The PMA Diverse Squad, Times Up UK, The British Blacklist and Garden Studios promote new initiative to end discrimination on set
New clause introduced to ensure the hair and makeup experience on set is professional, fair, and equal in bid to amend a history of discrimination against Black and global majority actors.
Coverage
Press Release
Sunday 19 May 2024, Cannes, France: Britishtalent including Fola Evans-Akingbola, Lashana Lynch, Naomie Harris and Jordan Pitt, are today backing a campaign launched by Time’s Up UK in partnership with The PMA Diverse Squad – a working group of eight non-white female agents, the British Blacklist, and Garden Studios to ensure the hair and makeup experience on set is professional, fair and equal in bid to amend a history of discrimination against Black and global majority actors.
Garden Studios London are hosting the launch in Cannes to call on broadcasters, streamers, producers and content creators for a new clause to be included in actors’ deal memos which highlights that the actor will need a makeup and hair consultation, and a makeup artist assigned who has the necessary training to look after the actors’ needs.
Dame Heather Rabbatts, Chair, Time’s Up UK, & Chair, Garden Studios says:
“Discrimination based on hair style or texture is a destructive practice that has alienated and caused irreparable harm to our Black and global majority actors. This new clause, which we hope will be included in all actors’ deal memos going forward, will ensure inclusive strides around hair and makeup services are made. This clause marks just the beginning of our work in this space. We also need to expand the pool of hairstylists and makeup artists who are proficient in working with diverse skin tones and hair types”.
Lashana Lynch says:
“Being expected to perform at our best when we as Black artists do not have the same support in hair and makeup as our non-Black and brown peers, is a load that can be heavy to carry as an artist. This load must be shared. I’m hugely supportive of this campaign to address this discrimination ensuring an equitable work environment on and off set for all. I’ll continue to raise this until the framework within our industries are built for everyone to win.”
Rabbatts continues:
“and we are delighted to see the essential Sky documentary Untold Stories: Hair On Set, co-directed by Fola Evans-Akinbola and Jordan Pitt screening in Cannes, is further raising awareness of this issue. The documentary follows Fola and friends including Naomie Harris and others, as they discuss the challenges Black talent face working in TV and film.”
Fola Evans-Akingbola says:
It is incredibly exciting to know that Time’s Up UK is turning its attention to the topic of hair and makeup equality in our industry. This is a subject that impacts so many of us and this collective push towards progress is what has been needed for a long time. Untold Stories: Hair on Set was an invitation to the industry to go on a learning journey about Afro textured hair in order to explore how something as seemingly superficial as having one’s hair done is in fact the key to understanding ideas such as race, identity and belonging. I’m honoured that the documentary has become one part of the collective effort towards change, and I’m thrilled to support the campaign.
Naomie Harris says:
“The last thing you want to be thinking about as you prepare in character before going on set is your hair. Hair and makeup discrimination is a persistent and unspoken issue which causes harm. I am delighted to support Time’s Up UK and partners in their campaign to raise awareness of this inequality in our industry and to find ways to ensure that there are professionals on set that can support everyone.”
Jordan Pitt, Co-Director, Untold Stories: Hair on Set, for Sky Documentaries, says:
“It’s outrageous that we are having to endure such issues in 2024. Being one of the directors on Untold Stories: Hair on Set, which highlighted the issue of discrimination on film sets for Black actors, I am thrilled to support this campaign that will push for the much-needed change within the industry and beyond.”
The PMA Diverse Squad says,
“In 2021 we carried out a survey for the Sir Lenny Henry Media Centre for Media Diversity who published the findings in a report, Actors’ Experience of Race and Racism in Britain’s Audition and Casting Process and On Set. Our findings revealed the institutional racism performers of colour continue to face in the pursuit of their careers. The survey revealed specific issues around hair and makeup and the inability to speak up against the racist practices encountered while working, 71% of respondents had experienced hair or makeup artists who lacked the knowledge to work with them on an equal basis to their white co- workers. We urge all those involved in actors’ contract negotiations to include this new clause as a first step to giving voice and attention to this issue.”
Akua Gyamfi, Founder, British Blacklist, says,
“As a former hairdresser who has worked with Black female actors, models and performers the importance of having someone on set who understands how to work with afro hair and has sensitivity toward Black women’s beauty in these spaces is so important. Now as the founder of The British Blacklist and the many conversations I’m still having about the lack of representation in the Hair & Makeup department is shocking and infuriating which is why I’m throwing complete support behind this campaign”.
Ade Rawcliffe, Board Director, Time’s Up UK and Group Director of Diversity and Inclusion at ITV says:
“For too long, we have not advocated strongly enough the need for our workspaces to represent all members of our society, and for all workers to have an equal opportunity to enter the entertainment industry. We look forward to working with our industry partners and the PMA Diverse Squad to enact change and make the industry inclusive for our Black and global majority talent.”
ENDS
Press Contact
Rebecca Ladbury
rebecca@ladburypr.com
07941 224 975
NOTES TO EDITORS
About the proposed hair and makeup clause for inclusion into actors’ deal memos (can be adapted)There will be a meaningful consultation between the Actor and Hair & Makeup. Production will provide a hair and makeup stylist(s) with knowledge and experience of working with afro textured hair and darker skin tones; and ensure that the makeup artist will have a reasonable selection of makeup which is actually suited to darker skin tones.
