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Amongst the releases premiered at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival was a new study that laid out the pervasive inequalities at the heart of the UK film industry. The study found that 78% of all key creative positions and 81% of the most elite positions were held by men. Whilst some change is happening, The Guardian points out that at its current rate of change, the UK film industry might achieve gender parity by 2085.
The UK film industry has long been criticised for its entrenched elitism. A 2020 study into class inequality found that 61% of Writers, Producers, Arts Officers and Directors in the UK screen industry come from “privileged” backgrounds. The report notes that across the sector, only 25% of people come from the 38% of the population who have low socio-economic backgrounds. The report highlights social mobility ‘cold spots’.
Now some top-tier organisations are seeking to incubate change. In October 2023 BAFTA awarded £277,000 to 77 talented individuals from lower income backgrounds in a significant expansion of its bursaries and scholarships. The awards fund gaps in resources that might otherwise lock aspiring creatives out of the industry or act as a progression barrier. 77 is triple the number of recipients compared to two years ago.
BAFTA is also producing a resource to assist commissioners, independent producers and film studios to become more “class aware” in their practices. The online resource includes spaces for practitioners to share their own experience of tackling financial and social barriers when accessing and working in the screen arts.
In 2024 Bruno Wang Productions set out its intention to target new funding at fledgling filmmakers from underrepresented communities and lower socio-economic backgrounds to support the production and showcase of their short feature films. Bruno Wang Productions’ focus is on underwriting projects on an impact investment basis that gives equal weighting to social return as financial. Since 2015 it has been a driving force behind critically acclaimed feature films and theatrical productions that have won 29 Olivier Awards.
Bruno Wang Productions plans to support filmmakers to produce and showcase short films that highlight the importance of spiritual and mental wellness in the modern age of the mental health crisis. By supporting filmmakers from underrepresented backgrounds to produce ‘social impact entertainment’, Bruno Wang Productions expects to foster better social mobility within the arts by opening the sector to a more diverse socio-economic spectrum of filmmaking voices whose creations can also drive wider social impact and change.
In May 2024 The Film and TV Charity also launched a new series of grants to support Black-led independent films and Black individuals working in TV and film in the UK. Ethnic minority backgrounds are wildly underrepresented across the UK screen industry. Black women represent just 1% of Directors working on UK feature films. The Film and TV Charity will make grants worth up to £25,000 to Black-led independent feature films and grants of up to £10,000 for individuals to access skills and networking opportunities.
All of these initiatives have arrived at a challenging time for the UK screen industries. In February 2024, Bectu, the union representing staff and contractors in the media and entertainment industries, reported an industry slowdown. Its survey of 4,000 UK film and TV workers found that 68% are currently not working and 30% have not worked in the past three months. BAME respondents were even more likely to be out of work.
40% of female respondents say that they plan to leave the industry, compared to 34% of men. 50% of Black respondents say they will leave the industry in the next five years compared to 37% of white respondents. Perhaps more worrying, 75% of respondents to the Bectu survey report struggling with their mental health. And the impact of the growing crisis in the UK screen industry is hitting young workers the hardest: 90% of 18-24s and 82% of 25-34s report that they are struggling with their mental wellbeing as opportunities dry up.
This makes the Bruno Wang Productions’ focus on spiritual and mental wellness seem depressingly prescient. And the evident risk is that as opportunities in the UK screen industry become rarer for all, those for whom opportunities are already rare, in particular women and individuals from non-traditional backgrounds, will be further pushed out of the industry. If this happens, it could exacerbate pervasive inequalities far beyond 2085.
