The Journal of Media and Diversity Issue 02 Summer 2021
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e n ry , A m m a A s a n te , A fu a H irsch,
Sir Lenny H
h i T h a i a n d D e lp h in e L ie v e n s,
Kurt Barling, C
s o n , D a v id H e v e y, M e la n ie Gray,
Nina Rob in
s ti e , G a ry Yo u n g e , A d ri a n L ester,
Debbie Chri
So Mayer, Siobhán McGuirk,
Selina Nwulu, Ciaran Thapar
The Journal
of Media and
Diversity
Issue 02
Summer 2021
1
REPRESENTOLOGY THE JOURNAL OF MEDIA AND DIVERSITY
REPRESENTOLOGY
The Journal of Media and Diversity
Editorial Mission Statement
Welcome to Representology, a journal
dedicated to research and best-practice
perspectives on how to make the media more
representative of all sections of society.
A starting point for effective representation are the
“protected characteristics” defined by the Equality Act
2010 including, but not limited to, race, gender,
sexuality, and disability, as well as their intersections.
We recognise that definitions of diversity and
representation are dynamic and constantly evolving
and our content will aim to reflect this.
Representology is a forum where academic
researchers and media industry professionals can
come together to pool expertise and experience. We
seek to create a better understanding of the current
barriers to media participation as well as examine and
promote the most effective ways to overcome such
barriers. We hope the journal will influence policy and
practice in the media industry through a rigorous,
evidence-based approach.
Our belief is that a more representative media
workforce will enrich and improve media output,
enabling media organisations to better serve their
audiences, and encourage a more pluralistic and
inclusive public discourse. This is vital for a healthy
society and well-functioning democracy. We look
forward to working with everyone who shares
this vision.
Representology is a collaboration
between Birmingham City University
and Cardiff University
2
ISSUE 02 SUMMER 2021
CONTENTS EDITORIAL
04 Developing Film Welcome to Issue Two of Representology -
Sir Lenny Henry and Amma Asante
The Journal of Media and Diversity. Since we
interview.
launched, many of you have shared
14 Finding My Voice encouraging words and ideas on how to help
Afua Hirsch create a media more reflective of modern
18 Putting the Black into Britain Britain.
Professor Kurt Barling
On March 30th, we hosted our first public event - an
24 The Exclusion Act: British East and South opportunity for all those involved to spell out their
East Asians in British Cinema visions for the journal and answer your questions. As
Chi Thai and Delphine Lievens Editor, I chaired a wide-ranging conversation on ‘Race
and the British Media’ with Sir Lenny Henry, Leah
38 The Problem with ‘Urban’ Cowan, and Marcus Ryder. Our discussions and the
Nina Robinson responses to illuminating audience interventions gave
44 Sian Vasey - disability pioneer inside us a theme that runs through this issue - capturing
experiences and documenting struggles. As illustrated
British broadcasting in a number of the following articles, people have been
David Hevey
fighting for decades to push for positive change within
48 Why it’s not ok to call a female director established institutions in press and broadcasting. Over
‘fluffy’: The impact of negative female the years, there have been great victories - however, in
many instances, media workers who have raised
stereotypes in the television industry and
concerns about poor work and hiring practices have
strategies for change had doors slammed in their faces.
Melanie Gray
We have found a willingness from people - experienced
54 PROTEST, RESEARCH and CAMPAIGN: The equal rights campaigners around disability and race,
Equal Opportunities Network at the BBC for gay and women’s liberation - to share their stories
Debbie Christie in our journal, buttressed by exclusive and robust
58 A Black journalist at The Guardian academic research. We include these pieces not as
mere reminiscences - we hope to play a role in
Gary Younge
confronting institutional amnesia and inspire a new
64 The Parent Trap generation of media professionals to diversify their
Adrian Lester industry. Meaningful change to the media can only
So Mayer, Raising Films come about if we break down existing barriers and
build on the work of those who went before us.
68 Book review
Dr Siobhán McGuirk on Jonathan Ned Katz In the previous edition of Representology, we invited
book The Daring Life and Dangerous Times applicants to join our editorial board, and I am
of Eve Adams delighted to welcome its three newest members -
Dr Wanda Wyporska, Lucy Brown and Alison Wilde -
72 The Audacity of Our Skin who between them bring a wealth of experience to this
Poem by Selina Nwulu developing project. As ever, if you are interested in
76 Representology recommends contributing, or wish to send your views and
Ciaran Thapar suggestions for future issues, please write to us:
Representology@bcu.ac.uk
78 Representology Editorial Board
79 Submission Guidelines
K Biswas
Editor
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REPRESENTOLOGY THE JOURNAL OF MEDIA AND DIVERSITY 4
ISSUE 02 SUMMER 2021
DE
VEL
OPING
FILM
Sir Lenny Henry in conversation
with award winning filmmaker
Lenny:
LENNY: Hi, Amma, thank
Representation
matters -
you so much for agreeing to
Amma Asante on successful period chat with me today for our drama has
dramas, steadfast mentors, and
brilliant new journal,
Representology. We believe
impact
Lenny:
sharing power on the silver screen. that leading artists like
yourself have invaluable Let’s try and unlock some
knowledge about how to of your success, as you are
make our industry more one of the most important
diverse and inclusive. In my and influential Black British
mind, it is all about directors of recent years. I
Amma Asante is a BAFTA recording, and then first came across you on
award-winning filmmaker. circulating, that knowledge
and experience to as wide
the BBC’s legendary series
Grange Hill, on which you
This is a transcript of a an audience as possible, were working as a child
making sure we don’t
conversation which took repeat the mistakes that
actor. I also remember you
working as an intern on
place over Zoom on 8th June have happened before, and Chef [a 1990s BBC
building on our successes.
