Filmtopia: Creative Industries Of The Future - v3
Equality is a hot topic at the moment, with every intersection of race, gender, age and ability needing their time in the spotlight. There have been a lot of conversations across Film, TV and Advertising about how the UK industry can better reflect the UK population; especially when it makes money from selling stories about the very people it systematically shuts out. Being a black woman and a mother from a working class background, blessed with mental health issues, whose only degree is from the University of Life, I’m at the ass-end of most diversity clichés. We’re not going to spend the rest of this article bitching about it though. Join me for a light-hearted jaunt into the future, imagining a world that represents us all!
The archaic blueprint of Hollywood has been left behind! Welcome to Filmtopia…
A place and time where women & men (to mention a few genders) make up equal numbers of the workforce. This was one of the first things to change because we realized gendering roles with antiquated stereotypes was really bad for business. Now you’re just as likely to see a woman in the Director's chair, as you are to see a man running the Costume department. Companies with a full-time workforce commit to alternating opportunities between their male and female colleagues - and their workers hold them accountable. When the benefit of this became clear, those who hire freelancers also followed suit. When necessary, we have all female sets, all male sets or all trans sets, but generally it’s a nice even mix. The gender pay gap has been closed for good, and with more women in boardrooms across the globe the gender politics that culminated into that #MeToo movement has been resolved.
It wasn’t as hard as you think, and business is booming.
In Filmtopia, we live and work in colour - or should I say black & white (to mention a few races). People of colour make up proportionate numbers of the workforce and all races are able to secure high-end opportunities accordingly. How did we do it? Well, POC-specific directories had their place for a time, but eventually we realized they encouraged tokenism. Despite the optics of having different coloured faces on sets, on screen and in campaigns, Production Companies, Agencies and Studios weren’t really changing the genetic make-up of their leadership teams. It was radical, but spurred on by the activism of the 2020s, the government released a mandate that shook up the film industries recruitment practices like a dry-ass martini. For a time, all new full-time & self-employed hires at leadership and HOD level had to be POC.
Many people were offended by the intentional exclusion of Caucasians - but since our industry had operated in the opposite way “unintentionally” for so long it was difficult to justify their protests. These weren’t pity hires - obviously POC’s have as much potential as any of their peers - and by simultaneously diversifying from the top down (as well as the bottom up) our industry quickly became inclusive! The pay gaps in this area are also zipped up and, of course, business is more vibrant than ever!
Nepotism is dead (because incest in work life is just as damaging as it is in family life), so every workplace benefits from a wider range of thought. People from all socio-economic backgrounds have an equal opportunity to earn a living in the industry - without having to sell their souls. This advancement was facilitated by a nationwide change in attitudes towards class and the education system. Although academia certainly has its place, we as a society recognize that other schools of thought (rooted in experience and intention) can reap creative results that are just as affective as those produced by so-called professionals. Audiences want authenticity above aesthetics, so agencies are more careful to assemble teams that truly understand the culture they are representing. In turn, production companies nurture Director rosters diverse enough to execute these scripts. And brands…well, they are raking it in!
No-one works for pats on the back anymore, because the big studios (like Disney), brands (like Google), and hire houses (like Panavision) have balanced leadership teams. They invest in long-term training & mentorship schemes, subsidies film school places, have special rate cards for smaller businesses/individuals, and advocate for new talent. The more integrated they become in the film community, the more the film community supports them. Other community-focused evolutions include improved work conditions for freelancers. 2-3% of all big/medium production budgets are committed to the CRAFT COOPERATIVE, which means that freelance members finally have health benefits and so-called ‘luxuries’ like parental leave. Wellness and self-care aren't buzzwords anymore, because time out is scheduled in.
Being part of the cooperative also means that crew of all levels are trained in eco-friendly production practice. And although unbiased training is part of the school curriculum now, us old dogs have all done some kind of workshop to challenge our micro-isms.
Nothing is impossible: the 2020 pandemic could have destroyed our industry, but instead we rebuilt it bigger, better and stronger than before. We worked out that there is space for veterans and newbies alike, space for black & white alike, space for women & men alike (to mention a few intersections…) In fact, all of these groups support each other, because love of the craft and a shared sense of purpose abolished the historic boundaries created by age, race and gender.
With an eco-system like this you can imagine…business is thriving.
In the not-so-distance future I’d like to think we are capable of achieving this dreamlike Filmtopia. But it feels really daunting, doesn’t it. The idea of building something new fills us with fear and uncertainty. Deconstructing bureaucratic mental borders and unlearning a lifetime of biases seems impossible. The only antidote in my mind for fast, sustainable change is radical creativity. Now that we are all being called to re-establish our industries in a 'new normal', what building blocks will our innately radically creative Film, TV & Advertising industry introduce for a brighter, more inclusive future?
Cover picture (Charcoal and pencil drawing) by AO Moses @ao_moses
