Class, disability and ethnicity continue to present challenges in gaining access to BFI film funding, but there has been progress for female-identifying filmmakers, according to a report titled Disrupt The Narrative that was published last week.
The report was written by UK-based producers Josh Cockcroft and Chi Thai and distribution and exhibition consultant Delphine Lievens, and funded by a Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity Industry Fellowship grant through Birmingham City University and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. It examines BFI data, taken from 2019-2020 specifically as a recent and typical year pre-pandemic, across the characteristics of gender, race, disability and class.
The report looked at the backgrounds of applicants to BFI development and production funding as well as those awarded in 2019-2020.
It found that 65.52%, 64.44% and 67.86% of the then BFI Film Fund (since renamed and updated to be the BFI Filmmaking Fund) awards were given to female-identifying writers, directors and producers respectively.
The success rate for directors, writers and producers, calculated using a statistical method called the Barnard’s Test, was 38.6%, 38.7% and 31.6% respectively for those who identified as female, in comparison to an average success rate of 33%.
A Screen Skills report from 2019 revealed only 38% of the screen workforce were women, versus 47% of the total workforce.
“Our findings that the BFI are significantly correcting for decades of marginalisation is an indication that there are shifts in the industry, reinforced by the appointment of Mia Bays, a long-term campaigner on gender equality in film, as head of the BFI Film Fund,” said the report.
However, for people with a disability, despite making up around one in five of the UK population, according to the UK census, they make up less than one in 16 applicants awarded BFI funding. Of all applications to the BFI Film Fund, 6.4% came from writers with a disability, 3.4% from producers with a disability, and 10.64% came from directors who indicated a disability.
Directors and writers with a disability achieved an average success rate of 20% and 26% respectively for applications, both lower than the average success rate of 33%. The producers’ pool was disregarded in the analysis, owing to the small sample size. “This speaks clearly to the exclusion of producers with a disability in the film industry,” noted the report.
“There are also few disabled individuals working in the key institutions, particularly holding editorial positions, commissioning and decision-making power,” observed the report, which highlighted that the BFI has “consistently failed to meet its employment target for those with a disability of 18%, and has achieved barely half that”.
Education also is an ongoing barrier. The success rate of producers who attended non-selective state schools (17.6%) was less than half that of producers who attended independent or fee-paying schools without a bursary (38.1%). There is also a higher success rate for applicants who went to selective state schools, including faith schools, of 41.6%, 46.1% and 43.8% for writers, directors and producers respectively.
“The glaringly high success rate for producers who went to independent or fee-paying schools is particularly notable – indicating that it is specifically familial wealth which has a significant impact, not just the quality of education,” said the report.
“The significantly higher success rate of applicants who went to selective state-run state-funded schools is also supporting evidence for this, when the demographics of the intakes of selective state schools (including faith schools) are taken into account, as pupils attending those schools are also more likely to come from the highest wealth bracket.”
The report also flagged the homogenising nature of the BFI’s target for the diversity of its applicants as ‘ethnically diverse’ to describe all non-white applicants.
Producers who self-identified as Black / African / Caribbean / Black British had a success rate of just 13%, whereas producers who identified as Asian / Asian British had a success rate of 22%.
Zero producers who identified as East Asian or East Asian British applied in 2019. “However, caution should be taken when comparing the success rates of different minority ethnicities when applying for BFI funding. Although more work needs to be done to encourage an increased level of applications from certain minority groups, this should not be done at the expense of others. All ethnic minority groups are in need of continued inclusion support,” stated the report.
Recommendations
The report recommends that the BFI publish annualised aggregated data at a granular level of applications, showing awards both by count and by value of awards; and should track and be fully transparent about prior contact with applicants and potential applicants.
It also suggests the BFI reviews its approach to talent outreach; considers how it can reach and support applications from filmmakers whose characteristics are underrepresented in the industry; and implements ring-fenced budgets for applicants with characteristics which are severely underrepresented in the film industry.
Mia Bays, director of the BFI Filmmaking Fund, said of the report: “As a public funder and distributor of good cause National Lottery funding, we are committed to being transparent and using data and research to continually monitor progress in the area of EDI [equality, diversity and inclusion], so we welcomed the opportunity for our data to be further scrutinised.
”The report highlights a number of challenges and acute areas of underrepresentation, some of which we were already aware of and work has been underway to address them. As well as developing and implementing a new Filmmaking Fund as part of Screen Culture 2033, we’ve reviewed and changed many of our processes, all of which has been underpinned by our commitment to ensure that our team, slate and the filmmakers we support are representative.
”While we run an open access fund and can only support those projects that apply, we have been able to shift the dial on the number of Black and Global Majority directors, writers and producers we work with since the period this report looks at, as well as backing a greater diversity of the stories being told on screen. That said, we know there is still work to be done, and we thank the authors of this report which will feed into how we continue to evolve the fund, extend our reach and improve our reporting practices.”
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