Sky recognises that certain groups of people are underrepresented in the industry and has set the following targets to offer the business clear focus areas that can be measured and tracked.
Sky’s ambition is to ensure that the TV industry’s next network of leaders truly reflects a diverse, modern Britain.
Our commitment to diversity does not stop with getting a foot in the door. We pledge to nurture and develop underrepresented talent by providing proper mentorship to ensure clear career progression and networking opportunities.
We will ensure that diverse talent is not only represented at a junior or mid-level but commit to meaningful industry change by guaranteeing that those at the most senior decision-making level come from all backgrounds.
We will adhere to a collaborative, not didactic approach. We aim to support and enable production companies to meet our targets, and we want to open a dialogue with the diverse talent currently working in TV. We will provide more cross-business discussion forums, encouraging a discursive approach to this subject which requires a long-term solution.
To help resource diverse talent, there are many great organisations to help source and/or shortlist candidates based on our production needs, both on and off-screen – these are a few of the organisations.
Initially, we would expect you to go to these resources first and try and make it work within your budget, but we are always willing to discuss with your production executive and commissioner.
Sky does not hold talent databases, and due to GDPR, we cannot share talent details of talent based on their protected characteristics. Sky does provide access to talent databases which you can find listed in this document, and have many others which we recommend to source diverse talent.
We would expect you to be taking a long term view when crewing up and encourage you to look at the more junior roles from the previous series to see how diverse talent can step up for the series to come.
We understand that this can be challenging. Post-production is an excellent area to look at when shooting abroad, as it is often done in the UK. We also have some examples of engaging with local film schools. There are also instances where we can see a commitment to the progression of diverse talent; we can look to support the travel and accommodation costs. Explore what the diversity is looking like in the area that you are shooting. What is the representation like in those communities, and how is that reflected in your crew.
Sky takes the view that we look at our slate of shows and the diversity that will come through onscreen when looking at factual programming. In those instances, we ensure that we push hard to drive the off-screen diversity.
We would expect you to push for diversity in the room and look at other roles, such as script editors, to ensure a conscious effort to drive diversity.
Voice actors and off-screen talent should be the focus here.
To keep everyone focused, we have initially focussed on a few goals that will help deliver at speed, build credibility and clear the path for the next big ambition.
Doing one thing brilliantly is nearly always more effective than trying to do many things at once and fosters a collaborative approach for everyone to learn, adapt and succeed.