Building equity in the UK media sector – by Mel Rodrigues

We need to get better at building equity in the media sector in the UK – and Wales could pave the way for a brighter future…  

Guest blog by Mel Rodrigues 

My background 

Perhaps I should preface this piece with a tale about a little girl (me!) who used to come to Cardiff every Easter to visit her Gran. My Grandma – Blandina Fernandes Rodrigues – was a proud Welsh import. She was born in Goa a century ago, and in 1948 found herself on a boat to Mombasa in Kenya where she met her new husband – my Grandad. English was her third language – Welsh her fourth.  

I didn’t know it at the time but as the only Goan-Kenyan-Cardiffian’s in Splott, I was being taught a huge life lesson about the values of inclusion, diversity, and acceptance – and the dynamics of multicultural societies. 

Wales – a multicultural society 

• In Cardiff, we know from the 2021 Cardiff Census that we have the highest proportions of those identifying as Muslim (at 9.3%), Hindu (1.5%) and Sikh (0.4%), and the second highest proportion of those identifying as Buddhist (0.4%) In Wales. 

• 2.9% of the Welsh population identify as Asian, Asian Welsh or Asian British and 1.6% of the population identify as Mixed or multiple ethnic groups. About 1% identify as Black, Black Welsh, Black British, Caribbean or African. 

• We know from the 2021 Cardiff Census that 21.1 % of people – over a fifth – identify as being D/deaf, Disabled and/or Neurodivergent (DDN). 

• Generation Z – the most ethnically diverse, neuro-diverse and gender fluid generation in history –  is set to become the largest generation on Earth.  

Around the world we’re also seeing demographic shifts – people from Global Ethnic Majority groups will make up over half of the US population by 2044. 

According to UK data, “with 1 in 4 of the Welsh population now identifying as disabled, and less than 8% D/deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent (DDN) representation on and off screen, there’s never been a more important time to talk about accessibility in our sector…” (Accessible Futures Summit 2024). Although, there are no official statistics for Wales and the figure is likely to be much higher than this.   

But if we’re living in rapidly changing times, why do some sectors- like the creative industries – feel like they’re making painstakingly slow progress when it comes to diversity and inclusion? For a sector that prides itself on innovation, progress and representation,  why aren’t we making much headway across the UK?  

We live and work in a diverse world. Our audiences and our workforce have multiple identities, needs and perspectives. We have a duty to reflect all this breadth, beauty and complexity in our programme making – on and off screen. If we don’t, we risk becoming irrelevant to audiences, and our industry won’t attract the best creative minds – from all groups.  

Attracting, retaining and progressing talent in the UK screen industries 

In the UK – we have a problem when it comes to attracting, retaining and progressing talent. The ScreenSkills Unscripted Report (2022) found that every part of the UK was reporting skills and talent gaps. While the current commissioning crisis has led to a sharp downturn in available roles – we still have a challenge with the workforce being skilled and experienced in key areas for when the business returns. In Cardiff we’re short on Development Producers, specialist Producers, Show Runners, in addition to production management roles – according to the Screen Workforce Survey conducted by our colleagues at the University of South Wales. 

Our pipeline is far too narrow. Brilliant talent from a broad range of groups is either being excluded from joining, or if they’ve made it in – they are finding it hard to sustain a career and progress. Many of them will leave. This is being compounded by the commissioning crisis – with the latest survey from BECTU (July 2024) indicating that there is a ‘huge TV industry skills exodus’ imminent, with nearly four out of 10 (38%) film and TV workers planning to leave the sector within five years. The proportion of workers from a minority ethnic background planning to leave the industry is significantly higher, with nearly half (44%) of Black respondents, 41% of Asian respondents, and 40% of respondents from mixed or multiple ethnic groups indicating they intend to leave – compared with 37% of white respondents. 

