As part of our Scene Profiles series, we caught up with the lovely Tanya Mukherjee, Diversity Manager at ITV, to discuss her role as well as her thoughts on diversity in the UK television industry.
Please can you describe your role at ITV?
I’ve joined the Diversity team to work on our partnership activities with the Creative Diversity Network and to focus on onscreen diversity across ITV channels. We’ve got some work to do on the latter but there’s some real momentum on this at a senior level.
Soaps & Continuing Drama are at the heart of ITV’s diversity successes and I’ve been working with Emmerdale on an initiative for BAME writers living in Yorkshire & the North East. There’s a significant underrepresentation of writers from minority backgrounds so it’s a chance to address that and connect with local, regional talent. But moreover, it’s bringing that creative talent to ITV and signposting that we want a relationship.
What has been your career path – how did you get to where you are today?
I started in publishing then got a job in TV drama working my way up to script editor. I worked in a few roles at ITV but have always had a passion for making programming diverse so I’m enjoying this challenge now. It’s also interesting to see things from the broadcaster perspective as opposed to programme making. I know what it’s like to be out of work, waiting to get another show, and when you are from a minority background there can be a nagging doubt that you’re not getting the same opportunities as everyone else. You have to be very confident to put that to one side and persevere.
What is ITV's mission and objectives when it comes to diversity?
To ensure our content reflects the nation, with authentic portrayals that avoid stereotypes, and to make our programmes accessible to everyone. That follows through in the workplace, making sure it’s fully inclusive for everyone who works here.
The business case is key – understanding the commercial correlation between onscreen diversity and bringing in new audiences and ultimately revenue. ITV doesn’t have platforms to test talent out like BBC2 or 3, BBC Radio and E4, for example. There’s pressure on shows to be a commercial hit straight away on both ITV1 and ITV2, plus we do a lot more mainstream, non-niche programming. The overriding factor though is that our audiences are changing, the UK is changing and global sales are a priority too. If you’re looking at global audiences, ‘ethnic minorities’ certainly aren’t in the minority. Add aggregate audiences who identify as disabled or LGBT in worldwide markets and you’re looking at some serious volume too. So that commercial imperative is what should drive change in terms of diversifying content. We have to reflect our audiences and make relevant content.
It’s important to note that it’s not just minority audiences who want to see themselves on TV; lots of viewers, especially in urban centres, want to see the nuances and diversity of their worlds reflected too. It’s a myth that white audiences turn off when there’s a non-white cast for example – the upshot is that you attract both BAME and white audiences and we’ve got the figures to prove it.
What schemes and projects are ITV currently running in regards to diversity at the channel. Also, what have been some of ITV's success stories in this area?
We partnered up with the FPS (Foundation Placement Scheme) in Yorkshire and the MFPS (Media Foundation Placement Scheme) in Manchester, (which aimed to give young BAME talent the skills to break into the industry), and ran ITV Enabling Talent for talented TV types who had a disability. One graduate of the MFPS scheme got a placement on Corrie, which turned into a full time role with the editorial team. He’s now writing his own original scripts and was selected as one of this year’s Media Guardian’s ‘One’s to Watch’ for the Edinburgh TV Festival. Another colleague joined the business through Enabling Talent with social anxiety disorder. As well as holding down a demanding job, he’s been facilitating great projects as ITV’s Diversity Champion for Disability and won our internal Pitch Star competition for most innovative programme idea. Individual stories like these are really meaningful.
You can’t keep re-running positive action or diversity schemes so it’s important that the institutional process changes as a result. We’ve made diversity an intrinsic part of Recruitment and Graduate programmes and ITV Apprenticeships in terms of how and where we attract people.
Some people may argue that diversity schemes are more about quotas and box ticking. How would you respond to this argument?
Thankfully the days of quotas are long gone. Diversity schemes might not always work perfectly but you have to try things out. I do get people’s fatigue though – I feel it myself. Institutional change won’t really happen until there’s equality, diversity and leadership at the top. But it’s still better to chip away and create change than remain static.
When we were devising the Emmerdale writers initiative it felt a bit wrong to be using Positive Action in 2012 but if it’s a short cut to getting talent in front of producers, why not use it. Of course you want talent and producers to get matched, irrespective of schemes, but we all know there’s no level playing field yet; execs often use the same contacts and network groups so sometimes you have to create another avenue. It’s hard enough to get work as a writer but if you’re a writer without an agent it’s virtually impossible, so that’s why we didn’t make representation a pre-requisite for the Emmerdale project.
What are your opinions about diversity in the British television industry in general; what do you think needs to be done to take it to the next level?
David Harewood and Morgan Freeman have both recently spoken out against the lack of roles for Black or Asian actors. David, Idris Elba, Parminder Nagra, Marianne Jean-Bapiste, Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Oyelowo have all left to work in the States. It’s a two-fold problem; firstly that the roles in the UK are often race or religious specific, and I think that’s especially the case for British Asian actors. You could say that Luther or Line of Duty used neutral casting which is what US drama does well and explains the exodus of our actors too.
Secondly, and this is not just applicable to drama but across genres, it feels like there’s still a one-in-one-out approach to portrayal – one cast member, presenter or contributor from a minority background. The burden of representation falls heavy on that one person or show, repping for a whole community – or rather, communities within communities – and that can’t be easy. For me, both these points were inextricably linked when I read Marcus Ryder’s article on positive black characters inhabiting a functioning white world, while Black communities are portrayed as dysfunctional. And of course to take things to the next level we need a diverse range of talent behind the camera: auteurs – writers & directors – plus commissioners, producers, editors, researchers, casting directors and marketeers.
Online content is high on the agenda for many broadcasters; what do you think of the rise independent content producers who are now hosting their content online? How do you think this impacts diversity on the bigger (TV) screen?
It’s so hard to get a TV show green lit so I can see why producers go straight to online. Hopefully commissioners and agents will take notice of the buzz around an online hit but I’m not sure they’re integrated enough in the UK and what goes down well on a YouTube channel might not necessarily translate to TV. But it’s an evolving landscape and online content will only get increasingly important so if it gets you noticed, do it. A lot of the new stars and a large percentage of the audiences online are from diverse backgrounds, so broadcasters and advertisers will have to get engaged with those audiences they’re missing out on.
Finally, what does diversity mean to you?
Television still has a duty to be representative and reflective; it can even provide shelter or escape from a hostile world for some viewers. Ultimately diversity is about getting a rich mix of voices on and off screen and always striving to do it authentically. It should always be talent-driven and never earnest, wherever possible add humour.
A huge thanks to Tanya for taking the time out to speak to SceneTV. If you want to get in contact, see below for the all important Twitter links:
ITV Diversity
@tanyamTV
@mirandaITV
@moveonup2ITV (click here for the Facebook Page)
ITV Careers & Talent Schemes
@ITVCareers (click here for the ITV Careers website)
@ITVapprentice
@MarshaWitter
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