Empowering Job Sharing in the Irish Screen Industry
The National Talent Academies, Raising Films Ireland, Screen Guilds of Ireland, Screen Producers Ireland, and TU Dublin proudly partnered on an innovative pilot Job-Sharing Programme, in collaboration with ReelTime Media. The programme consisted of five impactful sesssion that were designed to empower both employers and employees to bring job-sharing to life in the Irish screen industry.
We’re excited to share the jobshare resources that have been a key part of our program!
Our Job-Sharing Programme: A Step-by-Step Approach
Session 1: Producers information session
This lunch & learn info session was the first in the series and was designed for employers in the screen sector who were interested to know more about facilitating job sharing on their productions.
Session 2: Information Session - Job Sharing 101
In the second stage, we laid the foundation with a deep dive into job sharing in the screen industry. Participants explored the key benefits, challenges, and potential impact of job sharing on career growth and overall well-being. This session set the stage for understanding how job sharing can transform work-life balance without compromising career development.
Session 3: Panel Session with job sharers and industry stakeholders
The third stage brought job sharing to life with real-world insights and personal experiences. Attendees gained a firsthand understanding of what job sharing looks like in practice, how it fosters sustainable careers, and how it can be seamlessly integrated into the fast-paced world of screen production.
Session 4: Job sharing network event – an opportunity to meet and forge contacts with other crew interested in job sharing.
Networking is key to a successful job-share arrangement, and our fourth event provided the perfect space for just that. This dynamic session encouraged participants to connect with other potential job sharers, sharing ideas, ambitions, and practical tips in a structured, interactive environment. Building these connections is essential for finding compatible job-sharing partners and fostering a supportive community.
Session 5: Building a Partnership for a Successful Job Share – the practicalities
Our final stage equipped participants with the tools, strategies, and confidence to establish and maintain effective job-share partnerships. This session focused on crafting personalised plans for different roles, leveraging technology for seamless handovers, learning from case studies, and perfecting the art of pitching job-share proposals to employers.
Looking Forward
Raising Films Ireland have been awarded Screen Ireland funding for the Flexible Working Programme, to educate, formalise, implement and facilitate Job-Share couples into the workplace, bridging budgetary gaps to enshrine the value and feasibility of flexible working.
With the success of our pilot programme, we’re excited to announce plans to run this programme again in 2025. Stay tuned and join us in shaping a more inclusive, balanced, and sustainable future for the Irish screen industry.
Partners
‘Addressing innovation, skills development and sectoral growth, the National Talent Academies is the result of additional stimulus investment provided by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and forms part of a wider strategy to support skills development across all regions of Ireland, with a particular focus on diversity and inclusion.
The overarching aim of the National Talent Academies is to address and support current educational skills gaps in the screen sector. Retaining the diversity and inclusion focus present across all Academy initiatives, its ambition is to drive more Irish talent from all backgrounds and disciplines into the sector and develop greater awareness of the sector as a career path.’
‘Screen Guilds of Ireland represents Irish Film and Television Workers across the various Departments within the Irish Film and Television Industry. We currently represent Irish film and TV crew across many departments, Accounts, Art, Assistant Directors, Camera, Construction, Continuity, Costume, Facilities, Editing, Grips, Hair, Locations, Make Up, Modelmaking, Production, Prosthetics, Set Decoration, Sound, Special Effects, Stunts, Transport and Visual Effects. We are continuing to grow and endeavour in time to be fully inclusive of the Irish Film Industry as a whole.
SGI aims to promote excellence in all fields of Film and Television Production in Ireland, through the representation of its member Guilds made up primarily of Irish Film Crew. Each Department or Guild nominates a crew member to represent it in discussion and negotiation of all business relating to our professions within the Irish Film and TV Industry. We see ourselves in a unifying and informative role, engaging actively with Fís Eireann/Screen Ireland, Screen Producers Ireland, SIPTU, Screen Training Ireland and other recognised Industry bodies, on all matters concerning our members, the Irish Film crew.’
‘We are a representative group made up of dedicated members who look after, and out for, the interests of independent producers in Ireland.
SPI’s aim is to ensure a working landscape that allows our industry to thrive. We use our expertise and resources to forge a strong and sustainable position for creative entrepreneurs working in independent film, television, animation and digital production.’
'Deeply embedded in our region, TU Dublin has campuses in Dublin City Centre in Grangegorman, Aungier Street and Bolton Street, and one each in Blanchardstown and in Tallaght, and, through our major infrastructural development plan, we are currently investing over €500 million in new, state-of-the-art, technology-enabled facilities to enhance our students' experience.
While TU Dublin is already a leader in STEM disciplines, the University also supports the largest cohort of students of business, media, culinary arts, and the creative and performing arts. We are passionate about life-long learning and, as the largest provider of part-time education, we make an important contribution to the economic life of Ireland, enabling capacity building for the future.'
‘Raising Films Ireland was launched during a Screen Skills Ireland Screen Talk webinar with Raising Films UK founder Hope Dickson Leach and Dr. Susan Liddy, who will sit on the board of the Irish chapter.
We are a not-for-profit organisation that aims to challenge, at a structural level, the demands the film and television industry makes on parents and carers. The organisation aims to provide information, education and solutions with a focus on:
- Enabling financial assistance for child and elder care.
- Encouraging industry-wide adoption of flexible working and access to child and/or elder care.
- Formalising a way to combat discrimination.
- Normalising conversations around caring commitments with employers..’
‘We believe in Good Work: flexibility, fair pay and fair hours. We work with the TV and film industry to make productions work better for everyone.
Our work is grounded in research and informed by decades of industry experience. ReelTime’s job‑sharing Co‑Directors Michelle Reynolds and Rowan Aust met when they were Co‑Directors of Share My Telly Job(SMTJ).
We work across industry and academia and our recent collaborations include: ScreenSkills; the Screen Industry Growth Network (SIGN) at the University of York; the Universities of Bournemouth and Nottingham; Screen Alliance North. We have contributed to work with Bectu, Ofcom, Channel 4, Channel 5, Netflix, the DCMS and sit on the Coalition for Change.’
Links to resources
Reeltime Medias HETV Job Share Bible
Job Share Programme Presentation
Job Share Agreement Plan Template