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In an incredibly bold move, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced last week that, beginning in 2019, works that do not demonstrate inclusivity in their production practices will no longer be eligible for the Outstanding British Film or Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer awards at the annual BAFTAs, often considered the U.K. equivalent of the Oscars.* Eligible projects must showcase this in two of the following ways, as the BBC reported: On-screen characters and themes, senior roles and crew, industry training and career progression, and audience access and appeal to underrepresented audiences. BAFTA will also remove the requirement that newly admitted voters be recommended by two existing members.

Many people will undoubtedly find this move to be blasphemous, leaning on the tired crutch of “artistic freedom” to label BAFTA as intrusive. They can live and die by that sword if they’d like, but they’ll only be proving that they’re not quite as creative or imaginative as they claim to be.

 

[Broken Joystick]

Just so it's clear:

*This post originally suggested that films that did not meet the diversity requirements would be ineligible for all BAFTA Awards. The requirements only apply to the Outstanding British Film or Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer awards.

 

[Dalibor68]

That is insane to me. It's one thing to support diversity financially but something else to limit awards like this, it seems extremely excessive.

*edit* nvm, just read the first post. Are those categories major ones?
Still seems extreme. Why the hell should for example a film about a small white british town by a small studio not be eligible as Outstanding British Movie just because?

 

[liquidtmd]

I really, really hope people realise this does not mean necessarily that faces in front of the camera must be exactly split between races, but the production as a whole can demonstrate their were no barriers obstructing fair representation.

Big difference. Good news.

 

[Chumley]

Uh this sounds incredibly specific from a cursory glance. Films like Manchester by the Sea would be excluded if I'm reading it right.

 

[Messofanego]

This should be in OP, too.

"The requirements only apply to the Outstanding British Film or Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer awards."

Anyway, that means more films will be set in London, heh. Mike Leigh and Ken Loach are probably sweating Wonder if they have to send a photo of their whole team to see if there is racial diversity. Or have movies about LGBT. It should be interesting. I'm sure there will be filmmakers who don't care about getting an award and just continuing the status quo.

BTW this is timed nicely with Ava Duvernay's recent tweet for doing a mannequin challenge video of her diverse team for A Wrinkle In Time:
https://twitter.com/ava/status/798269610483032064

 

[liquidtmd]

This should be in OP, too.

"The requirements only apply to the Outstanding British Film or Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer awards."

Anyway, that means more films will be set in London, heh. Mike Leigh and Ken Loach are probably sweating Wonder if they have to send a photo of their whole team to see if there is racial diversity. Or have movies about LGBT. It should be interesting. I'm sure there will be filmmakers who don't care about getting an award and just continuing the status quo.

BTW this is timed nicely with Ava Duvernay's recent tweet for doing a mannequin challenge video of her diverse team for A Wrinkle In Time:
https://twitter.com/ava/status/798269610483032064

Oh thank god, I couldn't stand another movie featuring my back yard of Chester in the North West. 2012's The Wedding Video was quite enough of that

 

[MikeHattsu]

Why the hell should for example a film about a small white british town by a small studio not be eligible as Outstanding British Movie just because?

It would be if they have enough diversity in the crew.

 

[Laieon]

Sounds like a pretty bad idea imo, definitely not the right way of going about things.

 

[Messofanego]

Uh this sounds incredibly specific from a cursory glance. Films like Manchester by the Sea would be excluded if I'm reading it right.

Or highlighting a failing in getting diverse crews. If most people in the team are white, that shows not enough people of colour are being hired to be gaffers, lighters, audio designers, digital intermediate editors, etc.

The last British film that I saw was diverse even in the cast was from this year with Remainder.

 

[SuperEpicMan]

Eligible projects must showcase this in two of the following ways, as the BBC reported: On-screen characters and themes, senior roles and crew, industry training and career progression, and audience access and appeal to underrepresented audiences. BAFTA will also remove the requirement that newly admitted voters be recommended by two existing members.

From this, my understanding would be, that it is a combination of both on-screen and off-screen talent which is taken into account. I was initially worried it would be strictly character diversity, which for some movies isn't particularly feasible (i.e. Moon).

 

[teeny]

Man, the Daily Mail article is practically gonna write itself.

