British stars are signing an open letter calling for an end to systemic racism in the UK entertainment industry.
Idris Elba leads stars signing open letter calling for an end to racism in UK entertainment industry
Idris Elba, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Michaela Coel are among the 4,000 actors, producers, writers and directors who have already put their name to the letter.
Among the signatories are also stars like Colin Firth, Bill Nighy, Ben Whishaw and Ralph Fiennes. It urges the TV and film industry to ‘put its money and practices where its mouth is’ and introduce more diversity into their productions.
British stars are signing an open letter calling for an end to systemic racism in the UK entertainment industry. Idris Elba, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Michaela Coel are among the 4,000 actors, producers, writers and directors who have already put their name to the letter.
Among the signatories are also stars like Colin Firth, Bill Nighy, Ben Whishaw and Ralph Fiennes.
It urges the TV and film industry to ‘put its money and practices where its mouth is’ and introduce more diversity into their productions.
It gives examples of excuses made for not producing more diverse projects, such as the stories are ‘too small’ and ‘we already have a diverse project on our slate’ or ‘that feels risky’.
It states: ‘Banish “it’s too small” from your lexicon. It is insulting to our stories, our history, our impact on world culture, and our worth.
‘Our stories are referred to as “too small” because they do not centre around white characters or a small subset of actors whom you deem valuable; they are not always written by the same white writers that you deem to be “safe”.
Banish “we already have a diverse project on our slate”.’
The document goes on: ‘There is room for more than one. You make countless projects with similar themes and storylines with white creatives.
‘Banish “that feels risky”. We know we are introducing you to new unproven talent, but why is the same white man (who has made a string of flops after his one hit 10 years ago) still deemed less risky than a new brown or black writer with original and well written ideas.
‘We know that many of our stories feel unfamiliar to you because they go against your preconceived notions of us and make you step outside your familiar world.
But they are familiar to us.’ It also highlights the fact that just five per cent of producers supported by the BFI in 2018/19 were people of colour and called for more black and brown independent producers to be empowered.
The letter was created by Nisha Parti of London-based production company, Parti Productions and was written on behalf of the industry in collaboration with the Black Film Collective
The Collective last week published an open letter to Hollywood in the wake of renewed momentum for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Protests have spread across the globe, with demonstrators calling for and end to racism and police brutality following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery among many others
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