per week for 4 weeks.) paid placement at VFX companies:
- DNEG (Double Negative)(Wonder Woman 1984, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald)
- Milk VFX (Altered Carbon, Annihilation)
- Molinare (The Crown, The Children Act)
- The Farm (Ariana Grande at the BBC, School)
- BlueBolt (Mary Queen of Scots, Mumma Mia! Here We Go Again)
- Freefolk (The Alienist, Emerald City)
“In addition to the Returnships, candidates are required to attend 4 Retraining sessions, including workshops, industry meetings and meetings with a mentor. Once the scheme has finished the participants will become part of the Equal Access Network and we will help facilitate further work opportunities and on-going support.”
http://filmlondon.org.uk/home/assets/features/return_to_work
Moms in Film (USA)
US organisation Moms in Film are advocating ‘to provide affordable and innovative childcare solutions for parents working in film and for a flexible space to care for children while their parents work nearby’. Moms in Film have developed mobile childcare Unit ‘The Wee Wagon’.
“The Wee Wagon is the film industry's first mobile childcare unit. Designed for maximum flexibility it can be deployed on both film sets and at film festivals. It serves as both a fully functional childcare center and oasis for nursing mothers.
The Wee Wagon Project launched at SXSW 2017. Thanks to a SXSW Community Grant and through a partnership with Collab&Play - LA's first co-working space with on-site childcare - Moms-in-Film was able to station a Wee Wagon outside of the Zach Theater where it provided free childcare to filmmakers attending the festival.
The Wee Wagon returned a year later - this time utilizing a more stationary model - at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. As an in-kind supporter of the Festival, Moms-in-Film once again partnered with Collab&Play as well as the Park City Community Church in order to offer complimentary childcare to attendees of the festival.
Since debuting, Moms-in-Film has begun to develop an independent social enterprise that supports the Moms-in-Film is currently in the midst of launching an independent social enterprise that supports the development of a fleet of these modular care units.”
http://momsinfilm.org/weewagon