2021, produced and edited comedy-drama, starring
Lenny Henry, written by
by Marcus Ryder Peter Tilbury]. So, was there
always a plan for you to
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REPRESENTOLOGY THE JOURNAL OF MEDIA AND DIVERSITY
make the leap from appearing on-screen to working behind The storyline also led me,
the camera? Tell us a little about your journey from being a and the other Grange Hill
drama school kid to being one of our most important Black kids, to go to the White
British female directors. House and meet Nancy
Amma: There was definitely no master plan. I attended Reagan and to appear on
Barbara Speake [Stage School] because my dad noticed, news channels in the US and
when I was at primary school in South London, that I was UK.
really creative. But I was also quite shy. I was very outgoing
at home, and in my mum and dad’s shop, which they had in The importance
Shepherds Bush, but I was not outgoing in school.
of women and
My dad was really good at looking at what each of his
children was good at, and [at] trying to push us towards that.
diversity in
For example, my brother’s a biochemist now, and, at an early positions of
age, my dad was always buying him chemistry kits.
influence
So, he knew of a couple of stage schools, but he wanted me
Lenny: But I understand it
to go to one that was the most multicultural, that had a
could have all ended at that
percentage of Black kids. They didn’t want me to go to a
point.
place where I’d be the only Black kid there. And so I went to
Barbara Speake’s. And when I got there, Kwame Kwei-Armah Amma: After Grange Hill, I
was there, Naomi Campbell was there and Michelle Gayle effectively stopped acting
was there. But, in the beginning, I was terrified. It was all too when I got to around 19. I
much. It was like The Kids from “Fame” [cast members from did a little bit of presenting
the 1980s American TV drama set in a stage school]. with Lee MacDonald on the
Children’s Channel. And
Lenny: Kids dancing on taxis in the street in leg-warmers various other things, like a
and leotards, yelling “Let’s do the show right here”? bit in one episode of
Amma: Exactly! I mean, literally! I walked in and there were all Desmond’s [a 1990s Channel
these kids in leotards in the assembly hall. There were kids 4 comedy set in a Black
rehearsing what we used to call an “own show”, which was a British barber shop], but
show that the kids produced for themselves. It was a lunch mainly because I didn’t know
break, and they were all rehearsing and doing splits in the air, how to do anything else.
and all of that. And I begged my dad for a full seven months When all my friends had
to take me out of the school. Then, suddenly, one day I gone to university, I hadn’t.
became one of those kids doing splits in the air, and you’re My mum was terrified that
one of those kids who knows how to be one of The Kids from my dad had sort of led me
“Fame”, and you’re talking like everybody else, and suddenly down this road, where I had
I was a bit more out of myself – not as much as everybody not got an education, the
else – but I was one of them. kind of education that she
wanted me to get. So, she
Lenny: So, you were finally fitting in. You’ve said in past
begged me to go to
interviews that you realised the power of drama during this
hairdressing college, where I
time. Can you explain?
was promptly kicked out.
Amma: Actually, I didn’t ever want to act. I did Grange Hill. I
And then she begged me to
was surrounded by kids who could act, and I could see what
go to secretarial college,
good acting looked like. I knew I couldn’t do that. I was too
which was the big turning
self-aware. I probably lacked confidence as well. But I was
point for me. I’d read an
blown away by Lee MacDonald, who played Zammo at the
article somewhere in
time, and he had a harrowing storyline in my final year [about
Cosmopolitan or Pride, or
childhood drug addiction]. And I was also blown away by the
one of the women’s
impact of the story on the community.
magazines, that said that
I’d go back to my own community in South London, and I Black women, at that time,
could see the impact, particularly the Heroin storyline, was actually did really well in
having with kids I went to school with previously, in my particular areas of
primary school, and that blew me away. administration and particular
areas of lower management,
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ISSUE 02 SUMMER 2021
and I thought; “Oh, maybe
that’s a trajectory that I can
Fox. And, Lenny, let me tell
you, I turned up at Fox
Mick Pilsworth, at Chrysalis
Entertainment. And Mick
The qualities of
follow.” For me, that just Studios in Los Angeles in cut said to me; “Did you really a good mentor
demonstrates why all these down jeans and a cut down write this?” And I said, “Yes,
Lenny: But, again, it could
statements and things that t-shirt, because I was on I did write it.” And he said,
have all come to nothing –
we read, even when we’re holiday at the time. “Okay, well, let’s talk about
is that right?
15, 16, 17 years old, really what we can do”. And he
I was in my very early
go on to impact us and then sent it to Channel Amma: I went through three
twenties, and had no idea
make a difference, one way Four’s Commissioning years of development work,
that I was turning up to a
or another, because that’s Editor, Seamus Cassidy. and then a new
whole professional studio
where I thought; “Okay, That’s how I got my first commissioning editor came
meeting, because I had no
maybe there’s a world where seven script deal with in, with a new broom, and
concept of American
I can keep a roof over my Channel Four. everything was swept out.
studios, or what those kinds
head, you know, in that
of professional meetings That was how it started. I I’d also got a development
way.”
were like. But, as I say, I had stopped acting fully at that deal on a sitcom I created,
And so I was trying to get gone to the US on holiday, point. It dawned on me when called Ladies in the House,
my typing speed up. I would and I only had holiday I got into my twenties, that I at the BBC. And I can’t
do copy typing. And then I clothes with me. So, I go in, was only doing it because actually remember if it was
would just type off the top of and I see these two it’s something that I’d sort of the Beeb or Channel 4, but
my head, and something I executives and these two been put into as a child, as one of them had given me a
typed off the top of my head development executives, opposed to choosing it. My mentor, called Paul Mayhew-
was a script called Soul they’re both women! I just Dad understood I needed an Archer, and that was a
Difference. And, in the back thought, “Wow!!” They were outlet for my creativity, but I beautiful experience. He’s a
of my mind, I thought I was amazing. They changed my had to figure out exactly great guy. He was so brilliant
typing out a half hour life, because they said to what that outlet should be. and clever at just getting me
sitcom, but it came out at me:“ we love what you’ve to express what was locked
something like two hours by written, and you can write, Lenny: I liken the inside the characters, and
experience to climbing a what I wanted to pull out.
ladder up the side of a big And so, the experience was
And I felt listened to, and that
house - you get to the roof, so positive, it was so
look across, and see brilliant. He was such a good
somebody was actually another house. A bigger mentor, though neither
encouraging me, or telling me;
and better house. Then, you project was made.