Good move, imo. I hope more people, you know, actually read, process and understand the requirement here.

 

[Messofanego]

That is insane to me. It's one thing to support diversity financially but something else to limit awards like this, it seems extremely excessive.

*edit* nvm, just read the first post. Are those categories major ones?
Still seems extreme. Why the hell should for example a film about a small white british town by a small studio not be eligible as Outstanding British Movie just because?

I don't know, do we really need more movies about small white British towns getting awards? I thought Mike Leigh and Ken Loach got that covered.

Also, it's about off-screen talent too. You can have a diverse team and still shoot on location in a small white British town.

 

[Ventilaator]

I can think of plenty of reasons to have an all white cast, but zero for why the entire production crew would be completely white males, so hitting the requirements shouldn't be a problem.

 

[nekkid]

That is insane to me. It's one thing to support diversity financially but something else to limit awards like this, it seems extremely excessive.

*edit* nvm, just read the first post. Are those categories major ones?
Still seems extreme. Why the hell should for example a film about a small white british town by a small studio not be eligible as Outstanding British Movie just because?

I can understand the production staff diversity requirement, but I'm with you that there can be plenty of valid reasons to have a movie starring entirely a single race of people: historical pieces, or based on remote communties in various places in the world, for example.

I get what they're trying to do, but it feels like the wrong way of doing it. It's a culture change needed, not a potentially unfair enforcement.

Edit: I see the "two of" now.

 

[Dalibor68]

I don't know, do we really need more movies about small white British towns getting awards? I thought Mike Leigh and Ken Loach got that covered.

Also, it's about off-screen talent too. You can have a diverse team and still shoot on location in a small white British town.

You're not to decide what movies we need or don't lol.

Yes but that still doesnt change anything if people as a small studio from their hometown make a movie. This seems to be targeting the wrong people - small "white productions" - instead of the bigger studios who have way more power in that regard(outreach and hiring possibilities).

 

[kyser73]

That is insane to me. It's one thing to support diversity financially but something else to limit awards like this, it seems extremely excessive.

*edit* nvm, just read the first post. Are those categories major ones?
Still seems extreme. Why the hell should for example a film about a small white british town by a small studio not be eligible as Outstanding British Movie just because?

It doesn't have to be the cast, diversity in crew counts too.

It's all there, in the OP.

 

[The Maverick]

There's going to be a lot of concerned people who didn't read the OP shortly.

 

[Cub3h]

I appreciate the thought behind this, but this is the sort of initiative that pushed people towards Trump / Brexit. The intention is right but the optics are just horrendous.

The UK is 87% white, there are vast swaths of the country where that number is even higher than that so the only place you could realistically set your movie are London, Birmingham and maybe Leicester?

 

[jem0208]

You're not to decide what movies we need or don't lol.

Yes but that still doesnt change anything if people as a small studio from their hometown make a movie. This seems to be targeting the wrong people - small "white productions" - instead of the bigger studios who have way more power in that regard(outreach and hiring possibilities).

This was my impression.

The UK is 87% white with other ethnicities being highly localised. If you're outside an area where there's diversity chances are your entire crew and your actors are going to be white.

 

[Ushojax]

I don't see what's wrong with this, they aren't saying you have to have a diverse cast necessarily. The production as a whole needs to tick a couple of these boxes:

On-screen characters and themes, senior roles and crew, industry training and career progression, and audience access and appeal to underrepresented audiences.

Seems fine to me. If in 2016 you are still filling 95% of cast, crew and production roles with white men then you probably need to be given a kick in the arse.

 

[CyclopsRock]

I don't know, do we really need more movies about small white British towns getting awards? I thought Mike Leigh and Ken Loach got that covered.

Also, it's about off-screen talent too. You can have a diverse team and still shoot on location in a small white British town.

It's tough, though. I work for a London film company and I'd say 95% of our freelance on-set guys (gaffers, grips etc) are white (and most of those are British); That's just who is out there, applying. Our edit and CG teams are more diverse by a pretty significant way, but actually on set?

Edit: I wrote 95% here without seeing Ushojax's post above, btw.

 

[liquidtmd]

I can understand the production staff diversity requirement, but I'm with you that there can be plenty of valid reasons to have a movie starring entirely a single race of people: historical pieces, or based on remote communties in various places in the world, for example.

