Bectu Boss Urges “Open & Honest Conversation” From UK Broadcasters With Freelancers & Says She Worries U.S. Labor Strikes “Set An Expectation In The States” Over Future Action

deadline.com:

The boss of the Bectu union has urged British broadcasters to have an “open and honest conversation about what the future looks like” with the ailing freelance workforce, while revealing concerns over future U.S.

strike action. Positing that the UK TV industry’s freelance community is currently at its lowest ebb since she took over five years ago, Philippa Childs called for “openness and clarity” from the likes of the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, which may end in some freelancers having to leave the industry as the sector is pressured by a weak license fee settlement and the ongoing advertising recession. “What really concerns me is that the solutions the broadcasters have come out with have been giving money to the Film & TV Charity to pay grants and providing training, and I think what freelancers probably want is an open and honest conversation about what the future looks like,” Childs said during the Q&A section of a Royal Television Society keynote. “There might be work for people to do [outside the industry] so people should be able to make a decision about what they want to do.

The immediate future will be tricky and [freelancers] could potentially find something else [outside the industry] in the interim.” Childs acknowledged she has a dialogue with broadcasters, revealing that BBC Chief Operating Officer David Pembrey recently reached out to her to say “the next phase of our conversations have got to be about solutions.” “The BBC have been relatively open about the fact there is less money in terms of the license fee settlement, which means less production and harder choices,” she added. “From my perspective we are seeing broadcasters buying tried and tested formulas and perhaps not being as open to trying new