slap yourself on the
“you are good, and there is a forehead and say, “My
ladder was against the
And so, today, when I speak
to students, I always say to
possibility that you might be wrong house! That’s the them, that there is no wasted
better”. house I want over there!” piece of work. There is no
point in saying, “Well, this
Amma: Precisely, writing didn’t get made, or this
made me feel so good. And didn’t get done,” or saying “I
the time I finished it. It was and you’re really good. And it made me feel like I wasted three years on that.”.
about my life at home with they talk to me about the imagined good actors feel, Because I couldn’t have
my parents. The mother in it characters, and they talk to because when I was writing, made Belle, I couldn’t have
was my mum. The dad was me about the world I’d built I could express what I made any of the films I’ve
my dad. And the girl in it was in the script. And, suddenly, I wanted to express. Whereas made without going through
me. was talking about creative when I was acting, I couldn’t. all the processes that I went
stuff. And I felt listened to, There wasn’t any story I
I’d not so long before met a through in those early
and that somebody was wanted to tell as an actor,
producer, called Chuck stages. I just couldn’t have
actually encouraging me, or but plenty I wanted to tell as
Sutton, in the States. His done them. I couldn’t have
telling me; “you are good, a writer.
uncle was Malcolm X’s simply arrived fully baked.
and there is a possibility that
lawyer, and his family owned
you might be better”.
the Apollo Theatre in Harlem.
I gave him the script to read, So, I came back to the UK
and Chuck read it, and said, and pinpointed a producer
“This is really good”. And he that I wanted to send my
set up a meeting for me at script to, who was called
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REPRESENTOLOGY THE JOURNAL OF MEDIA AND DIVERSITY
Lenny: Mentoring is really does an African family gaining a perspective, and was becoming more buried in
important. I think what you overlap with a white Welsh writing, which meant I was becoming more buried in
said about Paul Mayhew- family?” say. You know, and, research, which meant I was becoming more buried in
Archer really resonates with all of those conversations politics, and I was becoming more buried in how societies are
me. Often people get the about the ‘specific’ and the built, and how societal symptoms sometimes manifest.… not
whole mentor/mentee ‘universal’ and how the to say that racism is only a symptom but, in the context of
relationship wrong. It ‘detail’ is what makes a story the world I had grown up in, racism was partly a symptom.
shouldn’t just be about that resonate. That’s what And, therefore, I wondered what -- could -- be some of the
having someone who can allowed me to create the film causes? And, as human beings, where does the responsibility
help you make things A Way of Life. of the individual stop and the responsibility of the state and
better. You also need to be society begin, and vice versa.
able to allow your mentee Do not A Way of Life was actually dealing more with poverty and
pigeonhole
to make mistakes. And then exclusion, and specifically the underclass, than anything else.
let them figure it out for Everyone in it is trying to survive. That popular saying; “Stop
themselves. A mentor’s job Black talent and smell the roses”, when I was researching the film, I was,
isn’t to come in to save you, like, “Man, how is a person who doesn’t even know where
Lenny: A Way of Life
or to move you out of the the next bottle of milk is coming from to feed her baby,
(written and directed by
way and say: “Let me supposed to be expected to stop and smell the roses?” In
Amma Asante, 2004) went
rewrite that for you,” or, certain situations, that’s like a privilege, beyond anything you
on to win a BAFTA. And it
”Let me redesign that piece could possibly imagine.
was extraordinary, because
of complex machinery for
I’m pretty sure it wasn’t You know, when I was growing up, people who had roses in
you.” A mentor should be
what people were expecting their gardens were rich. To this day, my mother-in-law has
saying: “Okay, what do
from you - something so roses in her garden. And she’s not rich at all. But I still think of
‘you’ think you should do?”
dark and complex. it as such a kind of decadent luxury. I’ve got roses in my
Amma: Absolutely. house right now, and I always think of them as a luxury,
Amma: I really wanted to
Absolutely! The same is true they’re a big deal for me. And so, I started to read up and I
escape the prescription of
for all the best producers learned that if you have an [coin or key fed] electricity meter
what people thought you
I’ve had over the years. For in your home, you pay more per unit of electricity than if you
should make, as a Black
my first film, for instance, my just pay a quarterly bill – at least that was the case when I
person.
producer, Peter Edwards, was making the film.
the Head of ITV Wales, Lenny: But it seems to me
wasn’t officially my mentor, that the projects you Lenny: So, you wanted to write about systemic poverty. The
but he sort of was, because undertake are always things that keep people poor. The inability of some people
he would do it. He would ask stories from a unique to escape a life like that. It’s a generational issue as much
questions. All his notes were perspective. And I’m as anything else.
questions. fascinated by that. When I first met you, you were quite young, and my initial
I would get on the train back impression was that you were so serious. I was like, “That
Amma: With A Way of Life, I
from Wales. And I’d spend Amma, man, she’s carrying the world on her shoulders,
wanted to go down the road
two hours with maybe one she’s got to get these ideas out there, otherwise she would
where I could express an
question spinning around in explode!”
experience that I recognise,
my head. Like, one of these but I wanted to tell it from Amma: I did feel like that, because society keeps certain
questions would spin the point of view of the worlds that once functioned marginalised, right? You take
around, spin around, spin people who put me through away everything that allowed them to function. You take away
around, and I’d wake up the that experience – to be the work, you take away the libraries, you take away once decent
next morning, and observer and, yes, even the schools - because everybody who supported them has
something would just click, commentator, if you like. moved out. You cut them off, and then, when immigrants, like
and then I’d go back and I my parents and yours, move in, and children of immigrants
would do a whole new draft. So, growing up in South
like us – we get the blame for what society’s, structures and
And it would just get better London, where we were
governments have taken from those communities.
