Access Coordinator FAQs

Access Coordinators oversee and facilitate inclusion, access and adjustments for cast and crew working in the Film, TV, and the creative industries. They problem solve by working with individuals and Heads of Production to find solutions to removing barriers to access and inclusion. They enable Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent (DDN) people to do their best work whilst maintaining good physical and mental health. They enable an “access first” approach, applying the Social Model of Disability and the 5As. They may be part time or full time, work remotely or based within the production office, studio, location, or edit. They work across all stages of a production, from development, recruitment, casting, filming, post, to broadcast / release and associated marketing and events.

Access coordinators can provide consultation for how to implement best practice around access requirements and can also work one-to-one with DDN cast and crew to make sure their access requirements are put into place. They advocate for DDN cast and crew within the production.

Every Access Coordinator job is different, the job varies dependent on the what the production company requires and what the individuals you are working with require. As everyone’s access needs are different, no two jobs will be the same.

Sometimes, dependent on access requirements, it may be imperative that you are on set frequently, in other cases the work can be done remotely. The job could include: working with the locations department to make sure there is ramp access, working with the transport department to make sure there is wheelchair accessible transport amongst the fleet, booking BSL interpreters, making sure scripts are printed on yellow paper or call sheets are produced in Easy Read formats. The job role is ensuring the production is as accessible as possible from the outset, though will be largely dependent on the access requirements of those you are working with – your job will always be to find and communicate accessible solutions within the production.

A lot of finding the jobs is word of mouth, communication between other Access Coordinators if they know of any production companies that are hiring or currently crewing up that you could approach. TripleC also gets approached for recommendations for Access Coordinators which will be shared. TripleC is also launching a Talent Finder, which Access Coordinators can register on once it is launched, to be put forward for jobs as and when they come into TripleC. There are also agencies which represent access coordinators.

No. The location will be dependent on where the production is taking place, many of these are outside London.

Again, this varies from job to job and largely depends on the production company’s budget. It is up to the Access Coordinator to set their rate and at their discretion whether they meet the production company’s budget. A set of standardised rates are in the process of being agreed with BECTU.

Access Coordinators are usually hired on a freelance basis by a production company. Production companies have a legal responsibility to provide adjustments and accessible working conditions for all cast and crew.

No, at this current time production companies do not have an obligation to work with Access Coordinators, but with more DDN talent working in the industry they are becoming more and more necessary. We are hoping that the role of an Access Coordinator will become mainstay in any production team in the future, but currently this is an emerging role and is therefore not currently mandatory.

No.

This is, again, dependent on the production. Ideally, Access Coordinators would be involved in development and pre-production to implement access in a very early stage, rather than trying to ‘work around’ existing structures later on, but in reality this is not always the case. Productions may only hire an Access Coordinator once they have hired a person who has declared themselves deaf, disabled or neurodivergent. The course will cover pre-production, production and post-production so the cohort will be prepared for every eventuality.

It remains the legal responsibility of the production to make their workplace accessible. Access costs should be factored into the budget of the production and Access Coordinators may be asked to give costings.

In some cases, DDN individuals can make a claim to Access to Work to supplement access costs and Access Coordinators may be asked to support people to make and manage these applications.

It is important from the initial discussions with production companies to outline your own access requirements for the role. Access Riders can help to communicate these. It is imperative that the workload is in line with your own access requirements and, as this is an emerging role, we get to set the blueprint for how this works, and champion flexible working in line with access requirements. It may also be useful to tap into the network of other Access Coordinators to form a community of people with whom you can have these conversations, and be the support and unofficial Access Coordinators for each other.

HETV stands for High End Television, and is defined as television with a budget of over a certain amount per hour.