Read on Twitter
I was trying to come up with a list of top-level, prolific UK film producers who are either Black, Asian or from another Ethnic Minority. That is that they need to be arguably in the top 50 of producers in this country.
Here's a list from a Nov 2018 article by Screen Daily, listing (in their view) the top 50 UK film production companies: https://www.screendaily.com/features/the-brit-50-the-top-film-production-companies-in-the-uk/5134037.article
As far as I can tell, aside from Noel Clarke at Unstoppable, not a single one is run by a Person of Colour. Now, whilst I could be wrong (and I'm sure someone will point out if so) and this is a subjective list, it highlights one of the big problems with screen industries.
No one is asking for special treatment but you would expect that there might be at least a few producers from these backgrounds in the upper echelons. And huge respect to Noel but he's also an actor as opposed to a career producer.
The @BFI Vision Awards have done a great job of funding diverse producers this round but there's still a huge gap between where most of those producers are and where those on the Top 50 list are.
A part of the problem may be down to the huge amounts of cash you realistically need in order to survive as a film producer but it also highlights a lack of trust and opportunity for PoC.
So how many PROFILE (not emerging) British film directors from these backgrounds can you name, that are not Gurinder Chadha, Steve McQueen, Asif Kapadia or Amma Asante? I know, right?
So do you really think that these jobs and opportunities are actually based on merit? Or has the film industry failed to support filmmakers from these backgrounds?
