Hard Truths and Hidden Opportunities: If You Work in Film, TV or Advertising, Read This
Two days at FOCUS meet the makers, different rooms, different speakers, different subjects. Across film, TV, advertising, sustainability, safety, workforce culture, DEI, and AI the same patterns kept emerging, here are the five signals that cut across everything.
1. AI is no longer “emerging”. It is already restructuring creative work.
Across film, advertising and the creator economy, AI is speeding up development, pre-viz, research, post and pitching. It removes barriers for some, displaces tasks for others and raises a fundamental question about where human creativity sits. The message was clear. Stay curious. Experiment early. Move towards it with caution, not denial.
2. Commissioning and employment structures are pushing out the people we need most.
Freelancers spoke openly about unpaid development, long waits for decisions and absorbing all financial risk. Working-class talent said this system is simply not survivable. Many speakers admitted they would not get into the industry today. This is no longer a diversity issue. It is a talent-pipeline crisis.
3. “Better work” requires real infrastructure, not another initiative.
Whether the discussion was discrimination, medical cover, neurodiversity or psychological safety, everyone agreed, the standards and the guidance already exist, what does not exist is consistency. Productions need simple expectations, visible systems, accountable processes and clarity across every touchpoint.
4. Audience trust and industry trust are slipping for the same reason.
DEI, working-class representation and authenticity panels all pointed to the same risk. When budgets shrink, inclusion is deprioritised and when inclusion is deprioritised, the people telling the stories no longer reflect the people watching them. If broadcasters and streamers lose those audiences, they lose everything. The message was clear, this is a creative, commercial and democratic issue, not a “nice to have”.
5. The industry is drowning in tools, standards and programmes, but starving for coherence.
From British Film Institute (BFI) to UKGSF, from Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority to Bectu, from safety frameworks to DEI playbooks, from sustainability to leadership training, nothing is missing except integration. What the industry really seems to be asking for is less noise, clearer direction and connected systems with clear evidence of change via measurable outcomes. In short something that stitches the whole ecosystem together rather than adding another layer on top.
Two days at FOCUS showed that the appetite for change is real. Now the opportunity is to make the change tangible, trusted and felt by the people living it every day.