FYI: all the interviews in this ongoing series are also available as a YouTube playlist. Please have a look, leave a comment, and get in touch!

As part of a series of conversations with professionals and scholars in the field of mental health and well-being in media industries and professions, in this episode I sit down with Marcus Ryder (CEO) and Rupert Jones-Lee (Head of Research/Impact) of the UK-based Film & TV Charity, known for the regular Looking Glass surveys, special reports and deep dives documenting the health and well-being of behind the scenes workers in TV, cinema, and documentary film.

In our interview, we discuss the results and impact of the various Looking Glass surveys among professionals in the TV, documentary and cinema industry, and about the value of reframing systemic issues in these industries as health concerns (and thereby broadening the ways in which we can tackle such problems).

We address the particular phenomenon of ‘synthetic proximity’ whereby creative practitioners working together often expect this to be (and feel like) a family, while at the same time often feeling inauthentic, lonely and lost in the otherwise quite competitive nature of the business.

We also focus on the industry’s ‘3C’ problem: challenging and often damaging working conditions (C1), a workplace culture (C2) of bullying and stigma around mental health as well as an industry- wide lack of capabilities (C3) to provide support for those who need it.
These interviews in part support the publication of my book (titled: Well-Being and Creative Careers: What Makes You Happy Can Also Make You Sick, out September 2025 with Intellect) on health, well-being and happiness in media work, and to showcase and celebrate the work so many people around the world are doing to advocate and promote these issues in media workplaces.