BAFTA unveils new steering group to conduct wide-ranging review of its membership, nominations and voting processes

The British Academy of Film of Television Arts (BAFTA) have today unveiled the formation of a new steering group established to lead the review of the processes and conditions which contributed to a lack of diversity in some of the categories in this year’s British Academy Film Awards.

BAFTA is committed to driving positive change in the entertainment industry and is constantly reviewing its policies across membership, nominations and voting processes to ensure these are fit for purpose.

The steering group is comprised of a range of BAFTA board and committee members, BAFTA staff, external industry figures, independent advisors, and leading diversity advocates and academics.

The Group will be chaired by BAFTA Deputy Chair Krishnendu Majumdar. Other members include:

· Kathryn Busby - Executive Vice President of TriStar Television

· Noel Clarke – Actor, Writer, Director, Producer

· Dr Sadia Habib - Academic & Co-founder RizTest

· Anna Higgs - Head of Entertainment Media Partnership, Northern Europe Facebook

· Nahrein Kemp - Film & TV Executive, Film London, runs Equal Access Network

· Kate Lee - Founder & Partner, Freuds

· Dee Poku - Founder & CEO of WIE; founder The Other Festival

· Ade Rawcliffe - Head of Diversity, ITV Commissioning

· Marc Samuelson - Producer

· Tara Saunders - Director of Studio Operations, Sony Interactive Entertainment

· Jennifer Smith - Head of Inclusion BFI

· Sam Tatlow - ThinkBIGGER Talent manager

The steering group will meet regularly during this period to lead an extensive industry consultation that will underpin this rigorous review process. They will also review the latest available research into systemic issues in the industry. In exceptional circumstances if members are unable to attend, appropriate deputies will represent them.

Due to the current working environment, meetings will be conducted via video conference and phone consultations, with a wide range of industry bodies, organisations, industry professionals and advocacy groups having already been invited to participate, as well as the current BAFTA membership themselves.

The review will cover the nominations and voting process, the role of distributors, the campaigning process, and the makeup of BAFTA’s membership and ultimately how these processes and conditions might be improved with solutions can help drive positive change in the wider industry. It will focus on BAFTA’s Film Awards, but will also take into account the BAFTA Television, Television Craft and Games Awards.

Key issues to be examined include, but are not limited to: diversity, under-represented groups, access, fairness and unconscious bias, voting processes, campaigning process, volume of and access to entered titles, and representation in BAFTA’s voting membership.

All the information gathered and the Steering Group recommendations will be reviewed by an independent expert: Professor Doris Ruth Eikhof, University of Glasgow (formerly CAMEo Research

Institute, University of Leicester), who currently leads the AHRC project Everyday Diversity in the UK screen sector.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is a world-leading independent arts charity that brings the very best work in film, games and television to public attention and supports the growth of creative talent in the UK and internationally. Through its Awards ceremonies and year-round programme of learning events and initiatives – which includes workshops, masterclasses, scholarships, lectures and mentoring schemes in the UK, USA and Asia – BAFTA identifies and celebrates excellence, discovers, inspires and nurtures new talent, and enables learning and creative collaboration. For advice and inspiration from the best creative minds in working in film, games and television, visit www.bafta.org/guru. For more, visit www.bafta.org.