I get what they're trying to do, but it feels like the wrong way of doing it. It's a culture change needed, not a potentially unfair enforcement.

Cultural changes don't just happen though. If the enforcement of this is unfair, let's bitch about that and keep it under scrutiny and keep hammering at it until the enforcement standards are fair and that in turn feeds into a cultural shift.

'The potential enforcement could maybe be unfair so fuck it, let's not do it and hope culture changes by itself'? Not good enough.

Introducing a benchmark we can work on and refine? Cool.

Equally I really hope people realise we're not just talking race here but gender also.

 

[MikeHattsu]

The UK is 87% white, there are vast swaths of the country where that number is even higher than that so the only place you could realistically set your movie are London, Birmingham and maybe Leicester?

Diversity also covers disability, age, gender and people from lower socioeconomic
groups as far as I can see from the BFI leaflet:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org...fi-diversity-standards-leaflet-2016-05-11.pdf

Oh, and also an option for 'substantial local employment' for the crew thing if you're outside of greater London.

 

[John Kowalski]

Good.

 

[Zaph]

I really, really hope people realise this does not mean necessarily that faces in front of the camera must be exactly split between races, but the production as a whole can demonstrate their were no barriers obstructing fair representation.

Yup, people are going to miss (or intentionally overlook) this part and not realise the industry behind-the-camera has an even bigger problem

I appreciate the thought behind this, but this is the sort of initiative that pushed people towards Trump / Brexit. The intention is right but the optics are just horrendous.

The UK is 87% white, there are vast swaths of the country where that number is even higher than that so the only place you could realistically set your movie are London, Birmingham and maybe Leicester?

lol no

1. Brexit and Trump didn't happen because of the fight for inclusivity. And even if it did, are you really suggesting it should stop to appease moronic, bigoted people?

2. Read the statement. This can be demonstrated behind-the-camera too.

If you don't think this is a big problem, I'll happily take you into Soho House so you can see for yourself how much of this industry is just upper middle-class white men.

 

[Dalibor68]

It doesn't have to be the cast, diversity in crew counts too.

It's all there, in the OP.

And it doesn't change anything in regards to small productions. The UK is 87% white. If I'm someone from a small white town and form a studio with my white friends to make a movie about said town I am automatically disqualified for an award because of race.

Again, targeting the wrong people. It could easily adjusted if there was an exception for exsmple for certain budget limits, studio sizes or sth similar

 

[Carcetti]

Can't wait to read the comment sections on the news about this.

 

[Charles Brandon]

Hmmm. Looks very subjective to me. What does diverse mean specifically in this context? is it x% non-white or does each minority have to be represented? Does this cover sexuality and gender too? And disability? What if your production has a very small cast and crew? How is appeal to an unrepresented audience judged? What is an unrepresented audience?

For big studio pictures this shouldn't be a problem because there is enough staff and HR to accommodate these demands. For smaller, regional, indie productions I can see this being extremely problematic to the point that many small films will probably just choose not to be considered.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

It'll be difficult for smaller teams, I think. If you're a 5 man indy team and you hired totally at random from the British population, there's only a 50% chance you'd have picked someone who wasn't White British. But for the bigger filmhouses (anything ~25+ people), this is absolutely great and I hope it prompts some real changes.

EDIT: Oh, saw this:

The Standards focus on disability, gender, race,
age and sexual orientation (as they pertain to
the Equality Act 2010), because there continues
to be significant under-representation in these
areas. We also seek to ensure that people
from lower socio-economic groups are better
represented. We understand that no single
project will be able to represent all of these
areas but we expect at least one theme
or group to be prominent from the earliest
stages of an application, and consistent
representation to be maintained throughout
the life of the project.

Makes it super easy to fill. If you don't have a single woman (50% of the population), member of the working class (~33% of the population), a single person classified as having some sort of disability or impairment (~19%), non-white British person (~13%) of the population, or non-heterosexual person (~6%)... I'm pretty okay with you not getting the award.

 

[Stallion Dan]

Rules made by people in seats who have no clue about the real world.

Many debut is gonna be low budget and sourced locally, so good luck being diverse in majority white areas.

