{"id":10661,"date":"2019-08-08T15:51:58","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T15:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schspin.stieve.com\/?p=10661"},"modified":"2019-08-27T07:48:37","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T07:48:37","slug":"gender-equality-uk-fernsehen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schspin.stieve.com\/gb\/2019\/08\/08\/gender-equality-uk-fernsehen\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Television: The State of Affairs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gender and Inclusion Policies in British Television<\/span><\/h1>\n

Momentarily we hear quite a lot of bad news from the United Kingdom (UK), which actually should have been called UQ United Queendom ever since 1952. The Brexit, the proposed No-Deal Brexit, the new Prime Minister<\/span> Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson<\/a>, who was only elected by members of the Conservative Party, the lack of discussion about returning stolen art and cultural assets to their countries of origin (think of the British Museum), an astonishing waste policy (do they really not have a refundable bottles system?) and so on and so forth. But that’s not what today’s text is about; on the contrary, I want to write about something quite positive, where the UK\/UQ is more advanced in comparison to other countries, e.g. to Germany: initiatives and programmes for gender equality and inclusion in the television industry, especially behind the camera. <\/span><\/p>\n

Why I went to London, again
\n<\/span><\/h2>\n

A few months ago, Oliver Ratcliffe<\/span> from Westminster Insight<\/a> invited me to London for the one-day event Gender Equality in Television: Behind the Scenes and on the Screen<\/a>. A week later, at the invitation of ITV Head of Diversity<\/a> Ade Rawcliffe<\/strong><\/span>, I was able to present my gender and diversity tool NEROPA<\/a> to a small, high-profile group at ITV and advise them on its use in serial productions.<\/span><\/p>\n

I met both Ratcliffe<\/span> and Rawcliffe<\/span><\/strong> – the names probably are coincidental – through Anjani Patel<\/span><\/strong>, Head of Diversity<\/a> at Pact (Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television). Anjani<\/strong> & Pact organize Inclusive Casting Workshops for independent producers. In these workshops NEROPA is also discussed, and I may get the chance to present it there myself in the near future.
\nAnjani in turn was introduced to me by filmmaker Rebecca Brand<\/span><\/strong>, whom I mentioned for the first time here in the article Tis early practice….<\/a> . Or was it Jennifer Smith<\/span><\/strong>, Head of Diversity<\/a> at the BFI British Film Institute, after the NEROPA Symposium in January 2017? Or both? Everyone seems to know each other, and I have been getting to know quite a few of them as well, some only digitally or via telephone so far. Thus the Westminster Insight Event was also a great opportunity to finally meet old acquaintances in real life on the by – like for example Leila Kurnaz<\/span><\/strong> and Natasha Connors<\/span><\/strong> from Ofcom<\/a>. Whose colleague Vikki Cook<\/strong><\/span>, Director of Standards and Audience Protection at Ofcom, gave the keynote lecture that day.
\nThere was a five day gap between the two dates, but I didn’t want to jet back and forth, so I stayed on until the ITV meeting and then went back via train, including the Eurostar, and yes, the connection Berlin-London by train is feasible without problems, it takes longer than the flight and is more expensive, but you have more space to work or sleep than in a plane, it is quieter and the view is more varied. Also the route leads through a number of German and Belgian cities, so you can also interrupt and visit people. Or drive through. 10 hours from city centre to city centre is doable, isn’t it?\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Westminster Insight: Gender Equality in Television <\/span><\/h2>\n
\"Westminster<\/a>

Use by kind permission from Westminster Insight<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The conference provided a condensed insight into the current state, data monitoring, initiatives and programmes, achievements, existing shortcomings, challenges and more. From the announcement:<\/span><\/p>\n