The Psychology of Production
The Gold Standard in Contributor Welfare Trainining.
Specialist psychological training for television production, developed by Jo Hemmings & Dr Angela Smith.
Level 1
Recognising Psychological Risk in Production
What to notice and when to involve the psychologist
Level 2
Psychological Risk and Welfare Decisions
Making welfare decisions when concerns arise during filming
LEVEL ONE:
Recognising Psychological Risk in Production
What to notice and when to involve the psychologist
Duration: Three hours
Group size: Up to 20 participants
Who this is for
Level One is for production staff who regularly contact contributors and may be the first to notice a change.
This includes researchers, APs, casting teams, shooting PDs and welfare producers. It is also suitable for other production members who spend significant time with contributors during filming.
What the training covers
The training looks at what psychological difficulty can actually look like during production.
We are not teaching staff to diagnose contributors. We are teaching them to notice when something has changed and understand when that change matters.
We are not teaching staff to diagnose contributors. We are teaching them to notice some of the most useful things crew can know is what is usual for that particular contributor. Somebody does not have to appear obviously distressed for there to be a concern. A change from how they were coping a week or two earlier may tell us far more.
Stress or trauma does not always present in an obvious way during filming. We look at what crew might actually see and what should make them pay closer attention.
We also look at safeguarding and how coercive or controlling behaviour can show up during production. Behaviour that initially appears to be relationship conflict can look very different when viewed over time.
We look at the difference between an isolated incident and a pattern of behaviour that becomes concerning over time. Crew may see separate incidents that do not appear significant on their own. It can look very different when those incidents are considered together.
The effect on other contributors matters too. Sometimes the concern is not whether one person is coping. It is what their behaviour is doing to somebody else.
Consent during filming
Consent is not something that is dealt with once at the beginning of production and then forgotten.
We look at when consent needs to be checked again. This becomes particularly important if circumstances have changed or somebody is under significant psychological pressure.
A contributor may continue to cooperate with filming without necessarily feeling able to make a genuine choice. The crew need to recognise when it is time to slow things down and check again, rather than relying on an earlier agreement.
The effect of filming
Filming itself changes the psychological environment.
Contributors may be away from the people they normally rely on. They may be tired or dealing with a level of uncertainty that they would not ordinarily experience.
Some formats also place people in situations they cannot easily walk away from.
We look at what that can do to somebody over time and how it may affect their behaviour. Crew need to be able to recognise when the demands of filming may be contributing to someone no longer coping as they once did.
Social media brings a different pressure. For some contributors, knowing that millions of people may eventually be watching them becomes much more real as transmission approaches.
Knowing where your role ends
One of the most important parts of the training is knowing where the production role ends.
Supporting somebody is very different from trying to manage a psychological problem that needs specialist input.
We teach staff how to communicate what they have actually observed. Saying somebody was “unstable” tells a psychologist very little. Saying what the person did or what changed is much more useful.
The psychologist is rarely present when the behaviour occurs. What crew notice can therefore be extremely important.
We use realistic production situations throughout the session.
Participants are not told what the concern is. They have to decide what they would do and when the psychologist needs to become involved.
The aim is for staff to notice changes earlier and understand when those changes need psychological input.
LEVEL TWO:
Psychological Risk and Welfare Decisions
Making welfare decisions when concerns arise during filming
Duration: Half day
Group size: Up to 20 participants
Who this is for
Level Two is for people who hold greater responsibility for contributor welfare or who may be involved in decisions about whether filming continues.
This includes series producers, executive producers, Heads of Production and senior welfare staff. It is also appropriate for other senior production members who may be expected to make decisions once a welfare concern has been identified.
Level Two starts when someone has raised a concern and a decision needs to be made.
Psychological risk has to be understood in the context of the format. Something that may be manageable on one production may become much more difficult in another.
What the training covers
When something no longer fits
A contributor may have been appropriately psychologically assessed before filming. That does not mean the original assessment answers every question that comes later.
People change. So do the circumstances around them.
