The time is now
In late March Goldsmiths, University of London held a panel debate on representation and diversity in television, called Are You Being Heard? as part of the Future for Public Service Television Inquiry, which is being chaired by Lord Putnam. The panel itself was chaired by Pat Younge, former BBC production chief creative officer and current managing director of Sugar Films and included: Dawn Foster, writer on politics, social affairs and economics at the Guardian; Bev Skeggs, Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths; and actor, writer and TV presenter Sir Lenny Henry.
Sir Lenny started the event with a sharp, funny and passionate speech on increasing black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) representation on the British television industry, in which he mentioned the possibility of a ring fenced “catalyst fund” for BAME talent both in front and behind the camera, saying “I think everyone in the television industry today would agree that ensuring diversity in front of the camera, diversity behind the camera, and a diversity of programmes and voices that speak to all the nations, regions and communities must be our ultimate goal if we are going to truly serve our viewing audiences now, and in the future.”
He compared this with the BBC moving programme making out to Wales, Scotland and the regions outside of London, making an important point about ghettoising such talent: BAME programme makers shouldn’t be pigeonholed into making programmes about only ethnic-specific issues.
The panel touched upon this along with questions on working class representation and how such drives towards representation are seen, especially in the wake of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. On the question of whether moves towards promoting BAME talent would be seen as people being promoted due to affirmative action rather than because of talent, the panel encouraged people to work so hard in those positions that such doubts would be driven away: no one now questions the talent of programme makers in Wales, Scotland and the regions following programme making being pushed in those areas.
The event was live streamed
One question, which I’ll try to paraphrase, stuck out for me: why are black actresses just friends? Never fancied, never leading, never focused on? The answers pointed to getting around conservative gatekeepers, such as producers and casting agents and making one’s own programmes to go out on platforms such as YouTube in order to show that such thinking could gain an audience. The panelists pointed to House of Black, Mandem on the Wall and SBTV as creators and platforms that worked around the mainstream to gain new audiences. I thought about this question myself: in my film made a point of writing characters of colour with agency, but wondered if I’m writing them with enough.
One creator who does make programmes with diverse casts and crews, and where black women are desired and lead is Shonda Rimes, who was much heralded by the panel. They mentioned that she does not look on her triumvirate of Thursday night ratings winners Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder as diversifying television, but normalising it, away from a monochrome world that no longer exists. The panel encouraged the audience to do the same in their work, and push for TV’s gatekeepers to do the same.
Burning Details 
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