and better, based on these harangued as one of only
two black families on the And then, because you’ve got no education, you’ve got
conversations that we’d
street. You know, my Virgo multi-generational poverty, you’re talking about worlds where
have about life. They’d be
brain was like; “What makes kids don’t even remember their parents working, sometimes,
about his family, they’d be
people do that, what is the if unemployment is also multi-generational. Then you’ve got
about my family, they’d be
reasoning behind it?” And grandparents who lived next door, who remember a time
about, you know, “where
my brain was growing up, when these environments were functioning and where these
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ISSUE 02 SUMMER 2021
were once working Nothing was happening at Amma: It is hard, it is very
communities, that made all. I didn’t expect it all to hard, it is also hard for some
sense, right? And now they sort of fall in my lap. But I white guys, who drop away
don’t make any sense just expected to get my foot before the sophomore
anymore. in the door, so I could sit and movie. But once you put
have conversations, and talk Black and female, once you
And my producer, Peter
to people about what I’d like put in that intersection, it
Edwards, and I, would talk
to do next, and that just was an absolute no-no. And,
about whether we’re the
wasn’t happening. where we’re at today, there
children of immigrants, or
not, in communities like the is at least some recognition
Lenny: So why? Why do
one in A Way of Life, we are of that, that tragedy and
you think that had
talking about parents and horror, and there is some
happened?
children who are now living acceptance by the
in non-functioning Amma: I think that there was gatekeepers that that’s what
communities. just a sense that I was a one they did. And nobody cared,
hit wonder. I was an nobody gave a damn that
anomaly. I didn’t look like there were large elements of
The difficulty of directors were supposed to British talent that were falling
building on look, I was both female and by the wayside.
success as a black. You have to
remember there was no
So [after my first film], I did
Black woman Steve McQueen directing
get some work from
America. Universal actually
movies when I won my first
Lenny: What you are developed something with
BAFTA, there was wonderful
describing is a hybrid
Ngozi [Onwurah], the first
between class and
systemic racism. A Way of
Black British woman to have . . . I was, like, “Man, how is a
person who doesn’t even know
a feature film made. There
Life won multiple awards.
were the two of us, and I
You won the Alfred Dunhill
UK Film Talent award, the
didn’t know of anyone else
at that particular point.
where the next bottle of milk is
Carl Foreman Award, The
Times Breakthrough Artist
coming from to feed her baby,
Lenny: In America, in the
of the Year. It was 90s, it seemed as though supposed to be expected to stop
extraordinary, the amount
of attention your first film
the film industry was
overrun by all these
and smell the roses?”
brought you. And, I independent films by black
presume, all these filmmakers. Like Julie Dash me, and Robert Jones who’d
accolades gave you a and Matty Rich and Darnell left the UK Film Council, who
platform that would lead to Martin and Leslie Harris. was a British producer, he
your second film, Belle. But you’re right, I think what developed something with
happened with those me. And then, around 2008,
Amma: Well, you know what,
filmmakers - apart from we hit a financial crash in the
Lenny, in many ways it did,
Spike Lee, of course - is UK. And lots and lots of
but in other ways it was very,
that a lot of them made one production companies went
very tough. All the fuss went
film that managed to make down the drain, both in
away, after the Southbank
some money. And then, America and the UK. And, at
Show awards, and the
once the initial fanfare that particular point, I sort of
BAFTA Awards and the
about ‘new and exciting thought: “O.K., that’s the
FIPRESCI Awards around
Black filmmakers’ was over, end.” All three of my projects
the world - there was all of
it was very difficult for them just crashed. And one of
that for about a year. And
to carve out any kind of them had been announced
then, after that settled down,
career, or even get a at Cannes; we were going to
and I went and started
second film financed.1 make Where Hands Touch
writing what became my
- loads of noise, some of the
fourth film, and I started
trades ran it. And that
banging on those doors, and
crashed, and it was tough,
they were like concrete, they
you know, because I hadn’t
didn’t move.
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REPRESENTOLOGY THE JOURNAL OF MEDIA AND DIVERSITY
sort of been through that
process before. Now, I’ve
Lenny: Was it already
written? Did you have to
Black How you find identity and
self in a world where you are
been through it a million write it solo? characters in wealthy, and in a world that
times. But, at that time, I
hadn’t been through it
Amma: I had to write the film period dramas keeps you away from other
people that look like you.
we made – 18 drafts. But Lenny: I’m so glad you
before. And I just thought, How to find a sense of self
what happened was that the mentioned Belle - I got so
it’s time to go now. I’ve really without community, because
person who had worked with much from that movie. And
tried hard. I’ve really done we are not all lucky enough
the producer to try to get a I have to ask, and I ask with
my best. There’s nothing I to grow up in one where our
version off the ground with great respect and a little
can do. And so, I was all race is reflected. But Belle
HBO was able to take me to trepidation: Did you enjoy
ready to bow out and go does find and embrace her
her guild in America, and got Bridgerton? Ahhhh man! I’m
back to secretarial school identity – and that is her
the full writing credit for telling you, I’m betting the
again. And then Damian triumph. I’m doing
everything I did. I did talk producers of that show
Jones came to me with a something at the moment
about it in the press, and for must have watched Belle
picture postcard, in 2009, of with Tiffany Haddish, which
a long time, the experience nine hundred times and
the painting that became I’m loving, set in an earlier
was extremely painful. It said, “We should do sump’n
what I adapted into Belle. period, the 16th century, a
stopped me from being able like what Amma did! But Tudor world. In terms of the
Damian had tried to make it to write for a period, there’s gotta be more black character whose story I’m
elsewhere, as a TV film, and because every time I put pen folks in it!” What I really telling, she’s a real-life
it hadn’t worked. And the to paper, the stress of it was want to know is, if you were character, and her story has
Film Council said, you know, terrible. I lost my hair. It was doing Belle now, would you a number of Black people in
cast more black performers it.
I have got to a place where I in it?
