British Film Industry To Penalise “Non-Diverse” Movies

Published: Friday 16th Dec 2016 by David
aja-naomi-king

More determined than ever to combat the misrepresentation/erasure of people of colour in film is the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

How they plan to achieve what many believed was the impossible?

Penalising movie projects which make a concerted effort to exclude ethnic minorities in front of and behind the camera.

Major news below…

From 2019, any movie which hopes to bag a BAFTA will be required to satisfy a list of requirements designed to encourage healthy diversity within the entertainment industry.

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

To qualify for a nomination in the categories for Outstanding British Film and Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer movie makers must meet at least two of the requirements listed above.

The groundbreaking new rules are to be implemented after the organisation acknowledged the way in which negative and inaccurate portrayals of ethnic minorities reinforced stereotypes which stifled movie-goers in their everyday lives.

BAFTA shared in a statement :

We believe they are a flexible and achievable model, which the whole industry can adopt as a shared language for understanding diversity. This widens the pool of potential members and ensures that it’s only talent, and not also who you know, that enables BAFTA membership.

The organisation FIND add:

Our tv and cinema screens should reflect the diversity of the audiences who watch them and we should be able to see our lives, hopes and fears accurately portrayed. For too long the presence of non-white communities, women, people with disabilities, people from poor or working class backgrounds and people from the LGBT community has either been non-existent or misrepresented on our screens.

 

Do you agree?

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  1. High Class Rita December 16, 2016

    Fantastic! You’re not going to take our money without giving us something in return. That video of the kids and dolls prove that media is programming people not to like black people.

  2. Citizen of the World December 16, 2016

    Great idea. Only those of us who come from minority backgrounds know how misrepresentation harms us so we should welcome this. It’s interesting to see that some people think diversity means the exclusion of white people. Reverse psychology or nah?

  3. Brown Suga December 16, 2016

    This is going to make it harder for those greying white men and self hating black men in Hollywood to force feed their ideas on us. For that alone, I am elated. I don’t want someone with unhealthy ideas about my people to tell the world what they think I am based on THEIR insecurities.

  4. Moonlight December 16, 2016

    This is music to my ears!!! Discrimination against white gay people decreased when GLAAD forced hollywood to reevaluate how it presented LGBTQ white people so I’m sure this move will help show the masses that there is more to black peoples than fried chicken and “black on black crime.” I just hope the white gay establishment does more for LGBT people of color and not just the wealthy white gays in West Hollywood or the jocks they want to sleep with.

  5. King Idris December 16, 2016

    The insecure little schlong writers will be pressed!!! Now how will they punish the alpha males they are jealous of? #writewhatyouknow #youpresentuspoorlysoyoucanfeelbetteraboutyourowninadequecies.

  6. S****** Blonde December 16, 2016

    I’m here for diversity but it shouldn’t be mandatory, this is ridiculous, so even a movie about Vikings will have to include asians and Africans?. Explain me better please….Not everything has to be about color, especially in a country were the majority of people are white, no European country should be forced to accept multiculturalism, except those who colonized other countries outside of Europe, Portugal, Spain, France and the UK for the most part, (I understand the damage that colonization has caused) the rest shouldn’t be forced to change their demographics, multiculturalism is only forced in white countries, I wonder why?……Look at Sweden’s case, it went from paradise to hell, all thanks to multiculturalism, we must accept that people of different backgrounds in the same place will never live in peace.

    • FAF December 16, 2016

      A racist essay
      Sweden went to hell due to multiculturalism ?

      • S****** Blonde December 16, 2016

        Google Sweden is doomed, it will open your eyes.

    • King Idris December 16, 2016

      Please be sensible. Historical films won’t be affected by this and the fact you thought that proves how irrational you are.

    • keepit100 December 16, 2016

      If 50 percent of movies based on multicultural backgrounds and stories can have a white cast, then it won’t hurt to have a few multicultural actors in european film. stop cryinggg

    • Starxavi December 16, 2016

      And if you read it correctly, you would realize that there doesn’t need to be minority actors in a Viking film but that minorities should be represented in senior roles and crew aka producer credits, camera men, wardrobe designers, etc.

  7. The Empress Diva December 16, 2016

    America should follow suit. Also, kudos to TGJ for including the doll test video in this post. Brilliant!

  8. @ASAPicon December 17, 2016

    A step in the right direction, Hollywood, take note!

  9. OMG Logic!!! December 17, 2016

    That censor juice deleting a perfectly valid opinion.

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