Tag: diversity

Posted on

Creative Diversity Network Fourth Cut Diamond Report

The Creative Diversity Network (CDN) published their Fourth Cut report earlier this year. Whilst this blog sets out to give a quick snapshot of the report, I would encourage you to set aside an hour (with a cuppa) to fully invest your attention in reading this report from start to finish, and truly take in these sobering stats.

Diamond is a tool not a solution

Creative Diversity Network, 2021

If you’re an influencer or key decision maker in the industry – particularly at an indie – you can use this report to help inform your recruitment strategy and set achievable targets – not just to meet a ‘quota’ but to really consider the likelihood of green-lit commissions going ahead, where you will advertise your roles for each commission and how diverse the talent pool will be in each of the places you publicise a role. You can find support from the bigger broadcasters to help you crew up a production – Channel 4 are going to great lengths to help with the creation of their regional hubs in Leeds, Bristol and Glasgow and ITV’s Creative Diversity Partner has spoken at a recent ScreenSkills event (which I will blog about separately) to openly offer support – even if you’re not working on an ITV production. Bristol based, Gritty Talent are working towards launching an app this Spring where you can search for diverse talent in one place. Find out more here.

Report Headlines

This is the fourth year of data collection from 36,000 diversity forms completed from 74,000 TV productions. The data spans the period from 1st August 2019 to 31st July 2020. This is the largest annual sample to date.

Contributions made by disabled people and those over 50 on and off screen

CDN stated last year that these two groups were ones that needed attention, in terms of increasing their representation in the industry.

Whilst there have been encouraging increases in the contributions made by disabled people, this group is still under represented with only 5.8% working off screen, which is well below the national workforce estimate of 17%. Disabled people made only 8.2% of on-screen contributions, despite comprising of 18% of the population.

For the over 50’s, off screen contributions were at 21.5%, where the national workforce estimate is 31% and 25.5% on screen against 36% of the UK population.

Contributions made by ethnically diverse people on and off screen

It is disappointing to see that off screen stats have fallen from 12.3% last year (2018-2019) to 11.8%, which is below the national workforce estimate of 13%. This reflects the findings of the Race and Ethnic Diversity Deep Dive Diamond report (published by the CDN last October. I wrote about this report in a previous blog post) where they stated that South Asian representation continues to be low, with on-screen contributions having declined every year for the last four years. This prompted me to consider what the representation numbers are for East Asians and as I continued to read the report, CDN had of course outlined the stats for this group too which is comparably lower to any other ethnic group:

It’s not clear how much Covid has had a negative impact on these stats. There was a rise of unemployed freelancers when productions were cancelled back in April 2020. It is likely that Covid played a part in the decrease of the number of diverse freelancers working on productions once they resumed. I am aware that some freelancers had taken up PAYE work in other sectors to maintain an income.

Drama

Drama saw the fewest off screen contributions made by disabled and ethnically diverse people. Contributions were at just 2.7% from disabled people – down from 4.7% last year. And 5.9% from ethnically diverse people, compared to 8.6% in the previous year.

Senior Roles

Women, transgender, ethnically diverse and disabled people continue to be less well represented in senior roles.

The number of women working in senior roles fell from 50.4% last year to 47.1% this year. Women are particularly poorly represented in the role of Directors at 29% and as Writers where there was a fall from 38.1% last year to 33.4% this year.

When it came to ethnically diverse and disabled people, their contributions were as follows:

  • Disabled Writer contributions at 3.5%
  • Disabled Director contributions at 4.9%
  • Ethnically Diverse Writer contributions at 6.5%
  • Ethnically Diverse Director contributions at 8.4%

This table outlined where each senior role reflects the UK workforce and the level of action required to increase representation:

Craft and Tech Roles

Unsurprisingly, these roles are highly gendered with more women working in Hair and Make Up and more men working in Lighting, Camera and Sound:

What next?

Doubling Disability

CDN are taking a collaborative approach to improve the representation of disabled people by partnering with Diamond Broadcasters (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Channel 5/Viacom CBS and now UKTV) and other CDN members. The aim of the Doubling Disability project is to double the percentage of disabled people working off screen to 9%. The project will be extended to the end of 2021 given the impacts of the global pandemic. Despite the extension, CDN has stated that additional efforts will be required to meet this target. An interim report outlining progress will be published later this Spring.

