EXCLUSIVE:
The ABC will partner with Screen Well to present a leadership summit addressing mental health and wellbeing in the Australian screen industry.
Mental Health Matters: A Screen Leaders’ Summit will bring together key screen industry leaders and provide a platform for TV and film cast and crew to ask questions and share their experiences in an ABC Q&A style format.
The event will be held at ABC Studios in Sydney in January.
ABC Chief Content Officer Chris Oliver-Taylor said: “The demanding nature of the screen industry presents unique challenges and listening and learning from those who navigate the pressures of our industry every day is invaluable in fostering a culture of understanding and support. We are proud to partner with Screen Well in bringing industry leaders together to create meaningful change. Creating safe and healthy environments for all screen workers is not only a key responsibility but a critical pathway to a more vibrant, creative and productive industry.”
According to Screen Well’s recent Leadership Matters report, sustained pressure and stress, working long hours often due to under-resourced productions; unrealistic creative or leadership expectations, disorganisation and poor leadership can significantly impact the psychological wellbeing of individuals and teams.
Screen Well Founder Ben Steel said: “It was revealed that blind spots do exist across industry workplaces, not in all but it’s certainly more common than not. We want to make industry leaders aware of what’s happening on the ground by providing screen practitioners the platform to voice their experiences and questions about what’s impacting their mental health, so that as an industry, we can start creating sustainable change.
“The summit will provide the opportunity for us as an industry to work together on a vision for the year ahead and beyond. We know that healthy and safe workplaces means_increased productivity, less psychological incidents, less talent drain, less workers comp claims- the types of environments where creativity can really thrive.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with the ABC on this unique event, which aims to bring key industry leaders together to amplify momentum for improving mental health and safety in our sector. We want leaders across the board to attend the summit, so we can all take collective responsibility for industry culture :..and we are here to help make this happen.”
Oliver-Taylor added, “#MeToo is not a bad example where the sector kind of came together. It did it in its own individual bits, but actually it was quite joined up in its approach to how it responded to that. I guess that’s what we want to do here with Mental Health. What is the industry response? Not ‘What is the ABC, SBS or Nine’s?’ How do we work with our producers, production companies, broadcasters, unions? How do we bring everyone together to say ‘What are we going to do to support our people?’
“It’s the start of the conversation, not the end.”
How to Participate:
Screen Well wants to hear from people working in the screen industry about their experiences and what is impacting their mental health and wellbeing, including what changes they would like to see. This could be related to industry culture, work environments, or work conditions- anything that affects mental health, wellbeing, productivity, or their ability to do their best and most creative work. Video or text submissions can be made via the submission portal.
Attendance for the Mental Health Matters: A Screen Leaders’ Summit will be by invitation.
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