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Freelance Workers and Contract Uncertainty: The effects of Contractual Changes in the Television Industry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2000

Shirley Dex ,
Janet Willis ,
Richard Paterson  and
Elaine Sheppard
Shirley Dex
Affiliation:
The Judge Institute of Management Studies, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1AG, UK and British Film Institute, London
Janet Willis
Affiliation:
The Judge Institute of Management Studies, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1AG, UK and British Film Institute, London
Richard Paterson
Affiliation:
The Judge Institute of Management Studies, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1AG, UK and British Film Institute, London
Elaine Sheppard
Affiliation:
The Judge Institute of Management Studies, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1AG, UK and British Film Institute, London
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Abstract

Changes in the competitive and regulative conditions of British television over the 1980s and 1990s make for an environment of increased uncertainty for those who work in television. Broadcasting legislation, increased competition and technological advances have changed the working practices of the UK's 28,000 production workforce. The introduction of a 25 per cent quota of independent productions on all terrestrial channels, the implementation of Producer Choice in the BBC and the creation of a Network Centre in ITV, leading to a new commissioning process along with merger rationalisation and increasing competition have all contributed to constructing a workforce in which over 50 per cent are freelance and face much uncertainty. This paper focuses on some of the ways workers have experienced and responded to these changes by analysing the postal questionnaire and diary-data collected in an eight-wave panel study of 436 creative production workers in British television 1994–97, collected by the British Film Institute.

This paper considers whether uncertainty is a problem and finds that it is for the majority of these workers. The question of what makes uncertainty a problem is also considered. Individuals were found to cope with uncertainty by diversifying the income sources, by collecting information, building informal networks and by thinking of leaving work in television.

Type
Research Article
Information
Work, Employment and Society , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , June 2000 , pp. 283 - 305
Copyright
© 2000 BSA Publications Ltd

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