The British Film and Television Industry Are Losing The Race With Race

(And we’re not actually that surprised.)

Marches have come to an end, shops are open and people have started going back to work. With the UK heading in the right direction for normalcy, our eyes are turned towards the promises companies have made, especially during the height of the Black Lives Matter Movement in regards to change.

Having previously written about choosing how and where to stand as part of our individual movements, my gaze is personally narrowed at the British Film and Television Industry.

If I asked you to name five Black British actors — could you?

Now try that again, and this time make sure they’re all female.

…That’s what I thought. Don’t worry, we’ll leave the discussion on the invisibility of Black Women for another day.

How about behind the camera? — Directors, Screenwriters, Composers. Can you name five Black British men or women? Yeah, me either.

You may have seen the Actors on Actors talk between Kerry Washington and Sandra Oh, that was trending a few weeks ago, where the latter commented:

The development of people behind the camera is very slow in the UK […] Sometimes it would be me and 75 white people… — Sandra Oh

This sparked a roar of approval from several minorities within the industry who have been saying as much for years, with their words, however, falling on deaf ears.

A “shocking” report has revealed only 1.5% of UK television is made by directors of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) origin.

The Directors UK report, which looked at 55,000 episodes across 546 shows in 2013, found that BAME directors were “critically under-represented”. — BBC News

There are two important takeaways from the above quote, the first being that this quoted percentage of 1.5 is not just limited to Black people, but all forms of Asian, and the vast spectrum of minority ethnics. Such a small number is used to encompass a range of non-white individuals. This means that 98.5% of television is solely made by White people. No variants. Just White.

The second is that this article, using statistics from 2013 only came out five years ago.

In 2016 around the same time as #OscarsSoWhite, Idris Elba made an address to Parlement in regards to the lack of representation both on and off-screen in the UK.

The Britain I come from is the most successful, diverse, multicultural country on earth. But here’s my point: you wouldn’t know it if you turned on the TV. Too many of our creative decision-makers share the same background. — Idris Elba.

His speech was impassioned and felt, at the time as if it sparked the real change we had all been waiting for. Four years later the reality is that little has really changed.

Offcoms third Diversity and equal opportunities in television report showed that of its 2018/19 survey 13% of the workforce was of a Minority Ethnic Background, compared to 13% in 2017/18 and 11% in 2016. These figures are in relation to the knowledge that in the UK Labour Market/Population, those of a Minority Ethnic Background make up 12%.

With a meagre 2% increase over three years, it’s difficult to say optimistic.

The empty promises are wearing thin and we are tired of being fooled as year in and year out the message remains the same, and unfortunately, so do the numbers.

It’s no wonder that for years, Black British actors and creators have instead left the UK industry behind to forge a career across the pond in America.

Hollywood provides black actors more opportunities than the British film and television industry does.

— Angelica Jade Bastién (2017)

The migration for work didn’t start with the likes of Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), John Boyega (Star Wars) or Cynthia Erivo (Harriet). Actors such as Thandi Newton (Westworld), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Lost) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) have had both feet planted in American Film and TV for so long that some people don’t even know of their British roots.

Interestingly despite being born and raised in London, and his growing popularity in the UK and America, John Boyega struck a deal this year with Netflix to produce non-English films that will focus on West and East Africa.

This begs the question of why Black British creatives are running away from the UK Film and Television industry.

Working in the world of TV, a small core of black writers, including myself, often find ourselves dismissed and undermined. — Daniel Lawrence Taylor (2020)

I am not trying to pretend that there aren’t some amazing shows in the UK that both star in lead roles, and are created by Black British creatives; Noel Clarke, Ashley Walters, Idris Elba, Sophie Okonedo, Andrew Onwubolu aka Rapman, Adrian Lester. Have all been long-standing pioneers and representatives across the UK industry (a reminder that the conversation on the invisibility of Black Women will have to wait until another day).

Of the newer generation, one woman who immediately comes to mind as steamrolling her way through the institutional racism of the industry is Michaela Coel who rose to success with her Channel 4 comedy Chewing Gum, which she created, wrote, starred and composed the music for.

However, a shocking article revealed the disrespect and unprofessionalism targetted towards Black creatives in the UK.

An early moment that stood out was when I pushed to meet the expectations on a draft, only to have the executive producer so surprised at the quality of the writing that he assumed my white script editor was responsible for it. I was trusted so little that I found it easier to get a lot of my ideas through by pretending that they were either hers or co-signed by her. — Daniel Lawrence Taylor (2020)

There are stories, statistics, long term initiatives and multi-million-pound pledges to tackle diversity, underrepresentation, racism and unconscious bias within the British Fim and Television industry — but what we are all still waiting on is action.

