Nine in 10 working-class parents would discourage their children from pursuing a career in film and television because they do not see it as a viable career, according to a report.
Research conducted by Netflix and the National Youth Theatre found that 89% of working-class parents would advise their children against trying to work in the industry because of the perception it is not a sustainable career.
The report, based on interviews with 500 National Youth Theatre participants and 2,000 parents and carers, found that “traditional” professions such as law, medicine and finance were seen as more attractive and safer bets for aspirational young people.
The Four Lions star and National Youth Theatre patron Adeel Akhtar is encouraging parents not to rule out a career in TV or film for their children.
His first exposure to acting came when his mother sent him to drama lessons, believing it would improve his diction. He then completed a law degree after being “pushed” into it by his father before forging a successful career as an actor.
Akhtar said: “If you’re coming from this context, or a situation which is a little bit precarious, you’re not going to encourage your kid to go into an industry that is high risk.”
The research shows there is still a strong class element at play in discussions between parents and their children about whether the arts is a suitable career path.
One in four respondents said their parents, guardians or carers were unsupportive of their creative endeavours, while just under 75% said their parents viewed their career choice as a waste of their education.
Akhtar believes that the cost of fewer working-class voices in TV and film would be a reduction in the kinds of inventive shows that have emerged in the last decade.
“Something like Atlanta that’s now on TV, we can’t unsee that,” he said. “It opens the doors for lots of people to talk about their lived experience, but space has to be made for people to feel like those stories are valid and worth telling.”
The new research is in line with other academic studies of what Netflix is calling the “class chasm” in the arts.
Research released in 2022 found that 16.4% of actors, musicians and writers born between 1953 and 1962 had a working-class background, but that had fallen to just 7.9% for those born four decades later.
Analysis released this year found that six in 10 of all arts and culture workers in the UK come from middle-class backgrounds. People from working-class families make up 8.4% of those working in film, TV, radio and photography, while in museums, archives and libraries, the proportion is only 5.2%.
The playwright James Graham used his MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh television festival to encourage the television industry to treat class in the same way it does other personal characteristics such as race or sexuality.
“If you see a person, or a character, who looks like you or sounds like you on screen, whose experience or dilemmas, or joy, reflects your own … you feel more seen,” he said. “There is a catharsis there, for audiences. A validation.”
Paul Roseby, the chief executive and artistic director of the National Youth Theatre, said there had been a sustained lack of investment in the arts which has contributed to parents feeling the creative industries were not a stable form of employment.
He said: “I talk about a reset or a renewal … on a truly national scale. We have a duty to really embed the value of why we do it, not just how great it is, but why [the arts] are so important for the national character.”
The culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, supported the research and Netflix’s Ignite scheme, which is aimed at reducing inequality in TV and film. She said Labour would “open up access to these sectors and make them more representative of the whole UK”.
