Bafta 2021: Highly Diverse But A Sign of Genuine Change?

[Image: Bafta]

By Saul Gunn

The murder of George Floyd last year in America saw worldwide protests and ushered in a reinvigorated discourse on racism that transcended issues from the treatment of people from ethnic minorities in police custody, to racism’s more far-reaching influences in society.  

These events have also catalysed the resurgence of discussions surrounding the term ‘diversity’. Definitions of diversity are varied, but generally refer to the inclusion of people from a variety of different backgrounds, whether defined by gender, sexual orientation, disability, or ethnicity.  

Diversity is a particularly important issue in media, with people often viewing what is portrayed in media as a reflection of society, exemplified by studies such as a 2018 Evidence Review for the University of Leicester proposing that ‘the screen sector [… ] is valued as an important part of British culture and plays a role in constructing national and individual identity’. 

This message and reasoning seems to be at the heart of the continuing prominence of the diversity discourse in UK media, a discourse that has  been added to by a hugely diverse nomination list for the Bafta Awards this year.

With the winners set to be announced this weekend, indeed nearly a year on from the protests that thrust the diversity discussion back into the spotlight, it’s a fitting time to reflect on whether there has actually been any meaningful, tangible, progress toward improving diversity in the UK media industry. 

One potential measure of improvement of diversity in the industry is by  assessing employment opportunities for those from diverse backgrounds.  Increasing these opportunities seems to be exactly what many media companies have rushed to do.

‘Rocks’ is up for an Outstanding British Film award. [Image: Altitude]

Significantly, these practices have been adopted by top flight companies in the UK media industry, such as with Sky partnering with UK-based social enterprise Creative Access to provide 18 sought-after placements for people from under-represented groups across Sky’s UK content division. In addition, Sky has set a target for 20% of their employees to be from  ‘ethnically diverse backgrounds’ by 2025. 

A very similar target has been set by the BBC, with a compulsory 20% ‘diverse-talent target’ in all new network commissions, in effect from this month. This target was announced as part of a new commitment undertaken by the BBC to allocate a whopping £100 million of its commissioning budget toward diverse content over the next three years, which will surely have a tangible and visual impact on the programming aired by the BBC in years to come. Significantly, the BBC also announced another plan in February to boost diversity behind the camera too, that it hopes will set a ‘gold standard’ for the rest of the UK media industry. 

What will move the needle in these scenarios however is whether these efforts can overcome past limitations of attempts to improve diversity in the  UK media industry, with a recurring theme emerging from various reports such as the 2018 University of Leicester Review and a 2020 Ofcom report finding that the lack of representation of employees from ethnic minorities was much more pronounced in more senior and better-paid positions.  

Many diversity schemes are already in full swing, including one initiative run by Bafta called Elevate. Whilst Elevate was aimed at improving diversity in the film and TV industry, news broke in March of one participant, India Eva Rae, claiming she had been subject not only to racist comments by a casting director, but then was encouraged after reporting it to a mentor on the scheme to not report it further, with the mentor reasoning that it would  damage her future employment chances if she did. With this considered, it seems there is more work to be done with regards to making the UK media industry an accommodating environment for its diversity ambitions.  

Indeed this caveat also lends context to Bafta’s celebrated diverse nominations list this year, with this year’s nominations coming after multiple years of backlash against previous very un-diverse years at the Baftas, which saw #BaftaSoWhite trending across social media and, last year, not a single actor of colour being nominated.  

However, after the Oscars were rocked by similar accusations and consequent hashtag  (#OscarsSoWhite), it eventually had a positive impact on Hollywood in terms of diversity. A September 2019 report released by USC Annenberg found that 2018 saw a ‘historic high in hiring Black directors’ and a 12-year high in Black characters, very likely an effect of the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag that first gained prominence in 2015. 

Effectively, the more ‘diverse’ films that gain recognition from awarding bodies, such as Bafta, the more ‘diverse’ films we are likely to see being made. And there are encouraging pointers that Bafta is committed to the diversity cause more sincerely than just cleaning up their image, having introduced over 120 changes to the voting process to help facilitate the recognition of diverse films.

This has most prominently included expanding the categories to allow for more nominees in each which will, in turn, allow voters to see more diverse films and stories. It’s worth noting that the Oscars’ success in increasing diversity also stemmed from an overhauling of their own voting process.  

When the Bafta winners are picked from the unprecedentedly diverse array of nominees on Sunday night, we will get a glimpse of the impact that these diversity efforts have started to make.

No doubt the outcome will have a poignant effect on the diversity discourse that continues to run in UK media, but the significant question will still remain as to wether these emboldened schemes, initiatives and efforts to promote diversity will continue with as much veracity after the diversity discourse has calmed.

Has diversity merely become a trendy bit of lip-service for  media companies and institutions alike to adopt in their operations, or is it a sign of genuine change to come? 

The jury’s still out on that one.