55% of writers surveyed by the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) said that rising energy and food costs throughout 2022 were impacting on their ability to sustain a writing career, severely impacting livelihoods, and the cultural industries which depend upon their skills.
A survey of more than 250 writers, conducted by the trade union, found that as well as energy and food bills, other factors that impacted their ability to engage in writing work included having less time to work as a writer, or apply for funding, development schemes or other opportunities.
67% of those surveyed reported having to rely on their savings in order to manage day-to-day expenditure, while 37% said they had to rely on their partners’ earnings. More than 70% respondents had earned £18,000 or less for their writing work in the last financial year. The majority (over 80%) said they were freelance writers, highlighting the precarious nature of employment for screenwriters, playwrights, authors, audio dramatists and videogames writers that the union represents.
The survey also highlighted an industry-wide dearth of opportunity and an increase in poor practice. Several respondents highlighted how real wages were not rising with inflation as the creative industries continued to experience the dual shocks of Brexit and Covid. There were many reports of late payments, shrinking production budgets and reduced audience sizes.
Founded a decade ago in 2012 to platform the work of marginalised artists, performance venue Ugly Duck, located in Bermondsey – South East London, has been at the forefront of working with performance artists who are not afraid of exploring lesser talked about themes. Their @Disturbance Festival, now in its 4th year specifically created to showcase LGBTQ+ artists and stories. Set to show Simple Relations No.4, a performance made for camera that queers the use of everyday objects to explore the complexities of living in a gender fluid body in the Southern United States as part of Ugly Duck’s 10th year anniversary on the 10th, 11th and 12th of November, video artist Sandrine Schaefer tells us what inspired them to explore the show’s themes further, how they’ve approached creating the filmed performance and what can be expected!
