Written by Shona Smith on Sep 11, 2019. Posted in General Interest

UK Screen Alliance publish Industry Diversity & Inclusion Report

A new report from UK Screen Alliance paints a portrait of diversity and inclusion within the UK's animation, VFX and post production sectors. Carried out in conjunction with Animation UK and Access VFX, the report reveals distinctions between statistics taken from previous reports on the film & TV industry as a whole.

One highlight shows a significantly higher percentage of ethnic diversity in VFX, post and animation than that for the wider film and TV industry, which is often quoted at 3%. The new report shows that 19% of VFX, 14% of animation and 18% of post production workers were BAME exceeding the 14% UK average percentage for people of colour in the working-age population.

Neil Hatton, CEO of UK Screen Alliance notes that the employment models in the VFX, animation and post production may have an impact on these results, saying “there’s a skills shortage and therefore a strong commercial imperative to discover latent talent from all communities. Inclusion in post, VFX and animation where longer and more permanent employment models are common will have a very different dynamic to those parts of our industry that crew-up for short-term projects with freelancers through informal networks. The recruitment focus in VFX, post and animation is firmly on skill and potential. It is quite rightly not about, “who you know” as the gateway to getting a job”.

Key areas for action are also indicated within the report. For example, while overall BAME representation was encouraging, BAME in senior management was identified as a priority across all three sectors, as only 8% of these roles are filled by BAME workers. In both Animation and post-production, addressing BAME workers in creative/operator roles was also stressed as a priority.

The report sheds light upon the regional spread of the industry across the UK, showing the industry to be particularly London-centric, a fact which can create barriers to inclusion. 89% of jobs across animation, VFX and post production are based in London or the South East. This varies from 93% of VFX respondents working in London to 76% in Animation. In contrast, 71% of UK based workers say they come from outside of London. One in three workers in VFX, and one in five workers in animation are from the EU.

While calling attention to areas for improvement, the report acknowledges the many initiatives already under way to improve inclusion and diversity across the industry such as Access VFX, Animated Women UK, Rise: Women in Broadcast, Film London’s Equal Access Network and NextGen Skills Academy.

To read the full report, click here. To see infographics, click here.