Our Work
Women continue to struggle for representation across the film industry globally. One social barrier particularly affects women, although it applies to everyone: Family vs. Film.
At Raising Films we believe conversations make change happen, and we want things to change. We are losing too much talent to the choice many filmmakers are forced to make, between being a parent and making films. We don’t believe this choice is necessary, but rather a product of social and economic conditions, and we want to start a conversation about how change can be made for filmmakers who want to have a family and continue their careers.
This is about development, sustainability and diversity. Raising Films aims to address one of the issues that prevents many female filmmakers from pursuing their careers, to enable filmmakers with families to keep working and feel supported during demanding times in their personal lives, and to challenge at a structural level the demands the film industry makes of all of us.
Raising Films aims to provide information, education and solutions and our work focuses on:
- Enabling financial assistance for child and elder care.
- Encouraging industry-wide adoption of flexible working and access to child and/or elder care.
- Formalising a way to combat discrimination.
- Normalising conversations around caring commitments with employers.
We put these ambitions into action by working with industry partners and the film and television community and lobby to to ensure these and other solutions are enacted.
Raising Films Writer Residencies: Spring 2019
Raising Films is seeking to support six writers (either individuals or pairs) by providing a free residency space for the week of Monday 25 to Friday 29 March 2019. We are aiming to help [...]
We need to talk about caring…
Today (Friday 30 November 2018) is Carers Rights Day and we are marking the occasion here at Raising Films by announcing We Need To Talk About Caring our 2019 Carers Survey (following on from [...]
Plugging the gap between freelance income and regular nursery costs
Film programmer Gaia Meucci Astley explains how the uncertainty of freelance work and the logistics of juggling availability for work with childcare was eased with support from the Family Support Fund from The Film & [...]
Interventions
We Need To Talk About Caring
A survey into caring within the screen industries.
Raising Our Game
Implementing a framework of accountability for parents and carers.
Making It Possible
The first nationwide look into the impact of caring on career development across the industry.
Our Research & Findings
Respondents were 78% female and 21% male, and the survey observed that women tended to carry more of the burden as carers.
79% of parents and carers told us that their caring labour had a negative impact on their work in the UK film and television industries.
63% of respondents work freelance or are self-employed, and financial uncertainty is a major concern.