TV industry backs Bectu’s race action plan 

Unions, guilds, broadcasters and ethnic minority creatives gathered at ITV’s West London premises on 17 September to celebrate the launch of Bectu’s TV Drama Production Race Action Plan, which has gained an unprecedented level of industry backing.

Almost 50 industry organisations have signed up to support the action plan. This includes all of the unions and guilds involved in TV drama production along with ITV, the BBC, Channel 4, the Creative Diversity Network (CDN), Black industry organisations, hair and beauty professionals and bodies involved in the campaign for hair equity, along with casting and crewing agents.

The action plan was jointly launched by Bectu and CDN. It includes practical advice and guidance for recruiting and retaining diverse crew on TV dramas, developed by a working group drawn from Bectu’s Black Members’ Committee and many departments on TV drama productions. 

The action plan also sets out a voluntary code of conduct and a complaints procedure endorsed by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, acknowledging that racial abuse and discrimination are often cited as a reason for workers leaving the industry.   

Bectu Black Members’ Committee Chair Faisal Qureshi explained that the action plan was designed primarily to assist heads of department (HoDs) to hire a more diverse crew on their productions, and to ensure that they – and all other crew on a production – are treated with respect and support. HoDs are required to fulfil the diversity targets and commitments set by commissioning organisations and production companies, but they are typically self-employed/freelance and often don’t have access to sufficient diversity training.

Daniel York Loh, the chair of sister union Equity’s Race Relations Committeedescribed the initiative from Bectu as “not only powerful. It’s also timely.”

He continued: “Because, let’s face it, it comes at a time of vociferous and aggressive right-wing agitation that actually wants less diversity, less representation and less equality.

“The only thing the TV Drama Race Action Plan asks you to do is search harder and create an environment where people of diverse heritages are encouraged to be a part of this industry. 

“Our TV industry should reflect the diverse country we are. Recommitting to a diverse and inclusive industry is the point of this initiative from Bectu. We need to keep making strides forward.”

Miranda Wayland, CEO of CDN, told the audience that data from CDN’s Diamond equality monitoring, which captures the demographics of TV production, had shown that after Black Lives Matter ethnic diversity greatly improved, but it had since dropped back again. She said: “The reason I’m supporting this action plan is because it provides a practical way to act on the data that Diamond is reporting.”

Most of the event was for attendees to network. Bectu diversity officer Janice Turner, who developed the plan, said: “I am delighted that the industry has supported our action plan in such unprecedented numbers. And having heard that several organisations are now actively looking at how to implement it within the departments they represent means that the union’s action plan is already proving to be an agenda for change.”

You can see photos from the event on Prospect’s Flickr page.