ITV is setting aside £80 million ($105 million) of its commissioning budget over the next three years for a Diversity Commissioning Fund.
Of the £80 million fund, at least £20 million will be reserved for shows made by Black, Asian and minority ethnic-led and disabled-led production companies. ITV has also created a new £500,000 development fund to develop ideas that will qualify for its Diversity Commissioning Fund.
While at least 25% of the fund is only for productions made by Black, Asian and minority ethnic-led and disabled-led production companies, the remaining 75% of the fund can be accessed as long as productions are overseen by companies with either diverse ownership or leadership. They must also have diverse salary spend or diverse on-screen stories/portrayals.
The full wording of the criteria is below:
- Diverse company ownership or leadership – senior individuals in company ownership or leadership roles (including through co-production partnerships) involved in shaping creative or operational strategy within the production company (e.g. managing director, creative director) must be Black, Asian or minority ethnic and/or disabled.
- Diverse creative leadership – at least two individuals in senior creative decision-making roles off-screen involved in shaping and making the program (e.g. writer, producer, director) must be Black, Asian or minority ethnic and/or disabled.
- Diverse stories and portrayal on-screen – subject matter and stories are from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic and/or disabled perspective, and/or starring Black, Asian or minority ethnic or disabled actors in lead roles.
- Diverse salary spend – at least 20% of total salary spend off-screen on the production must be on Black, Asian or minority ethnic and/or disabled creatives.
ITV consulted on the fund with the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity.
According to the latest figures from the Diamond report — an industry-wide data collection system for monitoring and reporting diversity in broadcasting — the “Love Island” broadcaster has 14.2% off-screen and 17.5% on-screen representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic creatives, and 4.5% off-screen and 9.6% on-screen representation of disabled creatives.
Variety put a spotlight on the lack of producers of color working in the U.K. film and TV industry in November.
Carolyn McCall, CEO of ITV, said the new fund further builds on ITV’s Diversity Acceleration Plan. “We want to keep up the momentum and drive more progress at ITV and across the industry, so that our audiences can see their broad range of experiences and perspectives reflected in our content,” she said.
Ade Rawcliffe, group director of diversity and inclusion at ITV, added: “ITV is committed to creating content by, with, and for everyone, connecting and reflecting modern audiences. We want more people of color and disabled people to be able to tell their stories and get opportunities in senior production roles. With this reserve fund, we’re working to speed up progress in a sustainable way, and play our part to change the structure of the industry.”
Marcus Ryder at the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity said: “ITV dedicating program finance for television productions that meet set criteria to positively increase diversity and inclusion is an important development. The LHC is happy to have been consulted in the process, and if implemented fully we see this as a vital policy tool in any broadcaster’s efforts to increase representation of underrepresented groups in production.”