Expert Insight: Lucy Maxwell on Tackling Loneliness in Film and TV

About the Film and TV Charity

The Film and TV Charity exists to support everyone working behind-the-scenes in UK film, TV and cinema, through practical financial and mental wellbeing support services, as well as industry-leading research, advocacy and industry change work with its partners.

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Film and TV is often seen as a highly desirable and exciting sector to work in, especially for younger generations. This is reflected in its demographic makeup: the number of workers aged under 40 is much higher than the UK average and the proportion of those aged 50+ is considerably lower.1

Although the reasons for this age skew are complex and not fully understood, it has long been argued that the industry has a talent retention problem with many workers leaving the industry early.2

The Film and TV Charity’s research suggests that disproportionately high levels of poor mental health and loneliness among those working behind-the-scenes may play a significant part in this ‘leaky talent pipeline’.

35% of those surveyed in the Charity’s Looking Glass 2024 survey rated their mental health as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’, compared to 18% of the UK population. In the same survey 52% said they are ‘often’ lonely at work compared to 20% of UK workers, and 32% have taken steps to leave the industry over the past 12 months due to concerns about their mental health.3

The Charity’s recent research conducted in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University, found that loneliness is one of the key drivers of poor mental health for film and TV workers, concluding that it is the industry’s distinct working culture and practices that have an indirect negative impact on mental health, primarily by making people feel lonely. 4

These workplace characteristics include long, unpredictable working hours, precarious project-based employment, high levels of bullying and a working culture that promotes ‘toughness’. The impact of these factors is worse for those from marginalised or disadvantaged backgrounds, and freelancers (on whom the sector is heavily reliant).

As well as the individual impacts, there are much wider implications for businesses. The Film and TV Charity estimates that poor mental health may cost the industry up to £400 million per year.5 Moreover, this figure doesn’t include costs stemming from future risks to the growth and resilience of the workforce.

The sector has arguably overcome its ‘retention problem’ to date by continually recruiting from a large pool of young, inexperienced talent who are highly motivated to take up careers in the creative industries.

This approach is still present to this day. As part of efforts to safeguard the future resilience and diversity of the creative industries, DCMS’ Creative Industries Sector Plan proposes to invest in support for 16–25-year-olds from underrepresented backgrounds to enter the film industry.6

However, the industry may not always be able to rely on young, hungry talent to fulfil its workforce needs. The 2024 Looking Glass survey found 40% of respondents aged 16-29 have taken firm action towards leaving the sector.

Relatedly, external research suggests that younger generations are prioritizing mental health and work-life balance as deciding factors in their employment choices.7 In this context the fact that the Looking Glass 2024 survey found ‘only 12% of respondents feel the industry is a mentally healthy place to work’ should be a cause for concern.

To thrive in a competitive and changing international market, the UK screen sector must retain experienced workers, secure the next generation of creatives and attract skilled talent from other sectors as the demands of content production evolve. The Film and TV Charity’s research suggests addressing workplace loneliness and poor mental health will be fundamental in achieving these aims and safeguarding the industry’s future economic success.

In recent years the Charity and wider industry have developed products, programmes and policies designed to tackle poor workplace wellbeing such as the Charity’s Whole Picture Toolkit, its Bullying Advice Service and independent reporting body CIISA (the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority).

The 2024 Looking Glass survey indicates that such targeted interventions are making a positive difference. Self-reported experiences of bullying have reduced since the survey was first conducted in 2019, and the number of those rating their mental health as 'poor' or 'very poor' dropped to 23% for those who had worked on a production using the Charity's Whole Picture Toolkit (compared to 35% for those who hadn't).

However, it’s clear from the findings shared here that poor mental health and loneliness in film and TV are still at concerning levels suggesting the sector needs to adopt these initiatives at scale to have a significant and sustained impact.

In light of the Charity’s new research that suggests mental health problems are strongly influenced by experiences of loneliness, there is also a need to consider how existing interventions impact social wellbeing and how social connection might be used in a complimentary way to achieve better mental health outcomes.

The Charity will be working with its partners to develop its Community Strategy in the coming months with a view to achieving these goals. This will also involve considering recommendations made in the Charity’s recent report on loneliness that have not yet been undertaken by the industry. These include: encouraging businesses and productions to measure and track workplace loneliness; maintain communications and relationships with freelancers between projects; create inclusive opportunities for meaningful workplace connections that are suitable for freelancers, such as formal peer support or ‘buddy programmes’, industry community groups or events that support shared interests and experiences; and to destigmatise loneliness through awareness campaigns.

Despite the film and TV sector’s generational skew and industry specific workplace characteristics the insights shared here have significant implications for the wider UK workforce and economy and should be of interest to relevant policy makers. Film and TV is often viewed as the ‘original gig economy’ and the ‘canary in the coalmine’ for workforce issues affecting freelancers, making the recent research by the Film and TV Charity especially relevant, as freelancing becomes more common in the wider UK workforce.

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1 Film and TV Charity (2022). Absent Friends: Scaling the film and TV industry’s retention problem Absent-Friends-Film-and-TV-Charity-Retention-Report.pdf

2  A large-scale tracking study of British television production workers undertaken between 1994 and 1997 found that stress from work uncertainty was already becoming a problem - most notably, among those in their 40s - leading people to consider leaving or leave the TV industry (Dex, Willis, Paterson and Sheppard, 2000). Dex, S., Willis, J., Paterson, R., and Sheppard, E., 2000, Freelance workers and contract uncertainty: The effects of contractual changes in the television industry. Work, Employment & Society, Vol.14, No. 2, pp. 283-305.

3  Film and TV Charity. (2025). Looking Glass Report 2024. https:// filmtvcharity.org.uk/assets/documents/ Reports/LOOKING_GLASS_REPORT_2024.pdf

4 Hawkins, O., Topakas,  A., Wigfield, A., for The Film and TV Charity (2025), Loneliness in the film and TV industry FULL_LONELINESS_REPORT_FINAL.pdf

5  Film and TV Charity (2025) Loneliness in the film and TV industry: An overview from the Film and TV Charity LONELINESS_CONDENSED_REPORT_FINAL.pdf

6 UK Gov DCMS Creative Industries Sector Plan  The UK's Modern Industrial Strategy - CREATIVE INDUSTRIES Sector Plan

7  Deloitte Global’s Gen Z and Millennial Survey (2025) 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey 23-27