Lenny: When you make
understand that unless I Amma: Oh, well, first of all, decisions about your
acknowledge certain of my
Shonda Rhimes [the projects, do you see these
executive producer of as bold moves in advancing
achievements . . . then perhaps Bridgerton] is brilliant. When
Belle came out, she put a
diversity and
no one else will. tweet out saying, “Run, don’t
representation? Because it
takes a brave person to
walk to the movie theatre to take on all these right-wing
really awful. But I got to a see Belle.” Which was really historians who have done
“Go to Amma and see what place, I would say in the last lovely. such a good job of erasing
she makes of it. She’s 24 months, where I realised Black people from the
Lenny: You obviously
obsessed with the period it really doesn’t matter. historical narrative. Where
planted a seed in her head.
and she’s obsessed with Because all of the body of do you see your place in all
gender.” I’d previously tried work that I’m creating, when Amma: And, I’m proud of of this?
to make something set I’m gone, anybody who that. And we [Asante and
around the same period, and Rhimes] did something a few Amma: Black people have
looks at the work will know
the BFI had rejected it. It weeks ago with Gloria lived and thrived and
what is Amma, and what
was around gender, it was a Steinem’s Women’s Media struggled in Britain for
that means. Everybody that
very feminist piece. And so Centre, which is an centuries. Read David
needs to, knows what my
they said, you know, “if organisation based in New Olusoga, read Peter Fry’s
voice sounds like, what it
Amma says yes, we might York, and sort of does a Staying Power. Y’know
feels like, what it makes
make this,” and they did - similar thing to what you Lenny, I have got to a place
them feel like, or not..
they stuck to their promise. guys are doing, but its focus where I understand that
And so the process of is specifically on women. It’s unless I acknowledge certain
making and developing it a brilliant organisation, and of my achievements, even
was not difficult. she [Shonda Rhimes] was though I’ve had lots of
very complimentary, and awards, and some critical
really lovely. acclaim, as well as negative
criticism too, then perhaps
But Belle’s story was quite no one else will.
different to Bridgerton - Belle
was clearly isolated in her
world, and it was a story of
isolation that I wanted to tell.
10ISSUE 02 SUMMER 2021
After Belle, the BBC could Amma: I mean, I think in they’ve not necessarily and called Barry Jenkins [the
no longer make their terms of the executives, the watched a single one of my Black director of The
quintessential period films producers, I feel like I’m films. Underground Railroad] and
and TV dramas and not treated in the same way as said: “Barry, tell me what
include a Black person
Lenny: For the US, this is an was great about the
the white guys are treated in
interesting moment, isn’t it? experience. Tell me what
somewhere. It was the US to be really honest
Because the streamers was horrendous about the
embarrassing for them to with you. But I think, in terms
have taken prominence. experience, and tell me what
think that they could do that, of crews in America and in
Amazon’s recent you would do differently.”
and ITV now has stuff in the UK, they are very similar,
announcement that it’s And, I got massive
development all over the and there is still a sense of,
about to buy MGM studios goosebumps, because I
place. Period pieces now “Oh, my God, we’ve never
is a massive play - a realised 15 years ago [that] I
have Black people all over quite been led by someone
massive move on its part. I couldn’t do that. Who could I
them. And everybody wants who looks like this before”.
wanted to ask you about pick up the phone to? Who
to do the movie, or the TV So, I still think that there’s a
show, about Queen Victoria’s the differences between TV was the Black artist that I
lot of work to be done, in
adopted daughter, you and film. Do you think the could pick up the phone to,
terms of crews. The director
know, from Nigeria. All these rise of the streamers, and and say, “what was your
has to know what they’re
stories existed prior to Belle, their inevitable dominance, specific experience of doing
doing, and the crew has to
but now they have a chance will affect diversity in terms this very specific thing?”
know that you know what
to be made. of how programmes get And ask exactly what I
you’re doing - you have to
funded and produced now? should watch out for, and
really quickly show that you
Lenny: Belle opened the There just seems to be so ask, “how can you help me
have a vision.
door for other projects to many options for creative navigate some of the
be considered. But if you’re Black and talent out there – many potholes that you found?”
you’re female, you don’t more interested buyers for
Amma: Precisely, it opened And he was so open and he
have the option of being able a variety of not-so-
the door, both in the US and was so brilliant.
to go on set and try the mainstream products. Just
in the UK. Belle did better in
camera here, or try the look at The Underground
the US, actually. It helped
change the conversation.
camera there. I’m not a
director who can be thinking
Railroad [miniseries created Don’t just give
on my feet, I’ve got to have
and directed by Barry
Jenkins]. This is an example
us a chance,
The struggle for everything planned out. And of a very auteurist approach give us the
Black women’s I’ve got to know everything.
And any thinking I’m doing
to longform broadcasting
chance to fail
leadership to
that would never have been
has to be done so privately, produced if it had been Lenny: It is amazing that we
be accepted and so quietly, between me pitched as a movie. all now have fellow Black
and my DP, because, Streamers don’t just want a peers, who we can call on
Lenny: Talking about the otherwise, it takes a long for support and advice, but
sure thing - they’re
US, people often talk about time to earn that trust, and it is still tough. And for me,
investing across a spectrum
Black actors escaping to you lose it very fast. one of the things we are
of subject matter from dark
America to further their fighting for is the ability to
to light. And they, at the
careers. I wanted to ask you Lenny: Yeah, they smell
moment anyway, seem very fail, and to learn from our
about your experiences as blood. They smell blood in
keen on investing in diverse mistakes. You know, artists
a Black person behind the the water, and they’ll bite
talent. Is that the direction such as Steve Martin made
camera over there. Is it your legs off.
in which you’re heading a few clunkers before he
different for a person of
Amma: Oh, my God. Yeah, now? Will that be the next found his feet in film and
colour working in the US television, as did Robin
absolutely. That is a reality. thing?
versus working in the UK? Williams. Nobody ever said
Whereas, with the sorts of
And what lessons can each Amma: So, it was
producers and managers, to Robin Williams, “Oh,
side of the Atlantic learn announced a few months
there is an understanding of you’re only allowed one try
from the other? What’s your ago that I’d be doing
your vision, they picked you and that’s it. If it’s a dog’s
experience? something similar - a very
for you. They thought about breakfast, you don’t get to
different kind of show, but
it long and hard before they make any more films.”
sort of directing all eight
brought you on board,
episodes. And, you know,
whereas crews don’t
what was the first thing I
necessarily know that, and
did? I picked up the phone
11REPRESENTOLOGY THE JOURNAL OF MEDIA AND DIVERSITY
Amma: I completely agree. One of the reasons why I BAFTA, and I was introduced specifically for Black talent,
As a Black person you go to decided to do high to him, and I thought, “Oh, they are saying, I’m investing
creative prison if you ever production value television in God, I had better say in the talent, not just the
make a bad movie. And I the US, was that it meant something clever”. And I project.