Everyday Diversity Project

This is led by the University of Glasgow and in partnerships with CDN and the British Film Institute. It is based on extensive academic research, which is being used to inform the creation of practical tools for the screen industries.

More focused reporting

Following the positive response to CDN’s ‘deep-dive’ report into racial and ethnic diversity last October, there is a demand for more detailed reporting. CDN will look to publish a further subject-focused report in 2021. I imagine this will be around October time again.

My summary

I think the work CDN do is incredibly invaluable. I’m looking forward to reading more reports from them because I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to stats and figures 🤓 😅 and more importantly, the work they’re doing to provide such useful reporting can help to build lasting tangible change 🙌🏼💪🏼👍🏼

To read The Fourth Cut report in full click here.

Posted on

Diversity & Equal Opportunities Stats in TV & Radio 2019/20

Over the course of 2020 I had read every white paper and report under the sun about diversity, equality and inclusion in the creative industries, with a particular focus on TV and Radio.

In November 2020, Ofcom (the appointed regulator of the broadcast industry), published their latest report. It made for an interesting read given everything that has happened in the last year. Here’s the lowdown from the report:

There are x3 key areas where Ofcom wants to see tangible progress during 2021

  1. Critical Under-representation – greater progress in the representation of disabled people on all levels and a faster increase in the diversity of crucial decision-makers (senior management, as well as employees in commissioning, content and creative roles), specifically addressing the under-representation of colleagues from an African or Caribbean heritage.
  2. Understanding class and geographic diversity – Ofcom have acknowledged that a person’s socio-economic background and where they live has a massive effect on their opportunities in broadcasting. This particular area, is something close to my heart given my own background.
  3. Accountability – Ofcom expects broadcasters – in particular those in leadership roles – to be accountable for delivering not just diversity initiatives but real change by:
  • setting clear measurable workforce targets and diversity and inclusion targets, with tangible outcomes
  • undertaking better, more transparent, evaluation of work designed to produce change, so that efforts can be focused and results accelerated
  • holding production partners to account for meeting diversity requirements

Update on Progress of Protected Characteristics

The stats on the progress of each protected characteristic under the 2010 Equality Act are insightful. I’ll share the key ones where infographics were produced.

Disability: only 7% of TV employees and 6% of Radio employees are disabled compared with 19% of the working age population in the UK.

Ethnically Diverse Groups: Ofcom refers to this group as Minority Ethnic Groups (MEG). Since reading the #BAMEOver Statement for the UK, written by Inc Arts – details of which are in my #BAMEOver article – I will never refer to myself or any other ethnically diverse person as being within a ‘minority’. I plan to write to Ofcom to share this statement with a view that they change the language used in future reports. This group – and particularly those from an African or Caribbean heritage – are under-represented in senior management. There are 8% of those who are ethnically diverse working in senior management in TV, compared with a national workforce average of 12%. Only 1% of this group are from an African or Caribbean heritage, compared with 3% of the working population.

And below you can see a detailed breakdown of people working in the industry by ethnicity:

Gender: This focuses on the representation of women. It shows that that the proportion of women closely reflects the UK working age population (47% of which is female). However, they remain under-represented at senior levels.

It’d be good to see Ofcom obtaining stats on other genders, e.g., those who identify as being transgender or non binary etc.

Social Mobility: Last year’s report was the first time that socio-economic backgrounds/ class were reported on. The volume of data submitted was limited however, and it’s the same for this year. That said, it formally shows what was thought to be the case; that those working in TV are twice as likely to have attended private school as people in the working age population more generally and that twice as many TV workers come from ‘professional’ family backgrounds.

Data, data and more data!

I cannot stress the importance of data collection like this. The industry has to understand where they are now to then figure out how to address where we need to be. That process has to include creating a long term strategy with clear, tangible, measurable and actionable objectives. Not just with broadcasters but also with independent production companies. I would caveat this by stating that indies need the support of the big broadcasters generally and more specifically by the commissioners. Because once a commission is green-lit, it’s all systems go and productions simply do not have the time or resources needed to nurture diverse talent. That’s why in the past, they’ve generally picked up the phone to people they know, and the people they know look like them and that generally tends to be people of European ancestral heritage. I know it’s easier said than done when the deadlines loom and the pressure increases to deliver a production in a really short space of time. The whole process needs time, money and most of all commitment to ‘do the right thing’. However, things are changing for the better, or at least there has been some momentum. There is a lot to do but the intention for change is there like never before.

