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A cross-industry initiative aims to reset the TV industry’s class imbalance by 2030 but is there any chance it will succeed?
If television was ever the opiate of the masses then the drugs are no longer working. The industry has progressed from the days of being monopolised by a Oxbridge educated (white, male) elite but according to a new report, TV’s class imbalance remains a significant ethical and commercial barrier.
Being working class is TV’s last taboo which the report ‘Let’s Talk About Class’ aims to tackle. It argues that social mobility is needed to deliver fairer representation of those from a less privileged background both on screen and behind it.
“We’re talking about the need to be class confident as leaders and organisations to challenge the status quo – it is hard to get into the industry if you’re from a working class background,” said Emma Morris, Executive Editor of Morning Live and The One Show, BBC Studios, speaking at an event unveiling the report’s key findings at MediaCity.
The initiative was set up a year ago by The TV Foundation, the charitable arm of the Edinburgh TV Festival, following James Graham’s MacTaggart lecture where he called for more opportunities for working-class people in the industry.
The Sherwood screenwriter cited research from the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre suggesting only 8% of people currently working in television are from a working-class background. The national average of people who identify as working class is 49%.
Graham also referred to class as “everyone’s least favourite diversity and representation category” and said more attention should be paid to social mobility.
The new report, due to launch in full at the Edinburgh TV Festival in August, found that a quarter of people in senior managerial positions in UK TV were privately educated. That figure is three times higher than the UK’s general population (1 in 13).
Perhaps controversially, the authors are using educational background to help segment people by class.
“The biggest difficulty is measuring class,” said Amber Haque, presenter and documentary maker and one of 24 TV professionals on an Impact Unit contributing to the report. “We don’t even have data on how many working class people work in film and TV.”
A contributing factor, she says, is that people are nervous of talking about where they are from. She said that being working class and northern was more of a barrier in discussions with TV executives than her mixed South Asian heritage.
“It’s like an invisible marker for some people. We came up with the term, ‘class confidence’ to create a space where people can feel confident to talk about themselves.”
Haque was in the audience for Graham’s speech. “When I looked around that room the irony was not lost on me that there is a huge disconnect in our industry between [those in TV] and our audience.”
“As one of the younger members on the working group I was seeing people I really respect and admire in reduced to tears because for the first time they were able to share the burden of this final taboo.
“When people don't feel they can turn up to work as who they are, that has a huge effect on their experience in the industry and also what we're putting out into the world for the people that we're meant to serve.”
Participants at the event in Salford ranged from network commissioners and senior editors to indie production bosses. All agreed that class and related lower economic backgrounds remained a barrier to entry.
Money on the table
One of the most significant findings in the report is an acknowledgment that the working class is TV's largest potential audience but that this is not reflected on screen. Having a representative TV workforce could have commercial benefits, besides being an ethical consideration.
“It isn't enough to put a camera in a [working class] place and expect that to resonate,” said Haque. “We don’t want people to see working class TV as a risk but as an exciting potential.”
Ofcom analysis has also showed that those it considers to be working-class watch more television than any other group, but that these rates are declining with many moving to digital content.
The report says: “Attracting and retaining talent from a range of backgrounds leads to success: workplaces that value diversity of thought and experience are more likely to lead to innovation; and companies that understand their culture and help everyone feel valued have higher staff retention.”
Tesco’s not telly
Working class tends to mean people from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds and when the traditional routes into the TV industry are poorly paid (if at all) this exacerbates the class gap.
“It feels mildly exploitative,” said Iain MacLeod, Executive Producer, Continuing Drama, ITV. “It’s certainly a barrier to entry for a lot of people that don’t come from a more financially secure background. The report clearly shows we are a long way from improving the situation. The way to get people through the door is to pay people properly.”
Longevity and stability of employment is seen as important and the same applies to training and work placements. Instead, the gig economy of many starter jobs in TV is deterring many candidates from sustaining their dream.
“When I started in the industry you'd be invited to work for nothing for three months,” said MacLeod. “I don't understand how that works if you have no kind of money in your hinterland.”
