At Screen Manchester we are fortunate to work closely with individuals and businesses who are focused on making the Film & Television Industry more inclusive.
During Mental Health Awareness Week we have been introducing you to some of these wonderful people.
We brought a number together at one of our Screen Alliance North Connected Communities events in 2024 thanks to support from the BFI, awarding National Lottery funding. It was a wonderful event and everyone left feeling empowered and inspired to take the learnings back to their respective workplaces.
Amongst our distinguished panellists was Jules Hussey, a multi award winning TV Producer whose pioneering work we have witnessed up close here in Manchester. Her energising and inspiring approaches on the ITV Studios for BBC One drama series Ralph & Katie, which filmed at our Space Studios Manchester base, helped secure RTS and SCOPE Awards for the production’s groundbreaking inclusivity practices.
Jules alongside ITV Studio’s Faiza Tovey and the production team made for a powerhouse who between them introduced new working practices which we are now seeing increasingly, though still gradually, absorbed into our industry as standard practice. Faiza was awarded the 2024 Women in Film and TV Production Management award for her outstanding contribution to the industry.
Their philosophy: “Inclusion and accessibility are not complicated and don’t have to be costly. In fact the opposite – with people as the greatest resource in our industries the better you support your employees, cast and crew the better they can and will work. Simple. Don’t make inclusion a tick box or add on. Build it into your ethos and planning.
Have it shape the way you work and integrate it to make it sustainable. Start with the 5 As. Apply this to the whole production process. From idea to transmission. Apply them to everyone in your teams because inclusion isn’t about silos!”