Industry to lift inclusiveness amongst creatives

Key industry groups are addressing inequity amid recent debates about gender and diversity in Australian film and television creatives.

Screen NSW has announced a target to achieve an average 50 / 50 gender equity in its development and production funding programs by 2020.

Screen Australia-funded dramatic features across a 5-year average (2009-2014) report female Directors 15%, Producers 32% and Writers 23%. Screen NSW features funded for production over the 3 year period 2012/13 – 2014/15, showed female Producers at 75%, Directors 28% and Writers 16%.

Screen NSW funding programs for Development and Production will now encourage applicants to demonstrate active engagement of women in key creative roles.

Screen NSW CEO Courtney Gibson said, “This is an equity issue – of course it is – but for Screen NSW, it’s principally about supporting and enabling the very best work. And if females are so poorly represented, it means that we, as an industry, aren’t exploiting all we have to offer. The long game of this target is, for us, about levelling the playing field to ensure that women get the same opportunities as men and that the strongest work gets supported. And it can’t be achieved unless we just decide that we’re going to do something about it.

“Having a target will force us to continually ask, are we supporting an industry which is giving women the same kinds of opportunities it gives men? And if we’re not, where are the gaps, where are the opportunities, and how can we work together as an industry to maximise them?”

“This is a great step forward for women filmmakers in NSW and it shows great leadership in the screen industry”, said Gillian Armstrong from ADG Women in Film Action Committee (WIFAC). “We hope that Screen Australia and other state funding agencies will follow suit and aim to have the same gender equity in their production and development programs.”

Meanwhile the Screen producers Association is also putting inclusiveness on the table at its Screen Forever Conference, which begins today in Melbourne.

“Screen Producers Australia has joined the chorus of many in the industry who know the time is ripe for change. This year, at Screen Forever, we are taking a long hard look at ourselves. Do we really embrace diversity? How inclusive are we? What ways do we identify creative talent regardless of background, or identify commercial opportunities? And, how do we best nurture them?” SPA CEO Matthew Deaner said.

“Screen Forever is a great platform to advance questions about diversity and inclusiveness. This year our program explores gender targets with three formidable industry figures (Fist Full of F Words), we explore the challenge of talent renewal by shining a light on new research commissioned by Metro Screen (Gen Next), and we chart the rise and rise of NITV (Black is the New Orange).”