Film Council unveil diversity proposals

The Film Council have unveiled a series of new proposals to increase diversity within the UK film industry workforce, and ensure that talent from all sections of the community is able to flourish.
The Film Council want to address the diversity challenge on three fronts; To help the industry achieve a more diverse workforce behind and in front of the camera' across the film industry value chain; To ensure that equality and diversity commitments are fully integrated into every aspect of all core Film Council activities including the programmes of all the organisations they fund; And to enable all sections of the community to participate in and enjoy film culture as audiences and learners.
The Film Council believe there is an obvious need for change. Although 4.6 million people living in the UK are from minority ethnic groups (9% of the population), and they are keen cinema-goers (composing 12.8% of UK cinema audiences), they make up only 1.6% of the film and video production workforce.
Women, who make up 77% of cinema cleaners, only account for 10% of camera people and 8% of lighting technicians. An analysis carried out by the bfi found that of 350 films made in the UK, only eight were directed by women. The proportion of disabled employees in the audiovisual industry has remained unchanged since 2001 at 0.8% - well below the national average of disabled people in the workforce.
Improving diversity is widely recognised as making sound business sense. Organisations made up of mixed ethnic groups, backgrounds and gender are likely to be more creative than those which are not. The 2002 Schneider-Ross study of 140 major businesses and organisations discovered that 80% of businesses saw a direct link between good diversity policies and improved performance.
Among the proposals to improve diversity in the UK film industry are; A new code of practice with goals on employment, training, casting, content and portrayal for under-represented groups within the industry; Schemes to open up access to opportunities in the film industry including access bursaries, summer school programmes, and a targeted marketing campaign; And looking at ways in which future fiscal policy and new co-production treaties could be used to help make the film workforce more inclusive.
The Film Council are also to incorporate targets on equal opportunities into each of their funding agreements, including production, development and with partners such as the bfi and national and regional screen agencies. The Film Council will also develop an online toolkit to provide all sectors of the film industry with information and advice on equality and diversity issues.
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