sort of noticed that. I was that while I was getting my thought, “What can I say?”
films financed, I was able to And I said to him, “you Lenny: When Marcus Ryder
getting a lot of really terrible
stay behind the camera and know, Wales has some of and I were talking about
reviews for one of my
continue to work with great the oldest black ring-fencing money, in
movies, I think it only got like
talent, continue to work with communities in Europe? many ways, we saw this
42% on Rotten Tomatoes,
great DPs, and continue to What are you doing on ITV current correlation between
when my average is about
hone my skills. Because, Wales to reflect that?” And the nations and the regions,
80 or so. And, I sort of felt
otherwise, when my movies he sort of looked at me, and and promoting under-
very isolated, and very alone,
come out nobody says; “Oh, said, “Yeah, I’ll see you represented groups and
and I started looking at my
she hasn’t made a movie for another time”. And more or comparing them, saying;
white male peers, realising
five years or 10 years.“ They less walked off. And then, “You’ve given this money to
there have been loads of
are comparing me to people six weeks later, he rang me nations - you should think
movies where they’ve got
who are making movies and said,” Are you the in terms of communities
that 42%. But you know
every 24 months or 48 woman that I met at too, and ring-fence money
what reviewers do? They
months, and slating you if BAFTA?” And I said, “Yes.” for them too. We’re here,
sort of ignore the bad
they feel that your movies He said, “I’ve been looking and we pay our licence
movies [by White peers].
don’t come up to scratch. for you for six weeks, and fee.” And our opinion was
They move on. And those
want to have a conversation that those in charge were
filmmakers are … are making
not looking at these
another movie within 18 or
24 months, and that
The need for with you about the question
you asked me, because I’ve
under-represented groups
becomes their next Oscar ring-fenced been thinking about it.” And
in the same way. And, in
tipped movie. funds for when I went to meet him, we
the end, if you don’t
ring-fence money, those
diversity
talked, and he said, “I’m
Lenny: There’s leeway for a going to ring-fence money
eyeballs will turn over and
certain kind of creative, that seek stories and imagery
Lenny: I think one of the for you. To tell the story you
just isn’t there for people of telling their stories via
things that keeps creatives want to tell.” And I said,
colour, or women, or people like them.
of colour, and producers “What story?” He said, “we
non-binary people.
and directors of colour, can talk about that, but what Amma: Yes, they can now.
Amma: You learn from your down is that we are so I’m saying to you is, I’m They can go elsewhere, you
mistakes, and you also learn critically judged - and you going to ring-fence money know. 20 years ago, they
by continually working. You only get one shot. And if for you. And what I’m saying couldn’t, but now they can,
know, the average for a you mess it up, that’s it and to you is I’m guaranteeing to as the streamers are looking
woman between the first and it’s gonna take you a long, you that I will find something to offer us what we want. If
the second film has been 10 long time to get back into for you, and I will keep that they’re offering us the stories
years. It was very normal for anybody’s good graces. It’s money from my budget this and the product that we
a 10 year gap. And that’s one of the reasons why year, to do it for you, want, that’s where we will
what it was for me - it was Marcus Ryder and I, in because what you speak go, and the BBC will be left
10 years. But if you look at 2015, called for the UK about is important.” dead in the water if it doesn’t
the amount of movies that broadcasters to ring-fence And that’s how A Way of Life catch up.
my white male counterparts funds for diversity and, in came about. That’s the
are making over those ten 2019, to argue for tax movie that got me the
years - actually, even maybe breaks for diverse films. BAFTA. That’s the movie that
a Black male director, in that And we wondered - I essentially launched my
time - what they’re doing is wondered - if you had any career as a director, because
they’re honing their skills, views on either of these he ring-fenced that money
they’re getting better. things? for me. We obviously got
Amma: I do, because, if you other money in the end, on
remember, Peter Edwards, top of it, but that first
who I mentioned earlier, who amount of money made a
was Head of Drama at ITV difference. So, whoever it is,
Wales, how I met him was at that is ring-fencing money
12ISSUE 02 SUMMER 2021
We want a power share – not a – being deemed to be a safe
pair of hands - to walk
go and see both. And that’s
fine. For me, that’s
power grab audiences in the shoes of a absolutely fine. But don’t tell
Black woman, in The Colour my story, and not allow me
Lenny: OK, here’s my final question. If there was one thing
Purple, white audiences to tell it too.
you could get broadcasters, streamers and studios to do to
realised that they’d actually
increase diversity, what would that be?
Amma: I think it’s more a psychological thing, more than
be fine by the end of it. You
know, if you walk two hours
References
anything. I want them to recognise that, in order to truly make in the shoes of a Black 1. ‘They Set Us Up to Fail’:
a difference, they must understand that power has to be woman - of Whoopi Black Directors of the
shared. I think the fear of sharing power means that there’s a Goldberg – you’ll be okay, ’90s Speak Out - New
lot of lip service. And, they still struggle for the changes that just fine. You can actually York Times, July 3rd
are being made in order to be really meaningful, because 2019.
come out quite elated and
https://www.nytimes.
people are still trying to hold on to power. And I think it’s the fulfilled by it, like a thousand
com/2019/07/03/movies/
recognition that power has to be shared. I don’t want to other films, with the
black-directors-1990s.
sound like a greetings card, but I do believe that power is a quintessential male html
bit like love and there’s enough to go around. And just protagonist at the centre.
because you have a powerful Black commissioning editor
whose choices are honoured, it doesn’t mean you’re less Lenny: You’re that person
powerful. It just means that, rather than losing power, you are now?
facilitating the unblocking of the arteries of our industry. And Amma: Yes, exactly. And so
that means you have to really look in the mirror. what I want is for them
[inspirational White directors]
Lenny: Thank you Amma, this has been wonderful - it was a
to exist, but I want to exist Amma Asante is a BAFTA
pleasure to speak to you. award-winning filmmaker,
alongside them. And I want
My takeaway from this is your story about A Way of Life you, and everybody else, to directing “A Way of Life” in
where the producer at ITV Wales, Peter Edwards, came to be able to go to the cinema 2004, “Belle” in 2013, “A
you and said, “We’re going to ring-fence some money so United Kingdom” in 2016,
and go, “Oh, there’s a
that you can tell your story”. That needs to happen on a and “Where Hands Touch”
number of films” – maybe
global scale because if they don’t do this simple thing - put in 2018. This is a transcript
one is by me and one is by a
money aside for marginalised groups for them to tell their of a conversation which
white male director. – “Oh, took place over Zoom on
own stories - nothing will change. Because nothing they’re both about Black 8th June 2021, produced
happens without investment. women, which one am I and edited by Marcus
going to go and see?” and Ryder.