The BBC’s Interim Editor of Unscripted Commissioning, Michael Jochnowitz agreed that rates for first time jobs had barely changed in two decades. “That's something that needs to change. With inflation, I've no idea how young people today are going to survive.
“If you're offered an apprenticeship at Greg's where you're paid well, you're get a year long contract and it seems like a really fun place to work versus coming into telly [then you take the job at Greg’s].
Pam Cavannagh, CEO, Purple Productions urged everyone to think about offering longer term contracts for entry-level jobs, but admitted that's not always easy. “It's also about having people in your leadership team who understands how to talk to people from different classes. There was a time when everyone in telly was a bit ‘lovey’ and ‘darling’.”
Morris said she could understand why there was an exodus of freelancers and even more senior pros from the industry, “The length of contract is a really big issue but it’s not easy to fix. People are going to work for Tesco’s rather than come into telly now.”
Mental health exodus
Even freelancers like Haque with shows on their C.V are commission dependent. With less work around, job insecurity is causing many of her peers to question their future in the business.
“When you don't have a partner or your family to fall back on when a commission inevitably falls away, people leave,” she said. “They put so much into [the job] but when the tough times come the industry is not there for them. They say TV doesn't love them anymore.”
The Film and TV Charity found 35% of industry workers describing their mental health as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’, a marked increase from 24% in 2022. Shockingly, the prevalence of suicidal thoughts is also alarmingly high with 30% experiencing such thoughts over the past 12 months.
The deterioration in the mental health of industry workers is linked to feeling an acute sense of precarity in their roles, with only 12% of those surveyed feeling that the industry is a mentally healthy place to work, and 64% having considered leaving altogether over the past 12 months due to concerns about their mental health.
Samantha McMillon, COO, Quay Street Productions said that she mentored a young person last year and spent most of the time trying to convince them not to leave the industry.
“Even though she is so talented she wasn't getting the jobs that she wanted to do. So many people are having the most difficult time that Tesco seems much more appealing.
Self-sustaining Corrie
Manchester is home to Coronation Street, arguably the UK’s major success when it comes to depicting working class on screen. ITV Studios makes 600 episodes a year and employs a largely permanent crew, 43% of whom are from a working class background, according to Mcleod.
“Historically, there was the ‘people like us’ problem in TV where the old school tie network would hire people that resemble them. Well, it’s kind of going on now except the people doing that are from a working-class background – in the soaps at least. There's a kind of self-sustaining improvement going on where we don't see quite the same rate of attrition.”
He noted that when Corrie first launched in 1960 it was considered avant-garde simply because it dared to put working-class voices on television.
“By the nature of where it's shot, the makeup of the editorial and production teams and the cast themselves, it has stayed quite true to that working class DNA,” he said.
“It really helps if a large proportion of the people making the hiring decisions in your company are from that background themselves.”
Metropolitan bias
While the BBC and other PSBs have made strides in devolving production to the nations and regions there remains a geographical and cultural divide where most network gatekeepers live within the M25.
“Commissioners would benefit from having a more sustained connection with the local community on a more regular basis rather than traveling up from London standing on stage, doing some shopping and pissing off back to London – which used to happen,” said the BBC’s Manchester born Jochnowitz. “There should be more of a regular informal dialogue with indies outside the capital. There are not enough network commissioners living out of London.”
Not coincidentally, the Edinburgh TV Festival chose to hold this event at the centre of the Northern Powerhouse.
“Everyone wants the heartland audience, which points to class as well,” said Cavanagh. “That means people need to base themselves here, live and breathe it, to better understand what the High Street is like in Oldham - because it's not the same as it is in London.”
MacLeod relayed that the senior creative team on a show set in the Northwest were once taken on a coach trip to a local shopping mall. “This is Greggs. This is the supermarket. Let's look at what the locals are eating. It was like a safari. On the shows that I work on that’s not the case anymore and I’d hope that representation on our screens is a lot more authentic because of it.”
Haque said she thought London-based commissioners and execs don't have a lived experience of being around working class people. “They don't understand the codes and the terms of how people are and that is going to affect content.”
