Ahead of this week's announcement of nominees, BAFTA chair Sarah Putt said there was still a “long way to go” to achieve gender parity in the film and TV industry.
The talent agent and producer, who will become BAFTA chairman in 2023, said the underrepresentation of women in the awards' most prestigious categories was due to poor access and retention in an increasingly volatile industry. He said this reflects the lack of availability.
“It’s great to work with such an amazing group of women,” Pat said when asked about this. Prevalence of women in leadership roles Including the CEO of Bafta.
“However, we still have a long way to go to achieve gender equality in all aspects of our industry. At Bafta, we are passionate about creating as level a playing field as possible, which is why we That’s why we created the intervention we did after the movie review.”
In 2024, only one female director (Justine Triet for Anatomy of Autumn) was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director at the BAFTAs. There's only one movie this year about women. We have created a long list of the 10 best movies. (Coralie Ferguito for Substance) Meanwhile, none of the female filmmakers nominated for Best Director are from the UK.
This comes after the British Academy announced in 2020 that this year's nominations did not include actors of color, and again the all-male Best Director nominees list, following massive outcry. This was despite a complete overhaul of the system.
Bafta has added 1,000 new members to its committee and announced that half of the nominees for best director nominations must be women. The voting system was also changed, with a list of 15 films for committee members to watch to avoid a small number of films dominating the list.
“I think our job is to get people to see as wide a range of films as possible,” Pat said. “We cannot dictate what is made. Of the 189 films shown, Entry into this year's Best Director categoryless than 25% were by women. We're not creating content; we're at the end of the talent pipeline. ”
However, she added that Bafta had made a huge effort. Update your membership. “In recent years, more than 50 per cent of new members have been women and 28 per cent have been from ethnic minority backgrounds,” she said.
When the issue of diversity came up again in 2023, performing arts union Equity said that regardless of changes by the British Academy, the pool of individuals from which candidates could be selected was still not diverse enough.
According to Report from the University of Southern California Annenberg Inclusion Initiativeof the 112 directors of the top 100 grossing films in 2024, 13.4% were women and 24.1% were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.
Patt, who has worked as an agent for off-screen talent through her talent agency Sara Putt Associates, said progress has been made but there is still a long way to go.
She said: “We represent far more women in tech, women photographers, women editors, etc. There are now more concerns about intimacy coordinators and access coordinators. Masu.
“But still, to this day, women are far more likely to be asked about childcare in interviews. Gender and class pay gaps still exist.”
She mentioned samantha morton speech He spoke about the importance of representation while accepting a BAFTA Fellowship at last year's ceremony.
Pat said: “It's really a dichotomy because this is a great industry that a lot of people want to be in. As Samantha Morton said, stories have the power to change lives, so different people Creating and telling those stories is so important. But it's also an incredibly volatile career.”
Mr Pat, who serves on the advisory board of the British Film Board and the Film and Television Charity Council, pointed to coronavirus, the Hollywood strike and weak commission and advertising revenues. Recent research has found that Mental health issues were on the rise across the industry.64% of respondents said they had considered quitting their job.
She said: “The last few years have been very difficult for the community, and the challenge is not just how to get into the industry, but how to sustain a career in it.
“Until recently, people had pretty linear careers. You started as a trainee and worked your way up. When I started working as an agent 35 years ago, people were working in film and television. We had maybe 2,000 freelancers and today we have 200,000.”
At Bafta, we focus on creating social mobility through scholarships, bursaries and talent promotion programmes, she added. “One in two young people is interested in a career in the film industry, but Less than 1 in 5 people I think that's something they can accomplish. That's losing talent before you even start. ”
Another challenge facing the industry comes in the form of AI, she said. “AI is here to stay. We can’t be like King Canute and sit on the beach and say the tide won’t come.
“AI is not going to take your job, but it could be if you know how to work with it. Is it?”
Meanwhile, new rules allow BAFTA to strip future winners of their honorary awards if “fraud is proven” or if they are found guilty of a serious criminal offense. “We thought it was a good time to ask, 'Is this fit for purpose?'” Pat said.
Is she worried about the accusations against cancel culture? “I think it's a very unique situation when someone is convicted of a serious crime. We are concerned about upholding good behavior and best practices in our industry.”
This year's BAFTA Film Awards will be broadcast on BBC One and iPlayer on February 16th. As in previous years, there will be no live broadcast. “It's more exciting and gives the audience the best experience,” Pat said.