(L-R) Ana Ramos, Helen Ewer, Lucy Longley, Jenny Linton
Did you know… of the 3.4k films in production in the UK between 2003-2015, only 14% of directors and 7% of cinematographers were women?
To explore this alarming statistic, the SAM Placements Team teamed up with Dreaming Fish, a video production company based in Woking, to begin a discussion with our creative students about the pathways and obstacles of females in the production industry. Dreaming Fish recently created a ‘Girls In Film’ initiative after observing that work experience applicants were equal male and female whereas a recent formal job vacancy had 90-95% male candidates.
All 20 places were filled within 24 hours of the event going live, demonstrating the appetite of our female students to approach this issue head on.
Students were invited to hear from Ana Ramos (New Business and Marketing Executive), Helen Ewer (Creative Director) and Lucy Longley (Assistant Producer) with the event hosted by Jenny Linton, who has a 25+ year career in TV production and is a Senior Lecturer at UoB.
The women spoke of their very different journeys into production, top tips for success as well as an honest and frank account of moments of sexism they have faced during their careers. The overwhelming theme of the discussion was often related to confidence in one’s abilities and not wanting to create a reputation of being ‘aggressive’ or ‘difficult to work with’. There were also endless insightful questions to the panel by the students who represented a variety of courses from Media Production to Illustration, Graphic Design and Fashion with Business Communication.
Student feedback suggested that over 70% of respondents were very likely to pursue a career in production after attending the Open Forum. One student commented that they ‘have never felt more comfortable talking about {their} career aspirations’ and another reflected that “It is concerning about how low the percentage of women working in the industry is. However, bringing focus to the problem and talking about the reason why this happens brings awareness which will help bring the percentage number higher.”
Ana, Helen and Lucy have each offered to mentor one of the students that attended the forum to help give further guidance on getting into the production industry as a woman. Watch this space for updates on their journeys!
We are very keen to host future Open Forums based around underrepresented groups in the creative industries. If you would like to be involved with future Open Forums, please contact the SAM Placements Team on mediaplacements@brighton.ac.uk
