Up to 20 job-share pairs will be funded with up to £8,000 and bespoke support
A job-sharing programme for unscripted productions has been backed by ScreenSkills and Prime Video Pathway.
The programme, which is also created in partnership with training and consultancy firm ReelTime Media, will support more than 20 job-share pairs to share the duties and responsibilities of a full-time role, thus promoting the retention of experienced, diverse talent and increasing the number of job opportunities in unscripted.
The job-share pairs will be funded with up to £8,000 to divide their time equally with a sixth day crossover, to ensure there are no additional costs to productions accommodating the initiative.
Participants also receive bespoke one-to-one support and mentorship by ReelTime Media.
ScreenSkills, which is backing the programme through its Unscripted TV Skills Fund, has been funding similar job-share initiatives in high-end TV and film since 2021, and has now supported more than 100 job-share pairs in different roles and departments.
ReelTime Media, and in their previous work as Share My Telly Job, has worked with pairs working across unscripted genres, from reality to natural history, to fact-ent in roles ranging from production coordinators and managers to casting producers and editors.
Sarah Joyce, head of unscripted and children’s TV at ScreenSkills, said: “Having seen the success of job-sharing in scripted film and TV I am excited by the opportunities it will offer the unscripted workforce whatever their career stage or department. Job-sharing works brilliantly as a way for people to maintain a positive work-life balance whilst also developing their careers.”
Michelle Reynolds, co-director at ReelTime Media, added: “Through running job-share programmes for the last 5 years, we have been thrilled to find that job-sharing benefits both productions and the job-sharers that work on them.
“It is a practical way for productions to retain valued people on their teams and to access double the creativity, problem solving capacity and energy that comes with a job-share pair. For the job-sharers, this flexible way of working is allowing them to have a sustainable career that works with whatever else is going on in their lives.”