Pre-Production

Pre-production is often a chaotic time for everyone involved - impacted by budget, schedule, and organisational pressures and constraints. But considering and investing in inclusion early in your planning can have a huge impact on the wellbeing of not only your neurodivergent crew, but everyone involved in the production.

The main takeaway across this section is about alleviating anxiety by minimising the amount of surprises and unexpected challenges a neurodivergent person will be faced with in the production process (conscious, of course, that there is only so much you can be prepared for!).

Budgeting

Ensure a line for flexible accessibility support that is ring-fenced within your finance plan, agreed in advance with funders.

Associated costs might include:

additional roles such as an Access Coordinator, Creative Enabler, or Wellbeing Facilitator

Assistive technology

Lived-experience specialists to ensure authentic scripts, characters, and representation

Any essential training for your senior team members

Transport and accommodation

Alterations to the physical environment (such as additional trailers for ‘quiet zones’)

Securing funding for access should not be a barrier for working with disabled talent. For more information about how production companies can access this additional funding, see our section on Accessing Support.

Casting/Hiring

Increasing the proportion of companies who are actively encouraging Disabled applicants to apply for a role and who are automatically asking for and/or offering access adjustments was identified as an Area for Improvement by the ‘Access Into Action’ Industry Access Survey 2022.

Ensure your casting and hiring practices are fair, transparent, and openly promote diversity by:

Make your email header reflect the content

Write in digestible bullet point format for long bits of info

Highlight any important timelines or details

Keep it brief

Considering fonts, language, and formats in your ads

Making sure the role is clearly described, with key responsibilities and skills outlined for talent both in front of and behind the camera, so that individuals can apply for the role with full context

Never asking unnecessarily for details about a person’s disability

Understanding your legal obligations to provide reasonable adjustments in the recruitment and selection processes

Being transparent about the interview process and offering access support throughout

Check out our section on Recruitment for more information about neuro-inclusive casting/hiring.

Visual Materials

TV and film recruitment is often informal and impacted by time pressures and skills shortages, which leads to unadvertised positions and a reliance on existing contacts to find crew. Fair and transparent processes are key to enable diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and tackle under-representation in the industry.

- The Film and TV Charity

"

Onboarding

Successfully preparing new hires for their roles was also identified as an Area for Improvement by the ‘Access Into Action’ Industry Access Survey 2022. Better onboarding practices look like:

asking new recruits about their access needs or adjustment requirements (consider access passports/riders for all new hires) and, recognising that accessibility comes in a variety of forms (physical environments, communication, and assistive technology), implementing what is reasonable before they begin.

Discussing with each person how they want their challenges and adjustments to be shared with the crew, and make sure everyone on set knows their boundaries.

Treating each individual as such, avoiding assumptions about anyone based on their particular difference or disability.

Being clear on the induction process by clearly detailing role expectations, and providing contact information for asking additional questions.

Agreeing a point of contact for emergency support.

Check out our section on Onboarding for more guidance on these processes.

Spotlight On: The 5 As

The TV Access Project (TAP) created the 5As as guidelines for Disability Inclusion in UK Television production. These guidelines are to ensure the full inclusion of DDN talent in the industry.

The 5As are:

Anticipate

Fully expect to work and continue to work with Disabled people on a regular basis.

Avoid assuming anything, of anybody.

Assess

Value self-reflection.

Adjust

Deliver what is needed.

Advocate

Set high standards for everyone.

When you are producing content for TAP’s members (which includes most major global broadcasters and streamers), you will be asked during commissioning and green light conversations to consider how the 5As throughout the production process.

Learn more abut TAP's 5As Guidelines here.

Schedule

Production schedules are often tight and rigid - but there is always flexibility within these to make the working day easier for your cast and crew. Consider the wellbeing of both your neurodivergent and neurotypical talent by:

Factoring in breaks throughout a shooting day

Planning enough time to be able to slow the pace down if required by essential cast and crew, where possible

Outlining and sticking to communication boundaries, including offline periods such as late at night or on weekends, where direct (text, WhatsApp, calls) communication is paused and only urgent messages are made.

Avoid using old and recycled templates for your schedules and call sheets - these need to be accessible to all your crew! Check out our Neurodivergent-Friendly Call Sheet Guidelines for help creating more accessible documents for your productions.

Locations

The Industry Access Survey 2022 found that physical access in the industry remains problematic, with 1 in 4 spaces used by companies in the TV industry deemed physically inaccessible - a finding replicated across other areas of the screen sector.

When undertaking a recce for locations, both for shooting and for production offices and other working spaces, be sure to consider:

an access audit

Taking photos/videos of the space to send to crew in advance of first day, so that they can be prepared for the environment

The availability of accessible toilets, catering, and quiet spaces

Work with experts in physical access to help with your preparation and audits, including:

Triple C

TAP

DDPTV

Information Packets

Bespoke project information packets in advance of a shoot not only help alleviate anxieties experienced by many crew members on a production (increasing both wellbeing and productivity), but save set co-ordinators and line producers a load of time - and stress. Information Packets should include:

Location maps and clear, comprehensive directions for navigating and accessing them

Set expectations and codes of conduct

Your disability policy

Crew lists and hierarchy diagrams

Key contact information

Training

Consider neurodiversity training for your senior team members. Training can:

Help identify underlying causes of challenges

Impart better understanding of difference and how it manifests, and can be supported, on productions

equip HoDs and managers with the confidence and knowledge to intervene early in potential areas of conflicts and to de-escalate risk

This can save you time, money, and even reputation in the long run.

Find out more about the benefits of neurodiversity training here.

Access Coordinators

We highly recommend engaging expertise where needed to support you in planning and creating the most neuro-inclusive productions, from development right through to marketing.

‘Access Coordinator’ is a new role for people from the DDN community committed to improving disability representation and removing barriers to inclusion in Film, TV, and the Creative Industries.

They are lived-experience specialists that ensure that access and adjustments are provided throughout the process so that both actors and crew members can give their best work.

Working from greenlight to post production, the Access Coordinator acts as the bridge between production, cast, and crew, working with HoDs and senior decision makers to remove potential and actual barriers to access - whether physical, social, communication, or cultural.

They work in different ways according to the requirements of the production and/or the DDN people involved, and may be part- or full-time, work remotely, or be based within the production office, studio, location, or edit.

For more information about the role of an Access Coordinator and how and when to find one, check out this resource from Screen Skills or this one from PACT and the TV Access Project (TAP).

Training for this role has been a real education, seeing the challenges Deaf, Disabled, and Neurodivergent talent face. And how important it is, to level the playing field on and off screen and through the stories we tell. I’d like to empower disabled creatives to focus on the roles they’re paid for, rather than spend their precious time putting the right support and adjustments in place, and help to create welcoming, thriving, and inclusive workplaces that are better for everyone.

- Sally Lisk-Lewis, Wales’ first Access Coordinator

"

Policy

Clearly outline your production’s disability policy in the very earliest stages of planning - this is an opportunity to set the tone around these topics, as well as to help normalise the conversation. This policy should:

Include guidance on response to disclosure and access requests, as well as a reasonable adjustments plan

Include inclusive recruitment and onboarding as well as disability training commitments for your teams

Be referenced in an accurate access statement, displayed on internal (e.g. onboarding packets) and external (e.g. websites, job ads) communications related to the production

Be reviewed against specific industry standards/templates, such as those of BECTU

Be signposted so that everyone who works on your production, at any stage, is made aware of these policies and values

Looking for advice on how to make your production more neuro-inclusive?

Get in touch!