 

[Riposte]

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-38313381 (better article)

To be eligible for the two awards, films must prove they have worked to improve diversity in two of the four following areas:

On-screen characters and themes
Senior roles and crew
Industry training and career progression
Audience access and appeal to under-represented audiences

What do the last two mean, exactly?

 

[liquidtmd]

And it doesn't change anything in regards to small productions. The UK is 87% white. If I'm someone from a small white town and form a studio with my white friends to make a movie about said town I am automatically disqualified for an award because of race.

Again, targeting the wrong people. It could easily adjusted if there was an exception for exsmple for certain budget limits, studio sizes or sth similar

If you can form a studio and produce a movie worthy of qualifying for the BAFTA awards this applies to, and we're probably talking at least 100 to 200 employees bare minimum for the production (not just the internal development team, but any extras, financiers, technicians, people you consult et al), and get it so 100% of the best candidates for the job are white males you just happen to know in your friend circle, and you can show evidence that you didn't seek to recruit them through a formal interview process, then yes.

You'd also be breaking statistical odds far higher than the 87% figure you cite.

 

[Com Truise]

If that 87% white number is true then everything about this just seems bizarre as fuck. Maybe save your diversity requirements for countries that are actually diverse lol.

 

[Breakfast at Noon]

Baftas going to be empty then.

 

[Ushojax]

And it doesn't change anything in regards to small productions. The UK is 87% white. If I'm someone from a small white town and form a studio with my white friends to make a movie about said town I am automatically disqualified for an award because of race.

Again, targeting the wrong people. It could easily adjusted if there was an exception for exsmple for certain budget limits, studio sizes or sth similar

Is the UK 87% male too?

 

[MikeHattsu]

It'll be difficult for smaller teams, I think. If you're a 5 man indy team and you hired totally at random from the British population, there's only a 50% chance you'd have picked someone who wasn't White British. But for the bigger filmhouses (anything ~25+ people), this is absolutely great and I hope it prompts some real changes.

Looks like there's an allowance for smaller crews:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org...fi-diversity-standards-faqs-2016-05-11-v1.pdf

We would potentially make allowances for productions where the total number of people involved in project delivery is less than approximately 25.

 

[liquidtmd]

Baftas going to be empty then.

Maybe they could slightly tweak their name to make it more appealing the following year.

NAFTAS? NAMBLA's?

 

[Jonnax]

The "significant change" will bring in more people from minorities, women, people with disabilities and from lower socio-economic groups, Bafta said.

But yes. Please continue on about how there's too few non whites in Britain.

 

[Bold One]

Man, the Daily Mail article is practically gonna write itself.

Good move, imo. I hope more people, you know, actually read, process and understand the requirement here.

 

[BowieZ]

All for this, even if it's only the two main British categories.

Nobody's forcing you to make your film this way, but if you want the PRIVILEGE of being recognised by this particular celebrated academy of artists, then you need to offer privilege to others (who probably would be overlooked normally due to a lingering racial division among many aspects of society, deliberate or not).

 

[hodgy100]

Hmmm. Looks very subjective to me. What does diverse mean specifically in this context? is it x% non-white or does each minority have to be represented? Does this cover sexuality and gender too? And disability? What if your production has a very small cast and crew? How is appeal to an unrepresented audience judged? What is an unrepresented audience?

For big studio pictures this shouldn't be a problem because there is enough staff and HR to accommodate these demands. For smaller, regional, indie productions I can see this being extremely problematic to the point that many small films will probably just choose not to be considered.

Read below

Diversity also covers disability, age, gender and people from lower socioeconomic
groups as far as I can see from the BFI leaflet:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org...fi-diversity-standards-leaflet-2016-05-11.pdf

Oh, and also an option for 'substantial local employment' for the crew thing if you're outside of greater London.

 

[Zaph]

Gotta love the backflips people are already doing to make this appear unworkable. Apparently films are being made that only ever require 5 white friends from the middle of england? And apparently there isn't a bunch of other qualifying factors that have nothing to do with race?

Diversity doesn't just mean include more black/asian people.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-38313381 (better article)



What do the last two mean, exactly?