There should be room for
everyone’s story
Amma: The final thing I want to say is that, you know, I grew
up with Scorsese and Spielberg, and mostly [it was] these
American directors’ work that inspired me beyond belief. And Representology takeaways
I got an Empire Award a few years ago. And, part of my
speech was talking about all of these men - these white, very The intersection of race and gender presents
traditional men, whose work inspired me. But I also talked particular challenges and difficulties as a filmmaker
about the fact that so did Barbra Streisand - when Barbra • Women and people of colour are judged to higher
Streisand did Yentl, I didn’t realise how much her story behind standards compared to their white and male
that film and in front of the camera really inspired me. I know counterparts - their projects are less likely to be
now, because I’m also obsessed with the film. But in my forgiven for ‘failing’
speech, I talked about how many more women I could have • It is important that work which didn’t make it to the
put on my list of directors who inspired me, if more women screen is not considered a “waste of time” - it
had been given the opportunities that those great men, informs future, more successful work.
whose work I love so much, had been given.
• Good mentors will ask questions - not offer up
I don’t want a world where there’s no Scorsese, I don’t want answers - allowing apprentices to develop their
a world where there’s no Spielberg, I believe that there was a own solutions
Belle because there was a Colour Purple [directed by Steven • Money should be ring-fenced for work created by
Spielberg]. I believe that, because of him [Spielberg] people from underrepresented groups
13REPRESENTOLOGY THE JOURNAL OF MEDIA AND DIVERSITY
FIND IN G
MY
V OIC E ier
t a i n’s p r e m
T h e V o i ce , Bri d
o r k i n g a t r n a l i st a n
W
a p e r, g a v e jou o ls
a c k n e w s p s e n t i a l to
Bl a H i rs c h es
d c a st e r Af u ry
b ro a d i a i n d u s t
i g a te t h e me
to na v
14ISSUE 02 SUMMER 2021
15REPRESENTOLOGY THE JOURNAL OF MEDIA AND DIVERSITY
There are things I did at But then I went on to write There is no way to describe
about racism in football, the confidence that comes
The Voice newspaper as anorexia in the Black from feeling a sense of
a young journalist in the community, the exclusion of belonging and solidarity in a
1990s of which I’m not pregnant schoolgirls, and the place of work. When I began
entirely proud. A emerging culture of British writing for The Voice, the
hip hop. I was a Black number of Black journalists
photoshoot involving a working on national
teenage girl, writing about
snowboard, a cheesy Black teenage girls. Before broadsheets and as TV
interview about the there was a language for broadcasters was negligible.
festival Kwanzaa. My ‘For us, by us’, The Voice Other than the grandees of
was a crucial part of the Black British media - Trevor
first ever copy was media landscape in Britain Phillips and Moira Stewart,
essentially some PR puff that was doing just that. and the crucial work of
about a new single from Would mainstream media
Darcus Howe - the idea of
American R&B artist outlets have covered those
Black people reporting,
investigating and presenting
Faith Evans. stories at the time? If so,
news and current affairs was
would they have centred on
a completely fantastical one
the Black experience or,
to me. As is so often the
instead, moulded it to fit a
case, the stories of
white gaze? Would their
important Black journalists
journalistic instincts, the
who had been operating
clear call of public interest,
throughout the twentieth
have extended to include not
century - including Una
just racism, systemic
Marson, Barbara Blake
unfairness, but also - and
Hannah - were invisible and
these are perhaps the early
inaccessible to me.
works I’m most proud of -
features about cultural And yet here was a
innovation that are simply newsroom that was fully
allowed to radiate Black joy? staffed, owned and executed
by Black professionals. From
I would later gain insight into
the editor to the secretary,
the culture and content of
the reporters and the
those organisations when I
photographers, it was an
became a correspondent for
assembly of people who
The Guardian, and
shared a sense of
freelanced for The Times,
community, cultural heritage
The Telegraph, Sky News,
and discourse - an
the BBC, CNN, Channel 4,
intellectual curiosity about
the Financial Times,
the Black experience and
Prospect, Marie Claire, and
about how to tell those
many others. I could offer
stories.
my anecdotal answer to
these questions, and also
cite the numerous studies
conducted since the mid
1990s which reveal an abject
failure by the news media to
reflect the society it claims
to report upon.
But the reality is that I may
not have got there at all,
were it not for my early
experience of incubation at
The Voice.
16ISSUE 02 SUMMER 2021
It was only later, in this culture or how it impacts Recognition within the media Afua Hirsch is a journalist,
newsrooms where I was the upon the people who must is possible, but it comes at a broadcaster, author, and
visible ‘other’ as one of few, inhabit it. cost. Wallis Annenberg Chair of
or where there were no other the University of Southern
Even at the time, many of A positive reason for
Black journalists, that I came California
the people who knew me celebrating a Black press -
to appreciate how nurturing
when I worked at The Voice, as well as all the other media
a space that was. Older,
questioned why we needed outlets that speak
more experienced journalists
a Black newspaper at all. It specifically and directly to
took an interest in nurturing
was segregationist, they minority communities - is
my enthusiasm for writing
thought - it presumed a that it creates spaces in
and reporting. It was not a
homogeneity in the Black which we are not minorities.
perfect organisation - and
community. There are both
had problems of leadership This is something I have
positive and negative
and financial management come to value more since
elements to my response.
