Grant awarded: £149,865.40
PI: Jason Lee
Funder: British Academy
This higher education (HE) and industry collaboration tackles a dual need through meeting the UK film industry’s screenwriting skills gap by enabling those with mental ill-health and/or disabilities to join the industry. The UK film industry is booming. New Sky Studios in Elstree alone will create 3,000 jobs. Inward investment in the industry is £3 billion with the domestic industry matching this figure. The industry is struggling to find employees who have the necessary skills in screenwriting. This project analyses this opportunity by expanding the knowledge of mental health and disability in HE and the film industry advancing screenwriting quality and employment. Those with disabilities are the most discriminated against group in the industry; almost nine out of 10 in the industry have poor mental health. The reasons for this are addressed with solutions implemented through critical and creative outputs meeting this urgent two-fold need for equality and skills.