If what production is seeing no longer fits with what was understood before filming, that matters.
We look at when new information or a change in behaviour should prompt a psychological reassessment, rather than relying on an earlier sign-off.
A psychological sign-off is a decision made at a particular point in time. It is not a guarantee of how somebody will cope once the reality of the production begins.
Consent and changing circumstances
Consent needs to be revisited at the senior level because decisions become more complex once filming is underway.
A contributor may have agreed to something earlier in the production process. If their psychological state has changed, that earlier agreement may no longer be enough.
The circumstances around them may also have changed.
Senior teams need to recognise when consent should be checked again before filming continues.
When departments see things differently
Casting, production, welfare and the psychologist will not always see a situation in the same way.
They may also know different things about the contributor.
Casting may have known somebody for months. Production may then see a significant change during filming. Welfare may know something that has not reached the psychologist.
That does not necessarily mean anybody is wrong. The problem arises when important information becomes fragmented, and someone is asked to make a welfare decision without sufficient information.
We look at how that happens and what information needs to be provided to the psychologist.
We also look at what happens when a concern gets minimised or passed between departments. Production pressures can affect how quickly people act, even when the original concern was legitimate.
Not everyone has to agree. What matters is that the person responsible for the welfare decision has enough information to make it properly.
Editorial and welfare decisions
Editorial and welfare considerations will not always point in the same direction.
Senior teams need to recognise when a welfare concern has to take priority.
Sometimes the psychologist needs to come back in. There will also be situations where continued participation needs to be reviewed.
The concern may be about the contributor themselves. At other times, the more pressing issue is the effect their behaviour has on someone else.
What happens after a concern is escalated
Passing a concern to the psychologist does not necessarily mean production's involvement ends.
The psychologist may need more information from the people who actually saw what happened.
Filming may also need to change while the concern is being considered.
We look at what production should do during that period and what should not simply carry on while everybody waits for a decision.
Confidentiality matters here too. Not everybody needs to know everything about a contributor.
But relevant welfare information cannot stay with one person if the person making the welfare decision needs to know it.
Working through real decisions
We use anonymised scenarios based on situations we have dealt with in production.
We do not give participants the answer. They have to make the decision themselves.
Would they continue filming?
When does the psychologist need to come back in?
Some scenarios are deliberately designed so that different parts of production know different things. The team then has to determine whether anyone has enough information to make the decision.
That reflects what actually happens. Decisions often have to be made while a situation is still unfolding.
Level One is about recognising that something may be wrong. Level Two is about deciding what happens next.
GOLD STANDARD:
Production Psychology Intensive
Advanced training for senior production teams
Duration: Full-day, in-person training
Group size: Up to 20 participants
Who this is for
The full day is for senior production teams and companies that want to look more closely at how psychological welfare is managed across a production.
It is particularly relevant for executive producers, Heads of Production and senior welfare staff. Series producers or others carrying significant responsibility for contributor welfare would also benefit.
The training
The day is built around the type of programmes the company actually makes.
We begin with recognising psychological concerns during production. We then move into the harder decisions that arise once something has changed.
Rather than presenting a completed case, we introduce information as it might emerge during filming. The team has to decide what they would do at that point.
We then give them more information. That may change the decision they have just made.
Some scenarios deliberately give different information to different parts of the production team. This allows us to see what happens when casting knows something that welfare does not, or when important information has not reached the psychologist.
Where appropriate, we can also look at the company's existing Duty of Care procedures and how a concern currently reaches the person responsible for making the psychological decision.
We consider what happens during filming, but the psychological impact does not necessarily end when filming stops.
Transmission can bring a very different level of pressure. Decisions made during production can also have consequences later when contributors see the programme and public reaction begins.
Different formats create different welfare risks. The training is therefore built around what contributors are actually likely to face on that production.
The principle behind the training
The psychologist cannot see everything that happens on a production. Crew often see the change first. We teach them how to recognise when that change matters and when the psychologist needs to know.