LBB Online - Diversity Behind the Lens

Our co-founder Diana Ellis-Hill speaks to LBB online, along with other production companies about diversity behind the lens

Production company leaders from the UK, US and Canada offer tips to better engage with the issue and ponder the role clients can play to help.

We are an entirely women-owned company and as such are highly aware of the gender imbalance in our industry. When people own a company they are in charge of what happens to the money. They set the pay levels, decide how to re-invest the profit back into the business and hire the senior management team - which in turn sets the policies. When these decisions are made by people who have a different perspective to usual, the outcome is that their company looks different to usual. That is because they don’t hold the same prejudices as usual.
The people telling the stories should represent the audience they are talking to, or they aren’t authentic, and it doesn’t cut through. It is in agencies’ interests to ensure they have diverse voices in their teams, to sense-check and elevate work to speak to all of the audience they want to attract.
There are some incredible initiatives to bring a better gender balance to our industry, including Creative Equals, Free the Work and WACL, but the most impact is felt when clients insist on it. Diageo’s Society 2030: Spirit of Progress Action Plan is an example of this making real change, by insisting on diversity in their supply chain. We hope that as more agencies and clients start to see the benefit of better representation in their teams, the faster the change will come.

Full article here