[Alternatively, production will cover the cost of the Artist using a hair stylist, barber or makeup artist of their choice should the Production not be able to provide personnel who meet the required needs for the Artist.]
About the screening of Untold Stories: Hair on Set at the Pavillon Afriques in Cannes
UNTOLD STORIES: HAIR ON SET – (45 min)
When: Saturday 18 May at 6pm
Where: Pavillon Afriques
In the presence of Jordan Pitt
About the Screen Actors Guild clause
At the end of last year the Screen Actors Guild approved such a deal with Hollywood studios and streamers. In an Equity & Inclusion section of the agreement, a “Hair and Makeup” subsection lays out an important and long-overdue new policy:
Each principal performer shall be given the opportunity to meaningfully consult regarding any hair and makeup needs so that production is prepared to work with the performer, including having appropriate hair and makeup products and equipment. If the producer is unable to provide qualified hair and/or makeup personnel to work with the performer, production shall reimburse the performer for the pre-approved cost of obtaining such services. The performer will also be entitled to no less than two hours of compensation for the time spent in such services.
About the Actors’ Experience of Race and Racism in Britain’s Audition and Casting Process and On Set report
In 2021 the Sir Lenny Henry Media Centre for Media Diversity published a report, Actors’ Experience of Race and Racism in Britain’s Audition and Casting Process and On Set, the results of a survey by The PMA Racial Diversity group, AKA The PMA Diverse Squad, which revealed the institutional racism performers of colour continue to face in the pursuit of their careers. With nearly 1300 respondents, it is believed to be the largest survey of British actors on diversity and the auditioning process. The survey revealed specific issues around hair and makeup and the inability to speak up against the racist practices encountered while working:
- 71% of respondents had experienced hair or makeup artists who lacked the knowledge to work with them on an equal basis to their white co- workers; only 28% had encountered no problems with hair and make-up in dealing with their physical features.
- 61% of respondents feel “largely” unable to turn down an audition for a stereotypical character.
- 66% of respondents feel “generally” unable to discuss issues openly with a director.
Below are some anonymous comments from the survey:
EXPERIENCES REGARDING MAKEUP ON SET:
- I’ve often been asked to bring my own makeup.
- There is always a dread that MUA won’t have your shade of foundation.
- I have to hide in the toilet EVERY SINGLE TIME correcting the awful makeup.
- Regarding makeup, I’ve had a few times, 2 or 3 shades darker than my skin put on me or an orange hue when I’m more of a yellow.
- My skin is either too dark for my face or too light. MUA still don’t know how to do darker skin tones.
- Regarding makeup, I have encountered some artists who seem unfamiliar with doing eye makeup for an Asian eye shape and it can end up looking awful
EXPERIENCES REGARDING HAIR ON SET
- A particularly well-known production I filmed on didn’t have one Black hair stylist on set. My white counterparts had hair and makeup work on them. Whereas I was left to do it on my own.
- The hair situation adds a lot of pressure on us because the hair and MU dept can get offended if we ask during a test if they know how to do our hair properly but if we don’t ask, we can end up looking effed up on set!
- Never knowing how to do my hair, damaging it – having to do a lot of prep work myself.
- Afro hair is also seen as a style rather than a type of hair … the whole dynamic of it being ‘too much effort’.
- In one production when my afro was straightened, they burnt my hair using their tongues without first applying the proper product to protect my texture.
- Hair and make up for SA skin and hair (they have no idea about curly hair at all) is a disgrace. I always have to take my own kit.
- Black members of the hair and makeup team are ESSENTIAL to working with Black actors and relaying to camera dept / director / producer how to navigate black hair / skin … often made to feel uncomfortable for speaking up. Never consulted on hair changes on set; I’ve been talked about my hair being a problem in shots as though I’m not in the room.
- Complete lack of experience with my hair type. Being told it was unexpectedly ‘coarse’ and ‘bouncy’, so the MUA was unable to braid it ‘flat enough’. Lead to my hair being almost entirely cut off without my full consent
About The PMA Diverse Squad
The PMA Diverse Squad is a working group of eight female agents of colour from the Personal Managers’ Association (PMA) who formed to address the issues facing non-white actors in the industry. Their work includes their survey report titled ’Race Between the Lines: Actors’ Experience of Race and Racism in Britain’s Audition and Casting Process and On Set’ commissioned in collaboration with the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity. Members of the working group are Julianna Bautista (IAG), Ikki El-Amriti (IAG), Dawn Green (CAM), Sharon Henry (Sharon Henry Management), Ebun Osobu (Winterson’s), Sara Sehdev (Core Mgmt), Keana-Marie Senior (Victoria Lepper Associates) and Mildred Yuan (Mildred Yuan). Find us on social media – Twitter @DiverseSquadPMA / Instagram @thediversesquad or via the PMA website https://thepma.com/
About Garden Studios
Garden Studios is located in Park Royal in North West London. The Studio is an established leader in sustainable production as both a B Corp and Albert certified company. It’s the recipient of the prestigious “Best Studio of the Year” 2023 at the annual Global Production Awards and the West London Business “Best Company of the Year” Awards 2024. The facility has been home to productions from clients including: Netflix, Amazon Studios, Banijay, Studio Canal, Apple +, BBC Studios, and many more.
Find out more at: www.gardenstudios.io
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