Speak-easy: on representation and equity in the UK TV and film industry since 2020

African American actor, producer and showrunner Issa Rae’s thoughts on the ever-changing television and film landscape in a recent interview with Porter magazine provoked my own personal reflections on representation, accountability and fairness in the UK TV and film industry. Rae referenced a number of Black equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) professionals in Hollywood who had moved on from their roles, coincidentally as Variety announced news of my own departure from the role of head of creative diversity at the BBC.

I loved my role at the BBC. It felt like I could – and indeed was – making headway. I left with confidence that several key stakeholders and commissioners were committed to making programmes with, and for, diverse talent and audiences. So why did I leave? Unfortunately, loving a role and being committed to its purpose isn’t always enough. A psychologically safe working environment is crucial in any role, and especially important when levelling the playing field for underserved talent and audiences, which requires huge amounts of empathy and compassion. It’s not a role for the faint-hearted, and without that safety, it’s incredibly troubling work.

The list of reasons why these roles are challenging is pretty long, but significantly they can become untenable when autonomy, influence and decision-making is minimal to absent, when there is no sign of improvement and when the role is only created because, optically, ‘it’s the right thing to do’. These roles become even harder when not afforded sufficient resources to be effective and strategic. Essentially, if the role doesn’t provide the EDI executive with the true ability to change anything, they are alone in their pursuit of making sustainable changes, which is almost certainly a shortcut to burn-out. The silence and lack of changed behaviour following the publicity about this pattern of resignations in the UK and US suggests complicity in allowing such crucial roles to become untenable for individuals, and calls into question the intention behind their creation. Without true commitment from leaders right at the top of the organisation and the effort to help EDI leads succeed, these roles are performative and set up to fail.

Significantly, the Porter article points out the dwindling investment in earlier commitments to increase authentic Black stories on screen and the development of Black talent off screen. Rae states, “You’re seeing so many of these Black shows get cancelled, you’re seeing so many executives – especially on the EDI side – get canned. You’re seeing very clearly now that our stories are less of a priority”.

In May 2020, the murder of George Floyd accelerated, in knee-jerk fashion, the response to racial equity, with many organisations promising that their embrace of anti-racism was part of a movement and not merely a moment. Yet what impact have these promises had? Have we seen an increase in Black TV and film talent on and off screen that feels sufficient considering the grandiose commitments made four years ago? We have witnessed hit series like Sir Steve McQueen’s Small Axe (2020), Adjani Salmon’s Dreaming Whilst Black (2023-) and Candice Carty Williams’ Champion (2023), and films like Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023), The Little Mermaid (2023) and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) engage audiences from all backgrounds and showcase Black and global majority talent – but is that enough?
At the Royal Television Society’s 2023 event ‘The Legacy of the Black Square’, I was quite rightly taken to task – alongside colleagues from Channel 4 and Amazon – over the inequities Black and global majority talent on and off screen are facing, despite the promises made by industry giants that this would change.

A report by management consultancy McKinsey, Black Representation in Film and TV: The Challenges and Impact of Increasing Diversity, published only ten months after Floyd’s murder, said of the US: “While a certain amount of progress has been made with on-screen talent in recent years, and although several entertainment companies are starting to make strides toward diversity and inclusion, our new analysis shows that inequity persists and is deeply entrenched across the film and TV ecosystem.” The report underscores the complexity and scale of this challenge in the US, which mirrors in many ways the barriers to racial equity in the UK. With regard to what it calls a “system-level challenge”, it notes: “Tight-knit, interdependent networks dominate the landscape; unlike in many other industries, a single company’s efforts to change the racial dynamic inside its own four walls can do only so much for the entire ecosystem… real and lasting change in film and TV will require concerted action and the joint commitment of stakeholders across the industry ecosystem.”

Thinking back to 2020, in the aftermath of the UK film and TV industry’s pledges to increase racial equity, those commitments still struggled to make an impact on the number of Black and global majority talents being hired on or off screen. In fact, in 2021, Deadline’s article on the Creative Diversity Network Diamond – the online system used by UK channels to obtain consistent diversity data on programmes they commission – delivered damning data showing evidence that “diversity went into reverse in the British television industry last year”. 

It’s true that the industry is operating in unstable times. Bectu, the union for creative ambition, has outlined various recent factors it believes will result in deepening inequalities, including funding challenges at the BBC, redundancies at Channel 4, ITV’s recruitment freeze, a significant decrease in advertising spending, stalled streamer subscriptions and the increased cost of film production. Its new report UK Film and TV Industry: A Sector in Crisis, states:“The current crisis is amplifying existing inequalities across the industry. Many respondents recounted concerns that there was a doubling down of nepotistic practices, with the little work that is available going directly to a small ‘inner circle’ of friends. We found that BAME respondents were less likely to have worked at all over the past three months than their white counterparts.”

The crisis facing our workers is a real one. Anecdotal evidence and qualitative research suggest quite a gloomy future for TV and film, but I am reassured that the winners at this year’s Royal Television Society Awards included White Nanny, Black Child (2023), Top Boy (2011-2023), Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World (2023) and Black Ops (2023). While these wins do not alter the reality of the inequities facing Black and global majority talent, they do demonstrate that such stories and talent are valued by audiences in the UK and abroad, and can produce award-winning programming that impacts audiences across generations. 

I am currently working on an independent review for the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity into the BBC’s £112 million commitment to diverse programming; launched following Floyd’s murder to provide the broadcaster with recommendations for it to continue its commitment to diverse programme-makers on and off screen. I would implore the industry to do the same: to encourage film, TV, media and entertainment organisations to review their own commitments independently, transparently and in consultation with Black and global majority talent.

While we are facing tough financial times, our industry is resilient, and with sincerity, accountability and commitment we can maximise the resources we do have. With a renewed commitment to anti-racism, and with equity and a structure for accountability, we can once again start to rebuild efforts to level the playing field.