What are the broadcasters doing?

Channel 4 announced Babita Bahal as Head of Creative Diversity in November 2019. She started her role in early 2020 having previously been the Diversity and Inclusion Lead for BBC Content. Channel 4 have shown great commitment to the diversity cause by opening new Headquarters in Leeds and also opening Creative Hubs in Glasgow and Bristol. They have also set a target of having 50% of its production spend in the Nations and Regions by 2023. In the summer of 2020, they announced the launch of their Indie Accelerator in a two year partnership with The TV Collective. This will focus on matching commissioning heads of department for unscripted genres with independent production companies led by ethnically diverse people. They have also launched The Black Takeover – an ambitious day of programming for Autumn 2021 which will see Channel 4’s entire programming schedule fronted by Black talent as part of the Channel’s ongoing commitment to improve Black representation both on and off screen. And applications are open right now until 29th January 2021 for their Production Training Scheme, with opportunities available right across the UK in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Belfast, Cardiff, North Wales and Glasgow.

ITV also launched their Diversity Acceleration Plan in the summer of 2020. This includes an initiative called ITV Step Up 60, designed to increase Diversity at senior levels of decision making in TV production, both within ITV Studios and independent producers. The ITV apprenticeship programme also has a remit to attract diverse talent. In the summer they announced the appointment of Ade Rawcliffe as Group Director of Diversity and Inclusion. Just before this they had appointed Nana Hughes as Head of Scripted Comedy. You can find out a little more about Nana in this Facebook Video where she talks about what she is looking to commission. She is joined by BBC 3 Comedy Commissioner, Sarah Asante.

The BBC appointed June Sarpong as Director of Creative Diversity, also in November 2019. It’s clear that through her leadership, many great events and initiatives have been delivered under the BBC Creative Diversity banner. She also led the creation of a Blueprint for Belonging which has received much praise in the industry. In December 2020, the BBC announced their Creative Diversity Plan to accelerate diverse representation on and off screen. Click here to find out more. On the BBC Creative Diversity page (link above) June shares a story about a nineteenth century abolitionist, Frederick Douglass – he was a man of African heritage who challenged the status quo. A former slave, he rose to be a trusted advisor to the US president Abraham Lincoln. Douglass argued that art and imagery provided a mechanism for societal self-refection, critique and progress. Through this story, June has reiterated the importance of diversity in the broadcast industry in such a poignant way.

If like me, you love reading a report, because I mean, who doesn’t?! 🤪😅 …then you can read the Ofcom Report in full here.

Posted on

Reframing Disability

Last week the BBC hosted an event called ‘Reframing Disability’ in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the UK’s Disability Discrimination Act. It seems as though there has been a real step change at the BBC since the appointment of June Sarpong as Director of Creative Diversity, in terms of it’s commitment to becoming more diverse, equal and inclusive. Like with many of the broadcasters there’s still a long way to go, but their recent activity has been really encouraging to see.

One of the Spotlight Sessions – CripTales: Mat Fraser in conversation with Alex Brooker was a brilliant watch. Mat was such a fantastic speaker and his energy shone through online – as it would do since he is an actor. CripTales is a BBC Four series where a life-changing moment is captured in six powerful, dramatic monologues. All of these are written, directed and performed by disabled people and curated by Mat Fraser.

Talking of his experience curating this series, Mat referred to working exclusively with disabled people as being, “very rare, weird, momentous and joyous.” He went on to say: “I had to pinch myself sometimes because it was a career dream of mine.” It was heart-warming to hear this. However, Mat quite rightly pointed out that back in 2009 he was part of an all disabled cast in Channel 4’s Cast Offs and that it had taken 11 years for something like this to happen again. He went on to say that the transmission slot for Cast Offs wasn’t great as it was broadcast around the same period as popular comedy drama Skins and at different timeslots each week – not ideal as viewers prefer regularity when it comes to tuning in to their favourite shows. Mat was at pains to say that he wasn’t criticising the broadcaster’s decision on TX slots.

