For many years, conversations about wellbeing in film and television have centred on individuals: resilience, coping strategies and crisis support. Yet across the industry, the same challenges continued to emerge—long hours, insecure employment, bullying, fatigue, pressure and burnout.
In Wales, we began asking a different question:
What if wellbeing is not primarily an individual issue, but a structural one?
Over the past four years, CULT Cymru and 6ft From the Spotlight, working in partnership with Creative Wales, Welsh Government, trade unions and industry partners, have explored this question through their innovative Wellbeing Facilitator (WBF) programme.
The findings are clear: wellbeing improves when it is embedded into the way productions are planned and delivered.
A Wales-Wide Experiment in Cultural Change
Between 2022 and 2026, Wellbeing Facilitators were embedded on 52 productions across Wales, with a further 21 productions choosing to self-fund the role.
Feedback from both producers and the workforce was overwhelmingly positive. More than 95% of respondents said they would like to see Wellbeing Facilitators used on future productions. Many highlighted the value of having an independent, confidential point of contact who could provide support, identify risks early and help prevent issues from escalating.
For producers, the role increased confidence in managing complex situations and meeting duty of care responsibilities. For the workforce, it created greater psychological safety and reassurance that wellbeing was being taken seriously.
Understanding What Drives Wellbeing
One of the programme’s most important findings is that wellbeing is shaped less by individual resilience and more by workplace conditions.
Across the pilots, four key drivers consistently emerged:
- Safety – physical and psychological
- Stability – secure work, realistic schedules and financial certainty
- Dignity – respect, inclusion and ethical practice
- Agency – autonomy, consultation and creative purpose
These experiences are heavily influenced by power imbalances, freelance insecurity and intense time pressures that remain common across the screen sector.
Prevention, Not Just Intervention
The pilots demonstrated that the most effective wellbeing support starts before filming begins.
Productions that invested in early planning, clear reporting routes, realistic scheduling and psycho-social risk assessment were better able to prevent problems rather than respond to crises.
The programme also highlighted that different productions, genres and workforce groups have different wellbeing needs. A flexible, risk-based approach is therefore essential.
Looking Ahead
Four years of delivery have shown that the Wellbeing Facilitator model is both viable and valued.
The next step is to move from innovation to integration: embedding wellbeing into production practice, strengthening leadership capability, supporting Wellbeing Facilitators through professional supervision, and aligning commissioning expectations with sustainable ways of working.
Wales has demonstrated that healthier productions are possible. The opportunity now is to build on this foundation and continue leading the way in creating a screen industry that values not only creative excellence, but the people who make it possible.
Download the full report here: WBF Report 2026
