Film Industry Advocacy

SetMD has offered accessible, budget-friendly and responsive healthcare services to film and TV productions since 2007. We have also become a strong advocate for improving the quality of life for those working in the industry. This advocacy work has taken place through several initiatives:

A Documentary

SetMD is a dedicated advocate for the film industry, championing data-driven reform and honest storytelling to foster positive change. A production company, Patsy Productions, LLC was founded with a comittment to telling the stories of those working in the film industry. Safe Sets - Dying to Work in the Film Industry , was funded largely by financial support from SetMD, and goes beyond exposing risks to reframe the conversation around worker well-being. It acknowledges that survival on set—avoiding injury or death—is the bare minimum; true progress requires enabling workers to thrive.

Safe Sets thus transforms personal testimony into a blueprint: validate the struggle, collect the data, and demand a film industry where workers don’t just endure—they flourish.

The film has won multiple awards at film festivals, invited to the American Public Health Association annual meeting, screened to industry groups in the UK and the US, and has now become part of the curriculum at numerous prestigous film schools throughout the country.

A White Paper

This white paper, Understanding the Modifiable Determinants of Health in the Film & TV Industries, offers a public health perspective on the determinants of health for those in the industry. It offers a framework for understanding industry challenges, and proposing interventions for change.

To make suggestions or contributions to this document, please CLICK HERE.

A Survey Study

The film Safe Sets advocates for ongoing survey data collection that measures not just safety incidents, but quality-of-life indicators: mental health, financial stability, access to healthcare, work-life balance, and creative fulfillment. By also capturing the impact of sleep-related fatigue, whether film workers have access to housing near production, or if they feel empowered to speak up without retaliation, these surveys build a holistic picture of systemic strain.

This data is critical to shift industry priorities—from treating crew as expendable labor to valuing them as sustainable talent. Only by quantifying the gap between surviving and thriving can unions negotiate better contracts, studios justify wellness investments, and regulators enforce meaningful standards.

The proposed questionnaire for those working in the film and TV industry. was developed by Harvard's Center for Work, Health & Well-being. The theoretical framework for this study is described in the paper below:

Results of the Thriving from Work in the Film Industry questionnaire will be shared with industry stakeholders. Completing the questionnaire is an opportunity to contribute and speak out with a collective voice from those of you working in this industry.