Film London has teamed up with The Night Manager producer The Ink Factory on a diversity initiative to provide two paid work placement positions at the production outfit’s London base.
The three-month positions went to Amina Aweis who has joined The Ink Factory’s marketing team and Nimai Inniss who joins the development team.
The placements, whose costs are split 50-50, saw the screen agency working with organisations, training providers and charities who work with underrepresented communities to ensure that interviews were conducted with as wide a range of candidates as possible.
There were more than 100 applicants for the positions, which were also advertised through other private channels.
The initiative forms part of Film London’s Equal Access Network activity to help improve industry diversity. Other schemes include a pilot initiative for parents returning to the high-end TV industry which is run in partnership with Creative Skillset, and the development of a paid runners network for London-based productions.
Adrian Wootton, chief executive of Film London and the British Film Commission, said: “We know our city is home to a great many talented individuals who might find traditional routes into the industry difficult, impractical or impossible, and this is what our Equal Access work seeks to address. We want to work with partners across the industry to level the playing field, capitalise on London’s tremendous wealth of untapped potential and, in so doing, ensure our city retains its cutting edge.”
Ink Factory producer Simon Cornwell added: “We are thrilled to welcome Amina and Nimai to our team. They bring outstanding energy and creative talent to the company, and have already demonstrated early in their careers that they are exceptional individuals with strong and relevant voices.”
Film London said it would ”definitely like to work with other companies” on similar initiatives: ”Going forward we don’t know if the scheme will take this exact shape as we will ultimately look for partners who can wholly fund the placements”.
The Ink Factory’s upcoming John le Carré adaptation The Little Drummer Girl will star Florence Pugh and Alexander Skarsgård and be directed by Old Boy director Park Chan-wook.
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