Black-led indies – the elephant in the room of diversity fails

What is the most important statistic when it comes to ethnic diversity in television?

How many Black Asian and Minority ethnic (BAME) people are employed in television productions?

How many BAME people are in managerial positions at the different broadcasters?

What is the percentage of programmes directed by BAME directors?

These are all important statistics and are measured, (some badly and some well), in one form or another. But increasingly I believe that the most important statistic that can give us a measure of how well ethnic diversity is doing in the TV industry is one we are not even attempting to measure:

How many independent production companies are being managed by BAME people or have BAME people in significant positions of responsibility.

Let me explain why this one stat is so important.

In 2007 I moved to Glasgow to restructure BBC Scotland’s current affairs department as the BBC embarked on increasing the number of network programmes produced outside of London. Part of that process was building and nurturing the indie sector in Scotland. Regional diversity needed thriving independent production companies and couldn’t just rely on the BBC in-house productions to be successful.

There are now 124 TV production companies based in Glasgow alone. The high number of indies was used when the city successfully pitched to become a regional hub for one of Channel 4’s new out of London production bases.

People working in television in Scotland need to know they can set up independent companies and have a reasonable chance of success and gain commissions.

A business environment that does not support private businesses is failing and will hinder the careers of the most ambitious.

The fact is the health of the TV industry in a certain area cannot be measured solely just by how many people are employed in it, as they might for example, all be employed just by one company or on one large production, and that makes it very vulnerable in the long run.

Also in my experience regionally based indies are brilliant incubators for nurturing talent and provide an essential critical mass of people working for them to build up local networks and connections which prove important throughout people’s careers.

Finally the success of regional indies is a good barometer of how well connected channel execs are with people outside of London – whether we like it or not many commissions come about due to personal connections.

So if Scottish indies are doing relatively well – indicating healthy regional diversity -  the obvious question is how are BAME independent television companies doing?

The answer is they are not doing very well.

Televisual magazine publish a list of the top 100 independent television companies every year along with the names of people in key positions in those companies.

Of the roughly 300 names listed I could only find 6 people of BAME backgrounds in key positions (yes - I Googled everyone). And only one of the indies listed could possibly be thought of as a “BAME-led” company - Voltage TV whose CEO and Managing Director are both Asian. (So yes if you do the maths of the remaining 99 companies I could only find four people of colour in key roles)

There have been attempts by broadcasters to address the diversity of indies, Channel 4’s “Alpha Fund” champions “BAME-led” indies but it has had limited success if one judges it against the criteria of whether any of these indies have been able to break into the top 100 indies list.

The fear is that the lack of BAME-led indies points to bigger failures of BAME people throughout the television industry; from weak relationships between commissioners and BAME-led companies, to BAME-led companies being stereotyped and only being commissioned to produce programmes about "diverse" issues.

There are successful BAME indies (Maroon Productions, Sugar Films and Douglas Road Productions spring to mind - and there are others) but these are the exception as opposed to the rule. If there was the same dearth of women led indies or regionally based indies it would be recognized as a crisis. The lack of successful BAME-led indies is no less a crisis which the whole industry needs to address.   

We need to think beyond simple head counts and start looking at BAME-led indies.