Behind the Screen: Diversity in Film & TV

While the people at the top of the food chain - the ones that get the awards, big deals with studios, and recognition - are mostly straight white men, many Drama, Screenwriting, and Filmmaking students are from minority backgrounds ( Green, 2017 ). This leaves me to question where the point comes that leaves us with the majority of films being made by white people, for white people? Looking at my own university (The University of York, UK), it's clear to see there is a diverse range of students . There is an almost 50% male to female split in my cohort on the Film and Television Production course, suggesting that there is definitely interest from an equal amount of men and women to enter the industry. So where does the p oint come that makes it so that only 3.3% of big budget (£30+ million) feature films are directed by women? ( Directors UK, 2016 ) This mini-doc from The Guardian looks at the amount of students there are at prestigious creative arts schools in the UK, the amo...

As we are all well aware, diversity on cinema and tv screens has been a talking point in recent years. With increased media scrutiny regarding inclusivity and representation, it's becoming increasingly important that film and TV producers are making Female, LGBT+, BAME, and Disabled characters part of mainstream stories. As someone who ticks a couple of these boxes, and believes greatly in the importance of media representation, I hope to see that these changes are made and implemented not only now, but in the long run. Recent blockbuster releases such as Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Johnson, 2017) have been hailed by critics for their progressive casting choices ( Van Der Werff, 2017 ) . Whether it be minority leads (John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran in Star Wars ) or strong female characters (Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman  (Jenkins, 2017) and Emma Watson in Beauty and the Beast (Condon, 2017)), Hollywood has seemingly turned in favour of creating a more inclusive land...