Barriers to Diversity in Film – A Research Review – Aug 07
Barriers to Diversity in Film – A Research Review – Aug 07
Barriers to Diversity in Film – A Research Review – Aug 07
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teams encourage creativity. Recruit<strong>in</strong>g and develop<strong>in</strong>g the widest<br />
range of talent can reduce recruitment costs. S<strong>in</strong>ce most bus<strong>in</strong>ess is<br />
now <strong>in</strong>ternational, the <strong>in</strong>dustry needs skills <strong>in</strong> trad<strong>in</strong>g goods and<br />
services across borders and <strong>in</strong> multiple languages. A diverse workforce<br />
will aid negotiation and communication, and represent a progressive<br />
image <strong>to</strong> the rest of the world. Corporate reputation can be damaged<br />
by adverse publicity and discrim<strong>in</strong>ation cases that come <strong>to</strong> court.<br />
Under-served audiences can be targeted more specifically <strong>to</strong> attend<br />
c<strong>in</strong>emas. This will become even more important if c<strong>in</strong>ema audiences<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ue <strong>to</strong> decl<strong>in</strong>e, as they have <strong>in</strong> the last two years. The size and<br />
spend<strong>in</strong>g power of the older, gay, disabled and m<strong>in</strong>ority ethnic<br />
population groups is very large but these markets are not always<br />
unders<strong>to</strong>od properly by ma<strong>in</strong>stream providers.<br />
If the sec<strong>to</strong>r does not comprise a more diverse workforce, films that<br />
get made may lack the perspectives of under-represented groups.<br />
British films may be less heterogeneous as a consequence.<br />
7.5 <strong>Research</strong> priorities for the future<br />
As this report has <strong>in</strong>dicated there are significant <strong>in</strong>formation gaps <strong>in</strong><br />
relation <strong>to</strong> diversity <strong>in</strong> film. This section summarises the key ones.<br />
7.5.1 Roles allocated <strong>to</strong> under-represented ac<strong>to</strong>rs<br />
There is little research <strong>in</strong> the UK on ac<strong>to</strong>rs from under-represented<br />
groups and whom they portray on screen, that is, numbers <strong>in</strong> films as<br />
C:\Documents and Sett<strong>in</strong>gs\mcorless\Desk<strong>to</strong>p\Intranet\<strong>Barriers</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>Diversity</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Film</strong>_DS_RB 20 <strong>Aug</strong><br />
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