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Initiative to address lack of female crew in Reality TV

NSW initiative finds not one female camera operator or sound recordist working in the reality & unscripted genres.

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A NSW initiative to lift the number of female crew working in commercial unscripted camera and sound departments, is hoping to address a gender gap.

A 2011 Australian Bureau of Statistics report found hat more than 90% of all sound technicians, camera operators and directors of photography in the genre were male.

She Shoots is an initiative of AFTRS, Screen NSW, Women NSW and Executive Women’s Television Group, a group of NSW-based senior women from production companies and broadcasters, is hoping to address the problem.

Kylie Washington, Director of Unscripted Content from Matchbox Pictures and founder of the Executive Women’s Television Group said: “We have not identified a single female camera operator or sound recordist working in the reality and unscripted genres within Australian TV. We want to support women coming into these roles and provide new opportunities in the industry.”

She Shoots will facilitate a free 2 week course for NSW applicants, leading to paid attachment positions.

Courtney Gibson, Chief Executive of Screen NSW, said: “Screen NSW, together with Women NSW, is committed to achieving equity for women in all aspects of the screen industry in NSW. This bespoke project displays the joint resolve of the State and Federal Governments to work with the private sector to open doors and create opportunities in workplaces that effectively remain closed to women.”

Neil Peplow, CEO of AFTRS, said: “AFTRS is excited to be part of this industry initiative to address the lack of women in key production roles. By linking training with actual production jobs in factual TV we intend to kickstart careers, demonstrate the value of diversity and shift the existing paradigm.”

She Shoots will be multi-faceted program:
· AFTRS will facilitate a free short course (2 weeks) to train female screen industry practitioners in sound and camera skills;

· In addition to practical instruction and classroom teaching, set visits to reality TV productions will give participants exposure to the inner working of this genre;

· Industry partners including Matchbox Pictures and Foxtel will then facilitate 4 – 6 week paid attachments in camera and sound roles for the participants on leading Australian commercial reality programs with VA Digital Hire sponsoring equipment hire.

As part of the course, Women NSW will offer support to graduates, through its partnership with the support network SALT – Supporting and Linking Tradeswomen. The project aligns closely to the work of Women NSW, especially to the agency’s women in trades strategy.

The course, which commences Monday June 20, will be open to NSW-based women only. Women living in Regional NSW and Greater Western Sydney are encouraged to apply. Information about the course is here https://www.aftrs.edu.au/she-shoots

aftrs.edu.au/she-shoots

Disclaimer: AFTRS advertises at TV Tonight.

10 Responses

  1. Not being a camera or sound recordist female myself, I am only speaking as an observer and maybe shouldn’t!?

    I’ve never had the pleasure of working with a female DOP, (that I’de like to experience!) So that appears to be a male dominated field?

    However the female camera operators I know, These women are opting more for Film, TV, stills and commercials. Their not wanting a fast paced, camera strapped to their chest, lots of heavy gear carting travelling gigs. (I know of a great sound recordist in Reality TV in NSW, whom I had the pleasure of working with. She had the big recording bag strapped to her chest and booms solo!).

    Saying this and its wonderful to see, that there seems to be plenty of young female camera assistants in aim of their passions around. Obviously still in a plausible male dominated department as their colleagues are grips,…

  2. It’s a disgrace! There aren’t enough robot camera’s with pink cables and my 10yo can steer those camera-drones better than any adult.
    There are few gender specific roles in TV, if the ladies are not there it’s their decision.

  3. So … tackling perceived sexism with actual sexism. The industry has far bigger problems than not enough female sound technicians and camera operators, not least the problem of not enough quality work for existing technicians.

      1. Which begs the question, why does there have to be gender parity? If the job gets done and done well, why does it matter which gender does it? Besides, as ‘dark arts’ mentioned, there appears to be some ‘gender imbalance’ in favour of women in other areas which no one seems to want to ‘fix’. So sexism is perhaps not too strong a word if what is going on here is preferential treatment for women.

  4. There is heaps of females in tv production just perhaps not many in roles as camera ops, the technician mix in a typical control room is about even and production offices are fully loaded with females all the way up to the executive level. It’s not true that there is no females in camera or audio positions, they are doing those roles and on big productions.

      1. Very much so. Most of those cameramen report to female production managers and EPs. There are lots of departments that have the scales tipped the other way Auto Cue, Make Up, Wardrobe, CCU, Vision, Graffics, Directors Assistants, Production CoOrds, Production Assisants, Loggers and Production Managment. Perhaps camera op roles are not sought by females? What tends to happen is the stagehands (mostly males) follow the camera cables the wrong way and end up doing camera by default. Bam then have they progressed to the “end of the line”

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