Even before the commissioning crisis hit, we knew we had a problem with talent from under-represented groups leaving or facing blockers to progress. The data from diversity monitoring seems to show that while people from Black, Asian and other non-white ethnicity groups – the Global Ethnic Majority – are being recruited in increasing numbers, they remain clustered in junior positions and under-represented at senior, decision-making levels.  

• Black Producers, Directors and Producer Directors make up 2.8% of the senior workforce. 

• D/deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent people are represented off-screen at nowhere near the UK population level of 20%. It’s about 8%. If we continue the same path, the proportion of TV & film employees who are neurodivergent (DDN) will fall over the next five years.  

• In their five year review of the UK Film and TV sector, OFCOM (the regulator for the UK’s communications industries) found that women are more likely to be leaving television than joining it.   

• The media workforce in Wales highlights the scale of the challenge. According to the Media Cymru and University of South Wales’ Wales Screen Workforce Survey, there’s evidence of lower retention rates of women aged 31-50 even though more women are recruited at entry level. Around half of the workforce have caring responsibilities; 70% of women with caring responsibilities aged between 26-50 had considered leaving the industry.  

“Broadcasters must work harder to be leaders of change. The UK is a rich mix of cultures and identities that people rightly expect to see reflected on-screen and within creative industries. We know, from our extensive audience research, be it our representation and portrayal review, our review into news and current affairs or our current review into Public Service Broadcasters, Small Screen: Big Debate, that people want to see and hear people like themselves portrayed on-screen. Greater diversity in front of and behind the camera – and among decision-makers – is key.”  Vikki Cook, Ofcom’s Director, Content and Media Policy 

Building a diverse and inclusive media ecosystem  

It might feel like an impossible hill to climb, but the data gives fresh urgency to the need to focus our efforts, work together and build a healthy, abundant ecosystem here in Wales where big, structural problems can be tackled.  

So, where to start? There are a multitude of cross-cutting economic, educational, structural and cultural reasons why people with great skills and huge potential believe that a career in TV and creative practice is closed off to them. There’s not going to be a catch-all solution, but we can start doing deeper work in key areas. 

Socio-economic disadvantage is an area where I think we, as a collective, could really make an impact in Wales. We cannot continue to be a sector that only retains the people who can afford to work in it.   

I’m pleased to see that Media Cymru has embedded principles of fair and green economic growth as a core part of their programme to transform the sector along with 22 of Wales’ most influential media on board  to build a truly equitable media sector.  

It starts with each of us. We need to take a brutally honest look at the current culture of our organisations. We need to take a critical lens to our existing HR, recruitment and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) policies and processes. 

The UK TV and Film sector has made some important  moves in the last decade to address its diversity and inclusion challenges, and in many ways is leading the way in coming up with solutions that are grounded in reality and reflect the nuanced and intersecting reasons why we’re failing to achieve good representation – particularly in mid/senior and decision-making roles. 

Diversity targets set by broadcasters have been an important step to assess where we are and aim for change. The fact that many productions aren’t able to meet them has led to us looking deeper at our work cultures and to ask why we’re losing so much talent from the pipeline, while others are stuck and don’t progress.  

All the evidence points to working cultures – the freelance nature of the workforce, coupled with long hours and informal hiring practices all adding to an exclusive, and at times, inaccessible industry for many. 

But trying to retrofit a production company to be meaningfully and sustainably inclusive – let alone an entire industry – is really hard. This is because existing structures and practices for hiring creative talent and running teams have been in place for decades and are based on being able to respond quickly to commissions – often with a lean budget and ambitious schedule. 

As a result, production heads are having to re-learn the way they plan shoots, recruit teams/talent and carve out work cultures. It is painstaking work – no one size fits all – but it is leading to some exciting and innovative change that we have started to see in Wales.  

Inclusion Accelerator Wales Training Programme 

This year, the first cohort of 10 indies took part in Inclusion Accelerator Wales – a programme of training, mentoring and data analysis commissioned by University of South Wales and delivered by Gritty Talent,Media Cymru, Channel 4 and BBC Cymru Wales.  

