Letter to UK film & TV industry over diversity garners nearly 5k signatures

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement continues to gain momentum in the wake of George Floyd’s demise in the US. As the UK TV and Film industry suffers from the same lack of diverse representation in front of and behind the camera, a group of women of colour working in the industry, have revised it to address particular concerns more relevant to us here in the UK.

Over the course of the past three days the letter has received over 4,300 signatures, predominantly from people of colour working in the British Film and TV industry. These include: Michaela Cole, Noel Clarke, David Oyelowo, Idris Elba, Sophie Okonedo, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Meera Syal, Gurinder Chadha, Asif Kapadia, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Harewood and Himesh Patel.

Alongside those are unexpected signatures from white industry members who we hope can become active allies in bringing about change. These include names such as Sandi Toksvig, Colin Firth, Stephen Graham, Samantha Morton, Bill Nighy, Ruth Wilson, Ben Whishaw, Ralph Feinnes, Sue Perkins and Vicky McClure, as well as behind-the-camera decision-makers and creatives such as Jed Mercurio (writer and EP on Line of Duty/The Bodyguard), Jane Featherstone (Founder of Sister and EP of Chernobyl) , Ollie Madden (Creative Director at Film 4), David Yates (Director of Harry Potter/Fantastic Beasts Films), Nick Marston (Head of Curtis Brown Agency) and Jenne Casarotto (Head of Casarotto Agency).

Anyone wish to express their support, can do so by clicking here.