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INDUSTRY UK

British screenwriting faces diversity challenge

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British screenwriters are overwhelmingly male, white and the majority of them are not even British, it was revealed in a new study commissioned by the UK Film Council. The report titled “Writing British Films - Who writes British films and how they are recruited” is the first of its kind and was conducted by Royal Holloway, University of London.

The report sample consisted of 63 screenwriters credited on a random sample of 40 films certified as British in 2004 and 2005 and theatrically released in the UK. Of these 98% were white, 82.5% were men, 17.5% were women and 66% were aged over 46. Surprisingly, 61% of the respondents questioned were not British and 57% of them, irrespective of nationality, were members of the Writer’s Guild of America.

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Most of the writers questioned already had a previous personal or professional relationship with the commissioning body or person. Further, the writers were hired after an approach from a commissioner rather than on a pitch.

Commenting on the report, Cary Sawhney, former head of Diversity at the British Film Institute and one of the champions of diversity related issues in the UK film industry, said: “While the report it valuable because it shows the lack of diversity in the film industry, emerging writing talent is diverse. The film industry and public sector needs to create entry points and sustainability for emerging writers.”

He went on to cite the commercial success of films such as East is East and Bend It Like Beckham [+see also:
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that were written by ethnic and gender diverse writers.

Marcia Williams, head of Diversity at the UK FC, said: “Industry diversity is vitally important, and this piece of research gives us, for the first time, a clearer picture of who is writing British films and of how those writers get hired.”

The findings of this study will form the basis of a discussion at the International Screenwriters’ Festival at the Cheltenham Film Studios on July 6. Speakers include Brokeback Mountain co-writer Dianna Osanna, BAFTA-winning writer Abi Morgan (Sex Traffic) and the report’s author Susan Rogers.

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