Smaller than the US both in size and broadcasters, the UK is limited in how many programmes it can show — which is most likely why episodic lengths rarely pass ten. That, however, doesn’t stop the country being obsessed and known for their period dramas, both on the big and small screen.

The drama subgenre has been shown to receive the highest amount of public and private (BFI/UKFC) funding.

You are far from mistaken if you presume that I don’t love Period Drama’s. Pride and Prejudice (2005), Sanditon (2019 — Present), Outlander (2014-Present), Poldark (2015–2019). They are my not so guilty pleasures and I won’t ever deny that the British make them well.

Compelling storylines, that swelling music, the costumes are beautifully designed and the crisp quality of BBC One’s big-budget always shines through the screen.

Unfortunately, whenever I am watching a period drama, there is no denying one glaring issue in the gap it creates.

“I love being here, but I can’t work, because I can’t do Downton Abbey, can’t be in Victoria, can’t be in Call The Midwife — well, I could, but I don’t want to play someone who’s being racially abused.”

“I’m not interested in that, don’t want to do it… there just seems to be a desire for stuff about the Royal Family, stuff from the past, which is understandable, but it just makes it slim pickings for people of colour.” — Thandi Newton (2017)

Okay. Understandably in a lot of cases to be true to the adapted text or for historical accuracy, the majority of characters in period dramas to follow are White. Also, you’ll rarely find a Black person even in the background as British people like to pretend slavery didn’t exist — but I digress.

What I didn’t realise, is that Black people weren’t allowed to like Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens etc. or to be interested in the narrative of British History.

If White characters have to be in front of the camera then why can’t Black creatives be behind it? Writing, directing, lighting, sound designing, production managing, editing, DoP’ing etc — the roles are there and they are numerous.

When director Armando Iannucci attempted to change the narrative by ‘blind casting’ Dev Patel in the titular role of the 2020 movie The Personal History of David Copperfield, the movie, though having favourable reviews, still required a lot of defending and largely went unseen.

It is impossible to decipher if the two things are mutually exclusive, but it’s hard to imagine they aren’t related. After all, it was made by a country that has more than eight adaptations of Pride and Prejudice with another on the way.

The Personal History of David Copperfield and the casting of Dev Patel is but a small tentative step for the Black and Minority Ethnic races in the UK. But if we once again recall, that term ‘BAME’ encompasses more than five ethnicities. It is largely unfair to group them as a whole and pretend that the success of one race is a group success.

“For many years we have stayed silent, due to fear of being blacklisted or totally dismissed. But in the current climate we feel emboldened to say something and this time we want to be heard.” — Deadline (2020)

In June, 700 Black, Asian, and minority ethnic TV workers signed a petition to spearhead action on racial inequality in the industry. The open letter was addressed to networks and streamers alike.

Over the last few months the following initiatives have been announced:

BBC: The BBC’s Creative Diversity Commitment — the biggest financial investment to on-air inclusion in the industry — will prioritise £100m of our existing commissioning budget over three years (from 2021/22–2023/24) (22nd June 2020)

ITV: Diversity Acceleration Plan — accelerate change in diversity and inclusion on screen and across ITV by creating more opportunities for those from Black, Asian, minority ethnic and other underrepresented groups. Over the next 12 months, ITV will increase investment in this area… (9th July 2020)

Channel 4: A renewed commitment to inclusion and diversity — Leeds-headquartered Channel 4 has set out a six-part anti-racism plan that includes doubling the number of commissions from ‘BAME-led’ independent producers by 2023. (10th June 2020)

Channel 5: Channel 5 has announced they are teaming up with The TV Collective to encourage BAME production companies to work with them on developing new shows. The new initiative is part of the commitment made by channel 5 to create mainstream programmes that accurately reflect contemporary Britain. (4th July 2019)

Sky: Sky has today announced a series of commitments to help tackle racial injustice. To ensure the commitments are delivered, Sky will invest £10million per year across its markets for each of the next three years, and its work will be overseen, implemented and measured by new diversity action and advisory groups. (8th June 2020)

Sounds great right? Despite the money and vague plans appearing mysteriously in the wake of the Black Lives Matter Movements, television workers of ethnic descent have seemingly been heard.

However, what they are doing now is watching, waiting, and prodding where necessary to make sure the issue is no longer slept on.

Having learnt from the little effect Idris Elba’s speech made in 2016, and the data that highlights the continued glaring disparities. Our money isn’t on the British Film and Television industry to come first or stay true to their word. It is, however, our responsibility to hold them accountable — and that at least we will do.

Others from the vault: