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| Bafta’s diversity efforts make me cautiously optimistic Bafta’s diversity efforts make me cautiously optimistic | |
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| When the news broke that the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) is setting a new diversity standard, I was sceptical. From 2019, films will only be eligible to win the Bafta for outstanding British film or Outstanding debut by a British writer if they meet two of four criteria: movies must prove they have worked to improve diversity across characters and themes, senior roles and crew, industry training and progression, or appeal and be accessible to under-represented audiences. Alongside this criteria, Bafta has also changed the rules for admitting new members: people will no longer need to be recommended by two existing members to join. | When the news broke that the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) is setting a new diversity standard, I was sceptical. From 2019, films will only be eligible to win the Bafta for outstanding British film or Outstanding debut by a British writer if they meet two of four criteria: movies must prove they have worked to improve diversity across characters and themes, senior roles and crew, industry training and progression, or appeal and be accessible to under-represented audiences. Alongside this criteria, Bafta has also changed the rules for admitting new members: people will no longer need to be recommended by two existing members to join. |
| I am one of the many film fans that finds the diversity debate tedious. The #OscarsSoWhite hashtag has been rolling around Twitter for years, and every awards season finds actors and filmmakers on roundtables speaking about ways the industry needs to be more diverse. But, year on year, things just don’t change. Last January, after yet another all-white list of acting nominees, the Academy awards announced a “sweeping series of substantive changes” that included “a goal to double the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020”, but soon took great pains to reassure its older, white, male members that any changes would not be at their expense. I assumed the Bafta commitment would be just another vague gesture. | I am one of the many film fans that finds the diversity debate tedious. The #OscarsSoWhite hashtag has been rolling around Twitter for years, and every awards season finds actors and filmmakers on roundtables speaking about ways the industry needs to be more diverse. But, year on year, things just don’t change. Last January, after yet another all-white list of acting nominees, the Academy awards announced a “sweeping series of substantive changes” that included “a goal to double the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020”, but soon took great pains to reassure its older, white, male members that any changes would not be at their expense. I assumed the Bafta commitment would be just another vague gesture. |
| However, after fully reading the list of criteria and the statements from Bafta itself, I’ve got to admit that I’m impressed and cautiously optimistic for the future of British film. Diversity is such a tricky concept to attempt to quantify because it means so much, but it’s clear the Bafta team is looking beyond merely race; women, disabled and LGBT+ people, and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds will count towards achieving the diversity goals. | However, after fully reading the list of criteria and the statements from Bafta itself, I’ve got to admit that I’m impressed and cautiously optimistic for the future of British film. Diversity is such a tricky concept to attempt to quantify because it means so much, but it’s clear the Bafta team is looking beyond merely race; women, disabled and LGBT+ people, and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds will count towards achieving the diversity goals. |
| Despite the fears of some, I don’t believe the criteria will force films to insert arbitrary black, female, disabled, working-class or LGBT+ characters in an attempt to qualify. I recognise that art is art, and I’m sure there are films being made where it really is necessary for everyone on screen to be white or straight. What I refuse to accept is that there aren’t more films that can have more diverse characters and themes than we currently have. In recent years, the film industry has been open to giving lead roles written for men to women. Actors point out that nothing in the script implies the part needs to be male, and so Julia Roberts took a man’s part in Secret in Their Eyes, Sandra Bullock fought for the lead in Our Brand Is Crisis and, when Brad Pitt left The Gray Man, it was Charlize Theron who took his part. Women go for these roles simply because they’re often better than the parts that are written for female leads, and I wish for a time when their peers from all backgrounds can do the same. The new rules will hopefully force British filmmakers to consider if a character written as a straight, white, wealthy, able-bodied man really needs to stay that way. | Despite the fears of some, I don’t believe the criteria will force films to insert arbitrary black, female, disabled, working-class or LGBT+ characters in an attempt to qualify. I recognise that art is art, and I’m sure there are films being made where it really is necessary for everyone on screen to be white or straight. What I refuse to accept is that there aren’t more films that can have more diverse characters and themes than we currently have. In recent years, the film industry has been open to giving lead roles written for men to women. Actors point out that nothing in the script implies the part needs to be male, and so Julia Roberts took a man’s part in Secret in Their Eyes, Sandra Bullock fought for the lead in Our Brand Is Crisis and, when Brad Pitt left The Gray Man, it was Charlize Theron who took his part. Women go for these roles simply because they’re often better than the parts that are written for female leads, and I wish for a time when their peers from all backgrounds can do the same. The new rules will hopefully force British filmmakers to consider if a character written as a straight, white, wealthy, able-bodied man really needs to stay that way. |
| That said, Bafta’s criteria explicitly gives filmmakers some leeway. You’re welcome to have an all-white film, for example, but then you need to commit to providing opportunities and having a diverse crew, or find ways for a wide range of people to see your movie. Perhaps these are the criteria that will make the biggest difference in the British film industry. According to the British Film Institute, only 3% to 6% of the cast and crew behind the films we watch are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. Forty-six per cent of women make up the film workforce, but only 13.4% of UK films released were written by them, with the percentage of films directed by women even lower at 7.8%. The standard routes into the industry of unpaid internships and voluntary roles for “exposure” are deeply inaccessible for those from working-class backgrounds, LGBT+ people are rarely the ones to tell their own stories, and the numbers when it comes to representation of disabled people in the film workforce are particularly dismal at 0.3%. | That said, Bafta’s criteria explicitly gives filmmakers some leeway. You’re welcome to have an all-white film, for example, but then you need to commit to providing opportunities and having a diverse crew, or find ways for a wide range of people to see your movie. Perhaps these are the criteria that will make the biggest difference in the British film industry. According to the British Film Institute, only 3% to 6% of the cast and crew behind the films we watch are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. Forty-six per cent of women make up the film workforce, but only 13.4% of UK films released were written by them, with the percentage of films directed by women even lower at 7.8%. The standard routes into the industry of unpaid internships and voluntary roles for “exposure” are deeply inaccessible for those from working-class backgrounds, LGBT+ people are rarely the ones to tell their own stories, and the numbers when it comes to representation of disabled people in the film workforce are particularly dismal at 0.3%. |
| Perhaps we are a long way from getting diversity in the film industry right, but Bafta’s commitment is a step in the right direction. The wide-reaching criteria acknowledges the way the film industry is connected: films reaching wider audiences can lead to a wider makeup of people entering the film industry, and diverse filmmakers and fewer barriers for the working class can lead to a more diverse cast and crew. | Perhaps we are a long way from getting diversity in the film industry right, but Bafta’s commitment is a step in the right direction. The wide-reaching criteria acknowledges the way the film industry is connected: films reaching wider audiences can lead to a wider makeup of people entering the film industry, and diverse filmmakers and fewer barriers for the working class can lead to a more diverse cast and crew. |
| It is obvious Bafta’s move won’t be easy. Does a film need to be diverse across the board, or will all-white and able-bodied films with a mixed-gender cast and crew be enough, for example? I’m sure there will be a lot of kinks to work through as British film-makers find themselves defending the ways they have worked to improve diversity. The crucial point, however, is that now they will at least feel the need to try. | It is obvious Bafta’s move won’t be easy. Does a film need to be diverse across the board, or will all-white and able-bodied films with a mixed-gender cast and crew be enough, for example? I’m sure there will be a lot of kinks to work through as British film-makers find themselves defending the ways they have worked to improve diversity. The crucial point, however, is that now they will at least feel the need to try. |