Nine principles are part of a refresh of The Whole Picture Toolkit support offering

The Film and TV Charity has unveiled a set of key principles for creating mentally healthy productions in a bid to combat stress and burnout across the industry.

The nine principles, revealed today, mark the first step in the charity’s revamp of its Whole Picture Toolkit, and were developed over 12 months with a cross-sector working group comprising 45 organisations.

Broadcasters Channel 4, Sky, UKTV and Disney+, as well as super-indie Banijay, have all signed up to pilot their implementation.

The principles cover creating leadership and culture which supports wellbeing, fostering respectful relationships on productions, offering visible mental health support, managing the impact of sensitive content and of relationships with onscreen talent, and creating a supportive environment.

They also encompass well-managed workload and working patterns and having a clear team structure with well-defined roles.

Each of the principles is accompanied by actionable guidance for producers, heads of department and those in leadership roles, which will be available from the FTVC website.

The refreshed Whole Picture Toolkit, a suite of resources designed to support wellbeing on set, will be launched in full in the autumn.

FTVC chief exec Marcus Ryder described the introduction of the principles as “the biggest industry initiative to address mental health in film and television in a generation”, adding that they had the potential to be “truly game-changing”.

He said: “Importantly, we already have the evidence that productions that use the charity’s tools to adhere to these principles enjoy better mental health outcomes.

“This is a major step towards creating healthier, fairer and more supportive working environments across UK production – and we can lead the way in showing global industry partners how embedding best practice can not only improve worker wellbeing but also deliver positive benefits to businesses too.”

Sara Putt, Bafta chair and FTVC vice-chair, added: “Across every stage of a screen industry career, our Bafta talent programme participants and members tell us the same thing, that instability of freelance jobs, lack of access to training and skills development, the realities of production working conditions and pressures from fewer job opportunities, are not only driving a talent drain, but also having a profound impact on the mental health and wellbeing of our workforce.

“As a result, we have put mental health and wellbeing best practice at the centre of our programmes.”

She said Bafta welcomed further collaboration with the FTVC to equip industry workers with the tools to sustain long-term, happy and fulfilling careers.

Creative industries minister Ian Murray welcomed the principles.

“Everyone working in the creative industries deserves to be treated with dignity, fairness and respect,” he said. “The Film and TV Charity’s focus on mentally healthy productions is a fantastic step forward that will encourage much-needed change in the workforces of film and television.”

BBC chief content officer Kate Phillips said the corporation was proud to have been one of the collaborators on the principles’ development.

“At the BBC, we are determined to seize this opportunity and are committed to embedding the principles to drive meaningful, practical change in mental health and wellbeing across our productions,” she said.

She added that the broadcasters actively encouraged its in-house production teams and third-party suppliers to the same.

C4 content boss Ian Katz said the industry had “tolerated shockingly high incidence of poor mental health… for much too long”.

He added: “Working together, we can set expectations for the wellbeing of those working on our productions to thrive and shape a future where people can do their best work without compromising their mental health.”

Angela Jain, head of content for Disney+ EMEA, said it was “vital” that the industry looked after the “hard-working, creative teams behind our world-class content” and described the research behind the principles as “incredible, confronting the issue head-on to deliver real, lasting change”.

She added: “Disney+ wholeheartedly supports the principles for mentally healthy productions and is fully committed to continue working with the FTVC and our production partners to implement them across our original productions in the UK.”

Principles for mentally healthy productions:

• Leadership and culture – creating a culture that supports wellbeing
• Relationships on productions – fostering respectful, inclusive relationships across teams
• Mental health support – making support visible and accessible
• Sensitive production content and themes – managing the impact of difficult subject matter
• Relationships with contributors, cast, and presenters – managing the impact of contributors, cast, and presenters on the team
• Production context – creating supportive and safe working environments for all
• Workload – managing workload to protect wellbeing and performance
• Working patterns – small adjustments can have a big impact on mental health
• Team Structure and role clarity – clear roles mean less stress