Boom Cymru and Rondo Media are award-winning multi-genre production companies based in Cardiff and North Wales. 

Innovation in the media sector encompasses the way we work and with diversity, equity and inclusion a focal point for the sector, production companies Boom Cymru and Rondo Media have created an innovative new programme to address social mobility and diversity, through ‘The Open Door Initiative’.  

Yeota talks about how research and development (R&D) doesn’t just mean big tech. Innovation can take many forms… it’s about people, it’s about training and it’s about creating diversity within the sector.

Yeota Imam-Rashid, Training and Development Officer at Boom Cymru:

The Open Door Initiative… 

I’m Project Lead for ‘The Open Door Initiative’, a joint venture between Boom Cymru and Rondo Media to address the diversity and inclusion gap in the sector. Boom Cymru and Rondo Media are award-winning multi-genre production companies based in Cardiff and North Wales. They produce content for S4C, network TV (including BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5), international broadcast and a range of digital platforms.

Diversifying the media industry in Wales 

One of the major challenges the Welsh media sector is facing is diversity and inclusion. The Open Door Initiative is tackling this head-on. We’re bringing in twelve new entrants from low-income backgrounds to really help diversify the sector. As it stands now, the sector isn’t truly representative or reflective of the wider community and society in Britain – with a significant lack of socio-economic diversity. With our new trainees being predominantly Welsh speakers, this gives our new entrants an opportunity to work across a range of productions for a variety of audiences and really hone their bilingual skillset, as many of Boom and Rondo’s productions are made in the Welsh language. 

We also wanted to make sure that we are actually helping people stay in the industry and will make a concerted effort to secure new opportunities for our cohorts as the initiative training period comes to a close.  

I’ve been on industry training schemes myself and The Open Door Initiative is distinct in that we aim to retain as many of the trainees within Rondo and Boom if relevant positions arise, as well as provide post initiative support. Some schemes can feel like once your time is up, you’re on your own and we wanted to take a very different approach with our scheme.  

Supporting new entrants to the media with their career aspirations 

During the development phase of the project, it became apparent that one of the biggest barriers facing our new entrants was accessibility. The sheer cost of travel to get to and from work/placements, the challenges around public transport and sometimes even a hybrid working model could be problematic for new entrants. We decided to change the length of the programme from twelve months to eight months to allow our budget to support travel costs and offer travel bursaries for all. Our early research also found that a lack of connections within the industry was a particular challenge – together with long and complicated application forms, which were often bewildering and off-putting. We wanted to address all these issues and make it much simpler and more transparent for people wishing to enter the industry.  

We really don’t want this scheme to be a “tick-box” exercise for diversity, so our focus is to retain talent within the industry. We’re focused on keeping trainees within the industry and putting them into roles they’re passionate about so they can thrive. It’s incredible to see them develop and create work they (and we!) are so proud of. Part of this journey is providing them with a broad set of skills and preparing them for the next phase of their careers with mock interviews and CV workshops. We want talent managers to be ready to receive them towards the end of their time with us.  

Creating the conditions for fairness and growth  

While on the scheme, the twelve new entrants receive a Real Living Wage and during the eight-month scheme they’ll work on a range of English and Welsh language productions across Boom and Rondo. They’ll also be a part of monthly training sessions with industry professionals and work with both a mentor and work buddies.  

During this period, they’ll take on a variety of roles such as Production Assistant, Researcher, Social Media Assistant, Runner or Edit Assistant. This will help them get a holistic view of the media industry and for many it helps them identify their strengths and areas of interest. 

Research and Development (R&D) – a brilliant process of discovery… 

I have engaged with Research and Development (R&D) projects before. I did a Clwstwr project with some of Media Cymru’s team which got me into the zone with this project.

Media Cymru × Boom Cymru × Rondo Media 

Media Cymru have been pivotal in supporting us in launching this scheme and really addressing a major challenge within the industry. Without their support and funding, I don’t believe that the Open Door Initiative would have been possible.  

About Yeota Imam-Rashid 

Yeota was born in Germany and moved to Cardiff when she was four years old. 

After graduating from Bournemouth University with a Masters degree in TV and Film Production, she spent ten years at Islam Channel working her way up from Studio Operator to Head of Women’s Programming. 

Yeota took a short career break and moved back to Cardiff, days before lockdown and spent three years working in production companies as an Assistant Producer, across different indies. She has worked on music and historical documentaries, medical and cooking shows for network TV. 

She is now channeling her energy and passion in helping to diversify the media sector in Wales. Currently, Yeota is working  with Media Cymru, Boom Cymru and Rondo Media as a Training and Development Officer to develop a new training scheme. The Open Door Initiative is for new entrants into the sector from a lower socio economic background.  

She also leads on UK Muslim Film’s Young Imaginators programme where she and a team of industry professionals, deliver all-day workshops to Year 6 children in Primary schools, on stereotypes and unconscious bias understanding and content creation with state-of-the-art equipment. 

About Boom Cymru 

Boom Cymru is one of Wales’s largest production groups. Established in 1994, they are a trusted, multi-genre company that produces over 400 hours of content annually for S4C, BBC, ITV, C4, C5 and U&Dave.  

Through their television and digital production divisions (Boom Cymru, Boom, Boom Social and Boom Kids), the group has an impressive track-record of producing award-winning factual, factual-entertainment, entertainment, drama and children’s content.  

Boom Cymru is dedicated to producing the finest quality for Welsh broadcasters S4C, BBC Wales and ITV Wales, while the Boom division focuses on creating compelling content for the UK’s network broadcasters and international markets. They are also proud producers of innovative and entertaining multi-platform social content. 

About Rondo Media 

Rondo Media is a major UK independent multi-genre production company, producing content for a wide range of UK and international broadcasters.  

Rondo has extensive post-production facilities at its base in Caernarfon and Cardiff. 

Their digital department brings together creative and technical disciplines to produce meaningful user experiences for business’s needs.