Vilte Vaitkute on media co-op’s 20th anniversary celebrations
A shiver ran down my spine when the STV news crew turned up to shoot a report on media co-op’s 20th anniversary celebrations last month. I’m not used to us being on that side of the camera.
And then it happened again: a feeling of something extraordinary, when Paul Laverty, who writes films with Ken Loach, walked in and declared “media co-op’s two decades of filmmaking for social justice are remarkable. You are creating a legacy that’s very, very inspiring.”
You do your daily job and it just feels normal. Then there’s a moment that makes you take a step back and get a sudden insight that maybe what we do is special.
I’m so privileged to work directly with people on the front line in communities and in social movements to co-produce films side by side with them. Many of the best experiences of my working life have been with SCVO members.
But for me, it’s not just what we do, it’s how we do it. Media co-op is a worker’s co-op: owned and run by the workers. From day one, when I first joined at the age of 22, I was trusted, I had the freedom to speak, I felt listened to and valued. I have an equal say in every aspect of our co-op. We try to apply that open, collaborative approach to everything we do.
In other companies, I’ve seen worker exploitation, and I’ve noticed an undercurrent of fear and competition. But here at media co-op I’ve had opportunities for professional and personal development that I would never have had in a traditional agency or production company.
We pay ourselves all the same wages, no matter what our job role – because we see each other as equals.
My sense of security comes from knowing we are in it – together - for the right reasons, doing what we love creatively of course, but also using our skills and capacity to try and make the world better.
I confess I felt a burst of pride, in everyone we have collaborated with over the years, in my colleagues and also with my own small part in what we’ve done, when we got together at Scotland’s Moving Image Archive to look back on what we’ve achieved in 20 years.
This is how Paul Laverty put it in his keynote speech at the celebration: “It's a remarkable privilege to make our living telling stories, and examining how power operates.
“I think of William Morris. He said ‘no man is good enough to be another’s master’. William Morris would be working with you if he was here today. He felt the individual was important, but as part of the community effort. He understood it's very difficult to do creative work if you're under the heel of exploitation.
“While corporations drive us to destruction, we try to nourish each other, and to resist.
Media co-op’s films say that in abundance. You put cameras into the hands of citizens to tell their own stories.
“These are radical ideas - and they are more important than ever”.
Vilte Vaitkute is a video director and editor at media co-op.