“Triongl recently took part in the Inclusion Accelerator workshops delivered by Gritty Talent on behalf of Media Cymru and USW. We found it invaluable having the opportunity to discuss openly the unique challenges to inclusion we face here in Wales; to get a picture of where we are at as an industry and as an individual company and identify the targets to strive for and how to get there. The data collected and distributed amongst us as a group as well as frank conversations with the other Welsh indies in the room means we left feeling empowered and armed with the tools to make the changes we all want to make.” Nora Spiteri, Triongl

The data from the talent pool combined with networking and group activities has equipped 20+ senior leaders with the knowledge and tools to create accessible environments for D/deaf, Disabled and/or Neurodivergent talent, as well as pooling resources to recruit and progress talent from all underrepresented groups. Our aim is that this can serve as a blueprint of inclusive working for the whole cluster – and maybe even the industry at large. 

“USW is all about the future creative workforce and enabling them to tell more diverse stories. With the Inclusion Accelerator we wanted to focus on tackling “fairness” in the workplace and in particular supporting our fantastic indie sector to create amazing, bold, innovative stories about the whole of Wales in the most inclusive way possible.” Richard Hurford, University of South Wales 

Actions for industry  

Having undergone such an intensive process with this cohort l these are three priority actions I’d urge companies and organisations to commit to, to start delivering tangible and measurable changes:  

1. Write an Access statement: imagine each time you send someone your CV having to ask if there is step-free access, a quiet space for screen breaks or an adjustable desk. Providing this information proactively means that talent is more likely to want to come to work for you because they don’t have to ask these awkward questions and can just get in and get on with their work. 

1. Work out your talent and diversity gaps: all UK broadcasters and most international now have specific Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) targets. Imagine a world where you have done this work proactively, so when talking to your commissioner, you already know what your team looks like and where to put effort in recruitment so you can put this in your staff and training budget. When you know what your biggest diversity and inclusion gaps are – pick one grassroots group – and commit to working with them for a year. Offer mentoring, camera workshops, shadowing. In return you’ll get the best talent from that group and they’ll want to come to you because they’ve seen how you have invested in them. 

1. Write this work into your budget: all major UK broadcasters have committed multi-million pots to supporting diversity and inclusion. I’ve worked with productions who have gone to their commissioners, explained their plan to recruit talent from specific groups to improve their Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), and given detailed plans of the training and upskilling which will happen in the life cycle of that production to make sure talent progress. A good plan with clear outcomes is really hard to say no to. Especially if you have a long production cycle – if you can pledge to upskill talent during that time – the pipeline is moving and shaking in the right direction.  

It’s truly encouraging to see the commitment in the sector as companies and broadcasters work together to make inclusion happen in practice. This summer saw a groundswell of support and visibility for diverse work practices during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games and when we published the Inclusion Accelerator Wales Report.  

In addition, my team at Gritty Talent worked with Media Cymru and others to deliver the second Accessible Futures Summit in September 2024 The involvement from the sector was phenomenal and it was heartening to witness the influx of support and interest. 

About Mel Rodrigues 

Mel is an award-winning business leader, inclusion consultant and advocate, with 20+ years’ experience working in the TV and wider screen sector. 

Her career has taken her across a range of production, training and leadership roles, including Creative Diversity Lead at Channel 4. 

In 2019 she set up her own impact-driven company, Gritty Talent, in order to support and progress people from under-represented groups in TV and  Film careers. 

Mel is a proud adopted Bristolian but hails originally from the West Midlands. In her spare time she’s also the Vice Chair of Women in Film and TV. 

In September 2024 she started a new role as Chief Executive of Creative Access. 

About Gritty Talent 

Gritty Talent is an impact-driven talent and technology company, founded on the mission to accelerate representation and inclusion in the UK’s creative and digital sectors.