He wants to see better support for child actors: "Needed when the phone stops ringing"

The MeToo movement in 2017 began with testimonies of sexual assault in the film industry.

One measure that followed is that there is now often an intimacy coordinator on location during film shoots – a person who is responsible for supervising and taking responsibility for ensuring that sex scenes are carried out responsibly.

"Time for a child coordinator"

Now the former child actor Gabriel Odenhammar wants something similar to be introduced to safeguard the rights and well-being of child actors.

"Metoo gave us the intimacy coordinator, now it's time for a children's coordinator.

Odenhammar played both Sune's younger brother Håkan and Max in "Svensson Svensson" in the 90's. He says that child actors often end up in a strange position when you jump between a normal child's life with school and friends and film shoots, to one where you work and are treated more like an adult.

"Didn't get any support"

Above all, he wants to see the film companies take responsibility for the children when the filming is over.

"When I went from being someone who was needed and sought after as a child actor, to one day becoming an adult and the phone stopped ringing, I would have needed completely different support than what I was getting. Namely, nothing, he says.

Eva Hamilton is chairman of the Swedish Film & TV Producers' Association and says that all serious players have people in place, especially for the sake of the children.

"You appoint someone who you call a governess in the industry, someone who has responsibility, makes sure they do homework and engages teachers if they miss school," she says.

Coercive measure?

On the other hand, she agrees with Gabriel Odenhammar that measures may be needed for what happens when the studio lights go out:

"Serious producers who are used to making children's films, and SVT's children's department, are often involved in the filming and have conversations with parents. But here, I could imagine that there could be some more coercive measure – so that producers who don't think along those lines start to do so," says Eva Hamilton.