It was a thought provoking session. They also discussed the roles that disabled actors are given in programmes where the focus is on their disability and that is a shame, with the host Alex stating that “Our disability is just one aspect of us. We do regular stuff as well.”

That theme continued in a panel discussion called Representation Matters. Adam Pearson – a presenter and actor – asked a question that he went on to answer himself: “How do we get disabled people on TV doing incidental non disabled things? You hire disabled people to do incidental non disabled things.” So simple. Adam also made a very good point around the fact that: “There are no disabled people with positions of influence in the media industry at an executive level,” and with that “…there is a cycle of bad representation of disabled people year after year.”

When it comes to disability, another panellist – Katie Piper – said from her perspective it was important to “…allow people to develop their own understanding , empathy and knowledge via podcasts, books etc.,” and encouraged individuals to take responsibility in seeking out information for themselves, rather than being spoon fed. I agree with this, although the reality is that the majority of ‘time poor’ people will only invest their free time into matters that interest or affect them directly.

I think education plays an important part. Schools should invest more in teaching children the importance of diversity, equality and inclusion and about cultural history on a global, as well as a national level. I have heard from parents with children of primary school age that this seems to be happening more recently because of the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement.

I hope in years to come we live in a society that embraces each other’s differences where diversity, equality and inclusivity is as natural as breathing air.

The BBC’s Reframing Disability events are available to watch on demand HERE. If you work in the media and entertainment industry (or even if you don’t) these are well worth your time.

Posted on

Decolonising the Creative Industries

Creative Coalition 2020 by Creative Industries Federation and Creative England

Earlier this week I watched the Creative Coalition 2020 Festival – a virtual three day event for the creative industries – from the comfort of my living room . It was free to attend and covered a huge array of topics across many sectors within the creative industries. A recurring theme throughout was around diversity, particularly ethnic diversity and social mobility.

One of the sessions was boldly titled Decolonising the Creative Industries. Despite the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, I never imagined seeing such a title for a panel session at an event like this…it’s a good thing. It enabled open, honest, valuable and much needed rhetoric about diversity AND social mobility within the industry in a way that was very refreshing.

The speakers were:

Both Zarina and Swarzy were so full of energy; succinct and incredibly articulate about their views, their experiences and what they hoped for the future.

Zarina pulled no punches, stating that she believed resources needed to be pumped into grass roots organisations that are affecting positive change within their communities and are stemmed in intersectionality in a way that bigger creative entities are not. When asked if she wanted to scale up The White Pube – a website she set up with Gabrielle de la Puente, which writes about art, video games and food and also has a following of almost 68,000 on Instagram – Zarina’s response was – and I’m paraphrasing here: “No. We want to remain independent. We want to pay it forward. I’ve got a day job that I need to get to at 2 o’clock.” The White Pube is currently funded by their supporters via Patreon.

Swarzy talked about her experience with reverse mentoring stating (again I’m paraphrasing): “It’s about reconciliation, to get my white colleagues on form, to make them feel empowered with using the right language at the right time for what needs to be said.”

I’d love to see them both in conversation with one another – I’m hoping that Zarina invites Swarzy on to The White Pube podcast.

Ammo Talwar stated that in order to deconstruct the establishment there were, what he described as, 4 pillars of racism that needed to be tackled: 1) institutional, 2) structural, 3) interpersonal and 4) unconscious. He also wanted to see detailed co-curated change with no time limits , i.e., do away with two year schemes and instil change for the long term, that looks at ‘the personal’ and ‘the systemic.’

Finally Babita talked about ensuring that every pound of her creative diversity budget was spent on breaking barriers to showcase unseen voices. The Channel 4 Indie Accelerator, in partnership with The TV Collective, was launched in July this year in a bid to work more with production companies set up by ethnically diverse creatives. Babita also made it clear that there was still a lot of work to be done to see more diverse senior leaders with editorial control across TV, making the point that there is yet to be a Controller appointed who is either of African or Caribbean heritage black or from any other ethnicity.

Some of the key sessions are available to watch here. The rest of the panel sessions, including this one, are available on demand to members of the Creative Industries Federation. I’m hoping they will make this particular session freely available, as I believe this conversation is one that would be of benefit for everyone in the industry.

error

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)