Abstract
Executive Summary
There are a multitude of interpretations of the concept of ‘innovation’ amongst screen sector freelancers. The concept is not always fully understood, but it is largely interpreted as both a product and a process.
Screen sector freelancers have limited capacity to engage in the development of innovative products and Research and Development (R&D) activity and often have little autonomy to instigate innovative processes working within a project-based working environment.
The introduction of innovative products often facilitates adjustments in workflows, allowing for small-scale, day-to-day innovations in the form of problem solving but freelancers are seldom the innovators themselves, rather the beneficiaries of innovations originating in the tech sector.
The introduction of innovative products and processes can have both intended and unintended consequences, and these consequences are not always positive. Concerns include the lowering of production quality, a shift in the desirable skillsets in the advent of generative AI, issues related to Intellectual Property and the automation of existing roles.
These findings have implications for skills and training for freelancers within the sector, and the need to better equip the region’s freelancers with the absorptive capacity to manage the introduction of such innovations.
A recognition is needed of the possible contribution of the freelance proportion of the TV and Film workforce, both in the Cardiff Capital Region and more widely, as a skilled workforce able to effectively apply innovative products, rather than the source of substantive R&D activity.
There are a multitude of interpretations of the concept of ‘innovation’ amongst screen sector freelancers. The concept is not always fully understood, but it is largely interpreted as both a product and a process.
Screen sector freelancers have limited capacity to engage in the development of innovative products and Research and Development (R&D) activity and often have little autonomy to instigate innovative processes working within a project-based working environment.
The introduction of innovative products often facilitates adjustments in workflows, allowing for small-scale, day-to-day innovations in the form of problem solving but freelancers are seldom the innovators themselves, rather the beneficiaries of innovations originating in the tech sector.
The introduction of innovative products and processes can have both intended and unintended consequences, and these consequences are not always positive. Concerns include the lowering of production quality, a shift in the desirable skillsets in the advent of generative AI, issues related to Intellectual Property and the automation of existing roles.
These findings have implications for skills and training for freelancers within the sector, and the need to better equip the region’s freelancers with the absorptive capacity to manage the introduction of such innovations.
A recognition is needed of the possible contribution of the freelance proportion of the TV and Film workforce, both in the Cardiff Capital Region and more widely, as a skilled workforce able to effectively apply innovative products, rather than the source of substantive R&D activity.
| Translated title of the contribution | Media Cymru Ffocws ar Weithwyr Llawrydd: Arloesedd |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Place of Publication | Cardiff |
| Publisher | Media Cymru |
| Commissioning body | Media Cymru |
| Number of pages | 48 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-1-909838-86-4, 978-1-909838-87-1 |
| Publication status | Published - 25 Mar 2025 |
Keywords
- Screen industry
- Freelance work
- freelancer
- film and tv
- Innovation