that, even from my my time at The Voice, more
inexperienced perspective, A negative is that, whilst the than two decades ago. As
created challenges for the rest of the media has never political and media
journalists that it hired. But overtly styled itself as ‘the narratives have become
the threat of feeling alienated white media’, that’s exactly more polarised and
or racially othered by what it has been. From the polarising, my role has often
microaggressions or bias tabloids peddling racist been to serve as the token
- unconscious or overt - was tropes about immigration Black person in a discussion
a non-issue. and Black criminality, to the or debate, in which I’m
required to justify both my
legitimacy as a contributor,
Even at the time, many of the
and the idea that racism
exists.
people who knew me when I Every Black commentator I
worked at The Voice, questioned know - regardless of their
professional training or
why we needed a Black journalistic interest - receives
dozens of requests to
newspaper at all. It was appear in still
segregationist, they thought . . . overwhelmingly white media
spaces whenever a story
about racism, or official
attempts to deny its validity,
broadsheets promoting
The confidence that becomes significant news.
fringe voices who appear to
engendered - not just in me, For many news
have internalised anti-
but in many other young organisations, this is the
Blackness, it’s still often hard
Black journalists I single role of Black
to avoid the sense that
encountered who were journalists in debating
Britain’s media organisations
beginning their careers there questions about race or
don’t work for, or include,
- stayed with me when I later explaining what it means.
Black people.
entered the giants of the When people ask me how I
British media. It was a Every Black journalist knows personally cope with the
confidence I would need. at least one person of colour fatiguing nature of these
These spaces make you in a predominantly white requests, I often think back
highly conscious of your newsroom who has been to my entry into journalism,
difference, and reward those able to get through, and at The Voice, and quietly
who attempt to assimilate enjoy success, as a result of offer my thanks for the
into the whiteness that assimilating into the pre- resilience it gave me, and
characterised their culture. existing culture and how long it continues to last.
Ironically, for a profession narrative, and avoiding
that is supposedly interested drawing attention to either
in uncovering truths, there their perspective, lived
has been little introspection experience, or their identity
or honest analysis of either as a Black person.
17REPRESENTOLOGY THE JOURNAL OF MEDIA AND DIVERSITY 18
Putting
ISSUE 02 SUMMER 2021
the Black
into Britain
Professor Kurt Barling
highlights the ‘striking impact’
of pioneering BBC current
affairs series, Black Britain.
19REPRESENTOLOGY THE JOURNAL OF MEDIA AND DIVERSITY
Steve McQueen’s 2020 Small Axe drama series on Black current affairs break the mould, in the
programmes were rarely midst of another periodic
BBC Television and BBC2’s Black Power and recurring crisis of
seen by programme
documentary (March 2021) were rare forays into the commissioners as being confidence - what is
mainstream experience of Black Britons. successful. Ebony, Bandung sometimes referred to as a
Sometimes, it feels that in every generation some File, Black Bag and All Black ‘watershed moment’ -
all followed Black on Black, ruminating on where Britain
commissioner or other suddenly ‘discovers’ there was heading as a multi-
which was broadcast on
are real stories of Black contributions to this Island Channel 4 in the mid 1980s, ethnic community.
of Nations that we call home. It’s hard to believe it is to mixed reviews. BBC News
At the same time,
a quarter of a century since the BBC current affairs and Current Affairs
journalism’s foot soldiers,
responded to the BBC Two
magazine series Black Britain (1996-2000) first Controller Michael Jackson’s
like the veteran foreign
graced our screens. It feels like yesterday, perhaps expression of interest in
correspondent, George
Alagiah (now a senior
because I was a member of the production team Black current affairs
newsreader), described the
that made it, and, uncomfortably, because it shows programming. A group was
BBC as being, “dominated
set up, which included Pat
my generational point may be closer to reality than I Younge, to understand those
by a white male culture. It
would like to imagine. The root cause of this earlier offerings and what the
has a certain way of working
and networking” (Malik,
condition is amnesia: a collective forgetting of what BBC could do differently.
2001). That was also my own
has gone before and, as a consequence, the The programme was able to
recollection of BBC News
build on the successful
evaporation of important lessons that are starting magazine format of Here and
and Current Affairs, which I
points for remedial action, rather than regrets over Now, and the resources of a
had worked in, by then, for
several years. Black Britain
what could have been. The editors of well provisioned part of the
was a genuine antidote to
Representology, in supporting this piece of research, BBC. Importantly, it found it
that. I joined the BBC in
had the autonomy to
have recognised the importance of restoring produce what the editorial
1989, fresh from completing
institutional memory about what is possible, but team thought would work.
my Ph.D. at the London
School of Economics.
also how reinventing the wheel to increase equality The team had, and never
Shortly after entering the
in the media should be totally unnecessary. relinquished, editorial power,
hallowed halls of
and that was crucial.
broadcasting, I was accused
We already have credible answers. The murder of the teenager, by a manager of falsifying
Stephen Lawrence, in 1993, my CV. After a week in which
opened fresh wounds I was left to stew, and during
concerning the treatment of which I felt utterly
Black people across Britain, demoralised, I was informed
and refocused broadcasters’ that it was all an elaborate
attention on the reality that joke to test whether I really
major journalism outlets, was as bright and robust as
including the BBC, had my qualifications suggested.
failed to address the I never really trusted a BBC
concerns of minority manager at face value again.
communities. Even whilst
A lack of trust, too, lay at the
Black Britain was on air, an
heart of the poor relationship
internal 1999 BBC memo
between Black communities
from Tony Hall who, at that
and those who endeavoured
time, was Head of News and
to cover their stories.
Current Affairs, recognised
Professor Stuart Hall was a
that: “The BBC receives
pioneer in the interrogation
more than £200m in licence
of this vexed relationship, as
fees from people from ethnic
illustrated by his television
minority groups … but they
essay, ‘It ain’t half racist,
don’t feel that the BBC
mum’, a transcript of which
connects with their lives”
was reprinted in the first
(Malik, 2001). Black Britain
issue of this journal
emerged as an attempt to
(Representology, Winter
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