The Guild goes to Downing Street

Gail Renard, Chair of the Guild's TV Committee, reports on a reception for women in trade unions

The Guild was invited by Harriet Harman (Minister of State, Government Equalities Office and Deputy Labour leader) to send three delegates to a reception for women in trade unions, which was being held this week at 11 Downing Street. The purpose was to discuss equality in the workplace, with the view of contributing to Ms. Harman’s new Equality Bill, due later this year.

The Guild was represented by Anne Hogben, the Deputy General Secretary; Olivia Hetreed, Chair of the Film Committee and myself.

Ms. Harman, along with her staff and other MPs, were eager to hear about the Guild’s experiences and/or problems relating to the representation of women and Equality more generally. Anne Hogben observed that of the 52 writers short-listed for the recent Guild awards, only 6 of them were women, which was surprising and dismaying. Diablo Cody, who won the original screenplay BAFTA this year for Juno, was the only woman nominated for screenwriting in either category.

Olivia Hetreed reported that the Film Council did research on why there are so few women scriptwriters in film - proportionately less than in TV, which is far from equal. The research showed that more women than men go to the cinema in the UK and therefore talk of not writing for the audience is misguided. Indeed films written by women do better at the box office than films by men. But Olivia pointed out “the film business is a tanker that's slow to turn and because of the money involved, decision makers are understandably if regrettably unwilling to try any new writer, regardless of gender. “

Janice Turner of BECTU, who was also present, explained to us and Equality Office representatives the positive effect of setting up one to one meetings between qualified Black and Minority Ethnic workers and employers. We also discussed the slow progress of the joint Guild/BECTU Mentoring scheme for black and minority ethnic writers, developed by Janice and Moe from the Guild, which stalled through lack of support from the UK Film Council. Janice is hoping to refinance the scheme and put it into practice very soon.

I spoke of the reported instances of various forms of inequality in television, but so far any evidence is purely anecdotal. The Guild is keeping a constant and watchful eye on the situation.

Olivia, Anne and I will be following up the meeting with research in our respective fields which we’ll be sharing with Ms. Harman’s department. It’s encouraging to know that the Guild’s voice is being heard in Downing Street… and will continue to be so for a long time.

Article published 22.02.08