Screen Well was inundated with more than 200 applications for a recent Matchbox Pictures’ production job-sharing pilot scheme, but managed to place just one role.
It shows the groundswell of demand among skilled screen professionals for new, more sustainable ways of working while also revealing the cultural challenges and concerns that still holding job-sharing back.
“Because everyone’s under so much pressure going into production, if anything compounds that or adds to that, it’s understandably not something that they will find easy to adopt,” says ScreenWell’s Jonathon Dutton, who co-wrote the recent ‘Breaking Down the Barriers to Job-Sharing‘ report.
But there are less complex roles that could be job-shared immediately, such as in arts, costume, makeup, grips, and gaffing departments. More complex heads of department roles could be job-shared in the future.
“It’s pretty straightforward stuff – it’s more about the willingness to do it,” he said.
“The analogy we use is like the intimacy coordinator role. When it first came in, I think there were a lot of similar responses to it and then, six years later, you don’t go onto a set with intimate content without an intimacy coordinator. That’s what we’re looking to do with job-sharing: how do we make it normal?”
The study found heads of departments had specific concerns about whether job-sharing teams could meet the intense demands of the job, as well as conduct effective handovers. This crossover period between job-sharers is a key part of making job-sharing work, particularly for creative roles, and can be built into workflows at minimal cost to a production thanks to the way overtime rates are charged.
“At the end of the day, if it’s going to cost a production more money, it’s not going to happen.”
The industry has also struggled with a lack of practical information about making job-sharing work prior to the Screen Well report. However, more information is being released, including the free HETV Job-share Bible, which explains how to set up a job-share arrangement.
Screen Well has also partnered with Crew HQ where potential job-sharers can sign up and connect with each other for free.
Screen Well and Crew HQ will run a job-share masterclass at 12pm on April 22 for aspiring job-sharers wanting to know how they can job-share: https://bit.ly/jobsharemasterclass.