Channel 4 Teams Up With Gritty Talent

Channel 4 has teamed up with TV Talent company Gritty Talent to help indies build more diverse senior teams, in the wake of the broadcaster’s new Commissioning Guidelines published last month.

The new requirements are part of the legacy of Channel 4's The Black to Front Project to help transform on and off screen opportunities for diverse as well as disabled talent in TV.

Channel 4's new guidelines now require all the indies it works with to have ethnically diverse as well as disabled off screen talent on production teams, with the new framework coming into play on August 1st.

Channel 4 is working with Gritty Talent to help support indies in meeting these requirements.

Gritty Talent has been commissioned to do two phases of work. They will define where the skills gaps and talent shortages exist across the UK in specific genres, and they will then help to identify the suitable talent. Genres under the spotlight first will be news and current affairs, factual entertainment and documentaries.

Emma Hardy, Director of Commissioning Operations at Channel 4 said: "We want to work in partnership with producers to help them achieve our new Commissioning Diversity Guidelines. As part of our learnings from the Black To Front project, we will continue to challenge dated recruitment practices across our shows and put a robust framework in place to improve how ethnically diverse and other under represented talent is identified, supported and connected to productions. Our new partnership with Gritty Talent will help achieve this."

The work will be supported by Channel 4’s strategic training and development initiative 4Skills, which has a particular focus on supporting talent from diverse and disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

www.channel4.com