Industry training and career progression - this industry has a massive problem with low paid entry-level jobs going to friends and family, or otherwise connected people. Assistant/runner jobs being horsetraded, making it very difficult for someone with no connections to start working on-set. So they could qualify for one of these awards by demonstrating they went outside of the industry bubble to find runners for example.

Audience access and appeal to under-represented audiences - so if the entire cast and crew was white, middle-class men, they could still qualify if the story was about something under-represented, like living with a disability or something.

 

[Charles Brandon]

Looks like there's an allowance for smaller crews:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org...fi-diversity-standards-faqs-2016-05-11-v1.pdf

Well that's good.

I dunno. I think the devil here is in the detail. Do you have to have a selection of people from all different genders/sexual preferences/races/classes/abilities or is it enough just to have some people that are not middle-class, straight, able-bodied, white men. If the latter, then does just hiring women allow you to meet the criteria? Or just hiring people from a lower socio-economic group (and how the fuck is that judged?)?

Its hard to understand how these criteria can be set without making them either ridiculously prescriptive or so easy to game that they may as well not exist.

 

[teeny]

.

One should always old out hope.

 

[Messofanego]

If that 87% white number is true then everything about this just seems bizarre as fuck. Maybe save your diversity requirements for countries that are actually diverse lol.

The "significant change" will bring in more people from minorities, women, people with disabilities and from lower socio-economic groups, Bafta said.​

Not just accounting for white people.

UK is quite diverse, compared to other European countries and USA. It's just not as reflected in the arts and can afford to be, hence this decision.

 

[MikeHattsu]

All for this, even if it's only the two main British categories.

Nobody's forcing you to make your film this way, but if you want the PRIVILEGE of being recognised by this particular celebrated academy of artists, then you need to offer privilege to others (who probably would be overlooked normally due to a lingering racial division among many aspects of society, deliberate or not).

It's not just about race. It's also about disability, gender, age, sexual orientation and people from lower socio-economic groups.

Well that's good.

I dunno. I think the devil here is in the detail. Do you have to have a selection of people from all different genders/sexual preferences/races/classes/abilities or is it enough just to have some people that are not middle-class, straight, able-bodied, white men. If the latter, then does just hiring women allow you to meet the criteria? Or just hiring people from a lower socio-economic group (and how the fuck is that judged?)?

Its hard to understand how these criteria can be set without making them either ridiculously prescriptive or so easy to game that they may as well not exist.

For diversity in the crew:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org...fi-diversity-standards-leaflet-2016-05-11.pdf

THERE ARE 4 OPTIONS IN THIS SECTION:

B1 At least 3 of Director, Scriptwriter, Principal Producer, Composer, DoP, Editor, Costume Designer and Production Designer
For Programmes & Festivals: where the artistic leadership is delivered by individuals from one or more of the under-represented groups

B2 At least 6 other key roles (which could be mid-level crew & technical positions, or other roles where there is existing under-representation)
For Programmes & Festivals: at least 6 other key project staff

B3 At least half of all crew or project staff are a mix of under-represented groups, in a variety of departments and varying levels of seniority

B4 Productions located in the UK outside Greater London that demonstrate an intention to offer substantial local employment

AT LEAST 2 OF THE 4 AREAS NEED TO BE ADDRESSED TO MEET STANDARD B

And for people from lower socio-economic groups:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org...fi-diversity-standards-faqs-2016-05-11-v1.pdf

We do not apply a specific measure of what constitutes low socio-economic
status for the Diversity Standards. If your project aims to address this area of underrepresentation, you should explain why you consider the individuals involved to be of lower socio-economic status – whether you are representing people on screen, offering employment, providing industry access or developing audiences.

 

[ZeroX03]

UK is quite diverse, compared to other European countries and USA. It's just not as reflected in the arts and can afford to be, hence this decision.

The UK seems to be significantly more white than the US? Are there higher numbers in disabled or lower socioeconomic economic groups?

 

[teeny]

The UK seems to be significantly more white than the US?

This is not just about race, though. Diversity covers a lot of underrepresented groups. See above.

 

[Charles Brandon]

The UK seems to be significantly more white than the US?

It is. Although there is a big difference between the major cities (as diverse as anywhere on earth) and the smaller towns, villages and the countryside (99% white).