The 8th October 2021 marks 12 months since Dial F for Freelancer was founded.
Our dedicated platform celebrates the massive talents represented by the freelance cohort of the UK’s film exhibition and distribution sectors and we are still the only dedicated space for freelancers working in film distribution and exhibition.
Since October 2020, the road back to recovery has been a bumpy one for freelancers and the sector as a whole. In response we ran a Mental Health Resilience Workshop with the brilliant Dolly Mental Health earlier this year.
Over the summer we invited industry representatives to join a roundtable conversation between key organisations providing support to film exhibition and distribution freelancers. Speakers including Gareth Ellis-Unwin (Screenskills), Evy Cauldwell-French (Creative Industries Federation), Lucy Powell (Film & TV Charity) Sonali Joshi, (Excluded UK), Philippa Childs (BECTU) and Ben Luxford & Ann Griffiths (BFI).
Our discussion prompted questions from the audience about financial support in future, and advice and advocacy on rates of pay. Speakers agreed much more needed to be done formally, and stated their commitment to supporting a positive change to freelancer experiences in the sector.
The BFI confirmed they were beginning work on their Lottery funding strategy for the next ten years from 2023 until the BFI’s centenary in 2033. They want freelancers’ voices to be heard in the consultation to help the BFI ‘ensure the continued vibrancy of our screen culture and industry growth UK-wide’.
This candid conversation allowed us to highlight the challenges faced by freelancers and reiterated the need for change, now with the support of the industry.
As Dial F is a volunteer-led collective, we’re still having to pay the bills through our freelancing work so we’d be fibbing if we didn’t admit that time has got away from us since this discussion.
BUT
Turning one is a major milestone for us and we plan to mark the achievement by pushing forward our discussions with our industry partners and peers on our draft code of conduct which focuses on 6 key areas:
- Duty of Care
- Wellbeing
- Pay Rates
- Timescales
- Transparency
- Commitment.
Thank you to all our industry partners and supporters for their encouragement so far and we hope you continue to champion our work with your words and wallets!
So, wherever you all are on the 8th – raise a glass, have a slice of cake or both and celebrate our 1st birthday with us!