Documentary Filmmakers Discuss Viability of Industry Amidst Livelihood Crisis
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam is putting the livelihood of documentary filmmakers at the heart of their industry program this year. On Monday, a panel of experts gathered to discuss the issues filmmakers face in making a living in the industry, from pay disparity, devaluation, lack of information and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ushering in the conversation was specialist Rebecca Day from Film in Mind, an organization advocating for better mental health in the film industry. Day spoke about livelihood from the point of view of mental health and how rare it still is to have major events promoting such discussions. “Festivals prioritizing talks about mental health in filmmaking feels really new still and it’s essential,” said the specialist.
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“We are people working in a profession of care, compassion, and activism,” Day continued. “We are change-makers, space-holders, community leaders, healers and storytellers. How do we attend to all of these roles that we play? We talk about business and creativity a lot, but we don’t talk much about psychological welfare, our state of mind, our vulnerability, and our need to protect ourselves while we do this work.”
Day brought up a report by the University of West England that found people believed being a documentary filmmaker is not a viable career “due to the chronic lack of public funding” and a study by the Center for Media and Social Impact (CMSI) that found “75% of documentary filmmakers take on other work to make a living and only two in 10 make enough money to cover production costs and make a profit from their films.”
“It’s hard to say whether this industry can even be said to exist,” Day said of documentary filmmaking after reflecting on the dire findings.
The importance of data was one of the main subjects of the discussion, with Jane Ray, consultant artistic director at U.K.-based The Whickers, launching the 2023 edition of the report “The Cost of Docs.” The research, now in its sixth year, looks at the changing landscape for documentary makes in the U.K. and internationally.
“We started this survey when I had to prove to my board of trustees that the amount we were giving as an award would enable someone to get a documentary made and in front of an audience. I was searching for those figures everywhere but they didn’t exist. So I realized I had to go out and get them.”
This year marks the first time the survey has approached the subject of mental health, with 54% of respondents stating they had “mental health issues when making their last documentary” and 38% saying they “need support but cannot afford it.”
Ray underscored the difficulties filmmakers face when it comes to uncertain payment dates and not being able to plan financially in the long term, with many organizations failing to pay invoices on time or not being open about payment schedules. Although it might be difficult to see a bright side in the current climate, Ray reminded all attendees that, “It’s so easy to forget when you’re feeling down that broadcasters need content. They need you and should be coming crawling to you.”
This notion was enthusiastically applauded by Peter Lataster from the Dutch Directors’ Guild, who stated, “Public broadcasters keep saying documentaries are a priority, that they’re important for society. Well, if they’re that important, put your money where your mouth is and pay directors a decent wage.”
Lataster mentioned the difficulties his peers have faced in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying many colleagues have looked for jobs outside the industry and that it is “getting more and more obvious that if you’re working in culture, you need an opening to communicate the fact directors do not have an honest chance to make a living.”
Another recurring topic was the devaluation faced by filmmakers and the widespread industry practice of inviting filmmakers to panels, juries and events without paying for their time. Ida Grøn from the Association of Danish Film Directors conducted research which showed that “one of the main reasons [Danish documentarians] are not satisfied with the working conditions is the amount of unpaid work.”
“The competition between directors in Denmark is extremely hard. Even if you are a successful, multi-award-winning director, it is still difficult to make ends meet. You don’t see many people having a lifelong career as a documentary film director because the amount of unpaid work is devastating.”
While there is no concrete solution to the issue, the panellists presented a series of steps they believe necessary for the industry to achieve more financial equality and sustainability. Amongst the solutions presented was a focus on co-productions and fiscal accountability, the creation and nurturing of safe spaces where filmmakers can debate issues related to their mental health and financial planning and an open line of communication with funders and broadcasters.
Lataster concluded his keynote by reminding attendees that the insecurity of an unstable livelihood forces filmmakers into a perpetual cycle of working, which deprives creatives of much-needed time to think and observe the world around them. “It’s bad for filmmakers to be forced into a new production every year simply to make a living because that’s not what filmmaking is about. It’s about freedom of thought and trying to discover a new angle to a story.”
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