Ninety percent of the UK film and television workforce is white, 56% is male, and 63% of jobs are in London and the South East. The research tackles these entrenched inequalities by seizing on a moment of technological disruption: the rise of virtual production (VP), which creates digital environments on camera in real time using video game engines, LED walls, and VR. VP reduces the need for location shoots, allows more remote working, and enables better schedule planning—shifts that industry practitioners already cite as reasons to adopt the technology. But without deliberate intervention, the sector’s poor equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) record—driven by informal hiring, precarious freelance work, long hours, and limited training—could simply carry over into the new methods. This project works directly with industry to co-produce EDI interventions tailored to VP, aiming to ensure that the new workflows open access rather than reinforce old barriers. If successful, it could reshape who gets to work in one of the UK’s most celebrated creative industries, spreading opportunities beyond London and making careers more sustainable for people without existing industry connections.
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The UK's film and television sector is renowned for outstanding storytelling and world class workers. Attracting productions from around the world, the sector continues to be cited as a success story of the country's creative industries. However, certain ingrained practices, such as excessive working hours and reliance on freelance work, problematic hiring practices and lack of training, as well as forms of discrimination and exclusion, prevent many hopefuls from sharing in that success. As a result, 90% of the industry workforce is white, 56% is male and 63% of jobs in the UK are concentrated in London and the South East. With new technologies and filmmaking methods growing, specifically virtual production (VP), the sector is at a moment of disruption. Disruption we will harness to create positive change. VP enables the creation of digital environments captured on camera in real time, instead of being added in post-production. By using videogames engines, LED walls, VR and live greenscreen in studios, production crew can view computer generated content throughout the production process and the cast can interact with a virtual environment and CGI characters. The changes VP is driving have huge potential to create a more inclusive film and television industry. VP needs less location shooting and more facilities are being built outside traditional production centres such as London. The efficiencies VP brings allow more remote working, better planning of schedules, and less fixing things 'on the fly' or in post-production. These shifts offer important opportunities for addressing equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) challenges, and are cited by industry practitioners as reasons to adopt VP. However, given the sector's poor EDI record positive change through VP is not guaranteed. Deeply embedded issues remain, including informal hiring practices where success is dependent on access to networks developed either on-the-job or through social connections; precarious employment practices that limit the ability for people with fewer economic resources to sustain work, especially in early career stage; the demand to work long and intense hours; and a lack of opportunities for continued skills development which can limit progression.
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