Research
ReelTime consults across industry and academia on issues of inclusivity and parity
“…we have yet to see abundant examples of powerful men or women pausing to create a place to do the work of love in their lives… Job-sharing could become the norm. With love at the centre of our lives, work could have a different meaning and focus”
All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks (1999)
The mighty bell hooks wrote about love and action: how to put love into the centre of everything we do. Working in TV and film rarely feels like it is about love, even though we are told we must love what we do – because otherwise we wouldn’t put up with the hours, the conditions, what we miss of home when we are away.
The research we are part of at ReelTime tries to recalibrate this expectation. By thinking about ways in which we can work differently, and how we can put this into practice – to have the different “meaning and focus” that hooks wrote so passionately about.
We can help you think differently about your work and introduce ways to practise effective inclusivity and parity. For more info please get in touch.
Lecturing, writing and projects
For Universities
The University Offer: Understanding EDI as Good Work
Rowan lectures and trains students of film and TV production, skilling them in how to put EDI into their practice, and provides training to lecturers on the newer demands their students will meet. Using the PEC’s 2023 definition of Good Work, developed for use in the creative industries, ReelTime’s lecture pack works to collapse the disconnect between Good Work and EDI and what happens ‘on the ground’ in TV and film production workplaces.
Resource
ScreenSkills HETV Job-share Bible
Since 2021 Michelle and Rowan have designed and delivered job‑share training and placement programmes for ScreenSkills aimed at the specific needs of all HETV departments. Find our how‑to guide to using job‑sharing as a tool for retaining experienced and diverse crew.
Essay
Equity, diversity and inclusivity: Once more, with feeling
This essay describes the way thinking around EDI can be advanced to improve working conditions.
Report
Where have all the PMs gone?
Addressing the production management skills gap in UK TV. Prepared by: Christa van Raalte, Rowan Aust, Richard Wallis and Dawid Pekalski.
Forthcoming article
Is Television reformable?
Check back soon for “Is Television reformable? The ‘reformist tendency’ in EDI research in the cultural and creative industries” by Jack Newsinger, Helen Kennedy and Rowan Aust.
Article
The Reckoning: an apology from the BBC
Read the recent article by Rowan on the BBC One drama The Reckoning – an examination of the life and criminality of broadcaster Jimmy Savile.
Report
Safe to Speak Up?
Work with Dr Anna Bull on sexual harassment in the UK film and television industry since #MeToo.
Report
The Currency of Gratitude: Care in the TV Industry
This report by Rowan discusses the potential for gratitude to entrench inequalities in the television production industry.
Article
Reflexive Practice, the “Turn to Care” and Accounting for Feeling
Some early work on the potential for care within the TV industry.
Report
The Time Project – Understanding working time in the UK television industry
Findings from The Time Project – looking at which groups of people face the greatest burden of work in the UK TV industry, and providing recommendations to address these issues.
Research
Locked Down and Locked Out
A research project exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mothers working in the UK television industry. Find out about the project or download the research article (PDF 3Mb) looking at the findings.