Colour-blind casting

Amazon Studios Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Playbook

The Amazon Studio diversity, equity and inclusion playbook offers tools and resources to guide decision making and 'disrupt biases' that occur across the lifecycle of a series or movie. Content covers storytelling, hiring behind the camera, casting, production, resources, reporting & documentation.

The resource provides tools to make inclusive decisions. It also suggests criteria for 'informed and consistent' creative choices and fosters thinking beyond the 'status quo'.

Diamond: The Third Cut

Report on the third year of Diamond, the world’s first industry-wide collaborative data collection system for monitoring diversity in broadcasting from the UK's Creative Diversity Network.

Diamond accumulated 30,000 responses looking into all forms of diversity. It found that Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic (BAME) representation on-screen is 23% compared to the UK national figure of 14%. However, BAME people remain absent from many senior creative roles.

How intersectionality can help storytellers

Pearl Tan and Priya A Roy give a useful primer on intersectionality and explain how intersectional approaches can make for better stories and a more diverse industry.

While it deals primarily with the screen industry, it breaks down the concept of intersectionality into its historical roots and explores structural, political, and representational intersectionality - and what this means.

'I Need You To See Me' - Vidya Makan

Vidya Makan's original song 'I Need You To See Me' is an invitation to the entertainment industry for visibility and diverse representation. It features over 101 performers from culturally and racially marginalised backgrounds.

Identity-Conscious Casting

Moving Beyond Color-Blind and Color-Conscious Casting

Director Lavina Jadhwani and casting director Victor Vazquez contemplate how identity and inauthenticity manifest on stage, and the limits of 'colour-blind casting'.

“Here are the givens of the text and here are the givens of how the artists working on it identify. Both of those things have value in the space.”

“Color-blind” says to me: the truths of the text matter and everything else doesn’t matter."

Seeing Ourselves

Second edition of Screen Australia's Seeing Ourselves, charting slight improvements in representation since the first edition on 2016. The report found that there was uncertainty in the industry around who can tell stories, and that stereotypes, gaps and tokenism persists in storytelling and that power structures contribute to poor representation. However there is greater recognition of both the cultural and commercial value of diverse content and increased demand for authentic diverse stories.

The Blueprint for Muslim Inclusion: Recommendations for Film Industry Professionals

A broad set of recommendations for film industry professionals. Includes sector-based guidance, solutions, examples of production companies and studios; agencies; festivals; film and drama schools.

The Decolonising of Aboriginal Representation on our Screens

Host Leila Gurruwiwi and panel discuss First Peoples' identity, how First Nations people want to be portrayed, and the Australian film and television industry.

The Guardian view on colour-conscious casting: mixing it up can be a good thing

An article looking at David Oyewolo's casting in the BBC adaptation of the novel Les Miserables. This approach goes beyond “colour-blind” casting, with directors "making a deliberate choice to ditch the naturalism that underlies most casting decisions."

The Visibility Report: Racial Representation on NYC Stages 2018-19

Fascinating and detailed report using representation data covering the theatre professions (including writers) in NYC. It covers representation of all cultural groups and includes numerous charts visualising the data.

“Theatre Can’t Miss This Moment”: An Interview with Audra McDonald

US theatre legend Audra McDonald speak on theatre, race and colour-blind casting.

'There are so few directors of color...a lot of the trouble would be solved if you had other people of color in the room saying, “Well, this is why you’re getting blowback right now,” or “Just open your mind to this,” or “Why are we not telling more of these people’s—our people’s—stories?” You have no one in the room thinking about that, because they can have the privilege to not have to think about that'.

‘There are no more excuses’: six industry insiders on Australian TV's problem with race

Creatives of colour discuss issues in the Australian screen industry.

Benjamin Law: 'On The Family Law, the team demonstrated that when gatekeepers make the excuse, “Oh, there aren’t enough actors of a certain background” – that’s bullshit. You just haven’t made the effort to find them. Yes, it’s harder than just calling up the same Caucasian faces that you already know. Taking the time is the only way you’re going to do it.'