Research for Mission 44 and the Creative PEC on how disadvantaged young people can access good careers in the UK's screen and games industries, and progress within them.
The UK's screen and games industries support more than 320,000 jobs and are growing fast, with acute skills shortages in many roles. Yet young people from disadvantaged backgrounds remain under-represented. Mission 44 and the Creative PEC commissioned Work Advance to explore how to change this.
We focused on young people aged 16–24 from low-income backgrounds, young people of colour, care-experienced young people and those excluded from school. The research combined a rapid evidence assessment, interviews with young people, and interviews with employers and stakeholders, alongside mapping of the funders, delivery partners and initiatives working across the UK.
We identified the parts of the sector offering the best 'good work' career pathways, including VFX and animation, broadcasting, games, and film and TV production. We also set out the barriers young people face in getting in and getting on. We found a crowded, fragmented landscape of short-term support, with little help for those from disadvantaged backgrounds to progress into senior roles.
Our recommendations include helping young people navigate the support that already exists, spreading leading place-based practice to other regions, and building 'pathways of support' that link initiatives across career stages. We also called for more holistic support for young people with complex needs, and for collective action by employers to drive change across the industry.
Improving young people's access and progression in Film, TV and Games
Mission 44 and the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, 2023
Heather Carey, Lesley Giles, Dan Wilks and Aline Collins, Work Advance
Revisiting job quality in creative work, three years on from the Good Work Review