Womenʼs vulnerability behind the scenes of British film and television

This chapter examines women’s vulnerability behind the scenes of British film and television production. More specifically, it explores how women practitioners regard their conditions and opportunities in the UK film and television industries and how they navigate their vulnerability, specifically after socio-political movements such as #MeToo and the global COVID-19 pandemic. This research focuses particularly on the experiences of female freelancers and the role freelancing plays in exacerbating women’s organizational vulnerability to gain a better understanding of how inequalities and women’s vulnerability are both produced and reproduced within screen industries. To explore these issues, I adopt an intersectional feminist approach and analyse interviews with eight female practitioners working in British film and television as freelancers in above-the-line jobs. The UK screen industries seem to gradually address gender disparities and the marginalization of women. However, as the interviews with these female practitioners demonstrate, women still experience gender discrimination and need to display an incredible degree of adaptability and resilience to sustain industry pressures. As it is argued, patriarchal forces, neoliberal working cultures and flawed industrial structures produce and shape these women’s vulnerability and contribute to enduring inequalities and marginalization of women behind the scenes of British film and television.