Almost half of those working in film and TV production have felt a negative impact on their mental health as a result of Covid safety protocols, according to a study by the Film and TV Charity.

Covid protocols, which include regular testing, mask-wearing and social distancing, resulted in 46% of workers feeling it negatively affected their mental health while four in 10 (42%) said it negatively affected their ability to do their job.

The findings were revealed in Looking Glass ”21, a follow-up to the Film and TV Charity”s research in 2019, which revealed that 87% of film and TV workers in the UK had experienced a mental health problem – far higher than the 65% UK national average.

Responses from more than 2,000 film and TV workers, captured during the ongoing pandemic in summer 2021, revealed that mental health and wellbeing have remained stable despite the challenges of the pandemic.

However, major issues were highlighted around working hours, harassment, and talent retention.

The UK has experienced a boom in production since lockdown restrictions lifted in autumn 2020, with a record £5.64bn spent on film and high-end TV production, according to recent BFI statistics.

But with it has come longer working hours, with 78% saying that work intensity has negatively affected their mental health, compared with 63% in the 2019 survey.

Last month, a separate industry survey exposed TV”s “long hours culture”, finding that staff work 14 hours a week more than the national average.

Harassment

In the past year, the majority of respondents (57%) also said they had experienced bullying, sexual harassment, racial harassment or discrimination.

Four in 10 (39%) of black, Asian and minority ethnic respondents had experienced racial harassment or discrimination, with 43% considering leaving the industry.

Overall, 65% of respondents said they had considered leaving the industry in the past year, which rose to 74% of disabled respondents.

In addition, just 10% of respondents claimed that the industry is a “mentally healthy place to work”.

“Despite stability and remarkable resilience in some areas, there is still much more that we must do,” said Alex Pumfrey, chief exec at The Film and TV Charity.

“The urgency is especially acute when we consider the strain being placed on the mental health of people in the industry from under-represented communities, including our disabled workforce and Black, Asian and minority ethnic workforce. In particular, the mental health impacts of individual experiences of racial harassment and discrimination, has been brought to the fore.”

The Film and TV Charity has committed to re-running the Looking Glass research this year and every two years thereafter, tracking the mental health of workers and reporting areas of concern that need addressing.

In October, the charity launched a year-long campaign – titled Let”s Reset – to tackle ongoing mental health challenges facing the industry, supported by major studios including Warner Bros and Disney.

It is also preparing to launch the Whole Picture Toolkit, an online resource that will use real-life examples of best practices and ideas from across the industry to help productions be more mentally healthy places to work.

The full Looking Glass ”21 report can be read here.

This article first appeared on Broadcast.