Haque said she thought London-based commissioners and execs don't have a lived experience of being around working class people. “They don't understand the codes and the terms of how people are and that is going to affect content.”
Rick Murray of Banijay-owned Workerbee says the Manchester based indie’s of Idris Elba’s Fight School for the BBC raised eyebrows.
“If you're a London based indie you don't restrict yourself to fishing from the pond of the Metropolitan area of London, and so production companies like us need to start thinking outside the M60 just as London companies think outside the M25. That way we can bring the biggest shows here that employ everyone and we will solve this problem.”
Morris suggested BBC daytime programme Morning Live was a successful example of hiring people who identify as working class and boosting audience appeal.
Morris suggested BBC daytime programme Morning Live was a successful example of hiring people who identify as working class and boosting audience appeal.
“When we launched the show in London we wanted to speak to a working class audience because we recognised that they were underrepresented. But even in pitching meetings it was clear to me that what people thought our audience was passionate about was really far off the mark.”
She said she had always felt Morning Live should have a “Northern Soul” that would talk about the same topics as shoppers of Asda in Burnley. “That got so much easier to do since we relocated to MediaCity in 2022 . To me it’s no coincidence that we’ve taken our C to D audience (broadcasting speak for working class demographics) from 50% to 60% because we are in a regional hub where our production staff go back to their homes, in the place where they grew up, surrounded by telly watchers, their neighbours and families ,and so really understand the audience. It's not a guessing game.”
She added, “Working class people are not miserable bastards. They are fun. Stories don’t have to be doom and gloom.”
Powerhouse Supercharged – more than words?
Also not coincidentally, BBC Director General Tim Davie chose Salford to deliver a major speech on the future of the Corporation last week. In it he said the BBC wanted to “supercharge Salford while supporting a wider One Creative North plan – more output, more decision-making power, and more creative leadership.”
The creative industries in Salford account for nearly 20 percent of jobs in Greater Manchester or £1.3 billion of economic activity in this area, according to Darren Grice, Director of Culture, Salford City Council. “If we could turn that up by just 5% it would mean £90 million more a year for this city or £900 million over 10 years.”
He pointed to the campus of infrastructure and expertise within greater Manchester, “that can turbo boost this region across the Northwest and beyond that Tim Davey talked about.
“But it's not just about economic impact. The journey [of BBC and ITV investing in MediaCity] has shown how it can change a place through profile and pride and sense of place. This city is no longer the dirty old town of Ewan MacColl. It has reinvented itself and it's now a vibrant future facing creative city.”
Snobbery breeds Reform
The panellists at the MediaCity event criticised out of touch commissioning execs for their snobbish attitude to aspiring talent who either came from perceived poorer backgrounds, or who had been working behind a bar to make ends meet.
Broadcaster and campaigner Carol Vorderman had even linked the TV industry’s innate “snobbery” with the violence that erupted in the wake of the Southport murders.
“You cannot be an industry with the power to create the conversation and then claim nothing is your responsibility,” she said delivering the Alternative MacTaggart Lecture. “The two simply don’t add up.”
Although he made no direct mention of it, this was also on Davie’s mind in his mission statement which stressed the importance of maintaining audience trust.
“Trust in each other, trust in our institutions, trust in information and trust in the UK. The essential ingredient of a secure, cohesive society. The enabler of a creative and competitive UK.”
“I don’t want to catastrophise,” he continued, “but unless we act we will drift. Becoming weaker, less trusting, less competitive.
“The future of our cohesive, democratic society feels, for the first time in my life, at risk. This speaks to issues way beyond party politics or one event, but to longer term factors such as the online revolution and globalisation.”
Committing to send more commissioners to the regions, to educate schoolchildren on how to verify content through BBC Bitesize and encourage more creators to participate in BBC content may be too little to late to stop the BBC’s traditional audience from diverting to social media.
It would seem that the C to D masses have long since lost faith in seeing their views and values and voices on screen in an industry overwhelmingly dominated by the metropolitan elite holding to patronising Reithian ideals.
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