Bafta to sell extra winners’ trophies after diversity row
BAFTA is to produce and sell extra winners’ trophies after a black producer claimed that he was denied one despite his show being named best drama.
Dominic Buchanan was a creator of Channel 4’s The End of the F---ing World, which beat The Crown and Gentleman Jack to the prize.
But Bafta rules only allowed four named individuals per drama to take home a mask, and he was not one of them.
Buchanan’s open letter of complaint led to a diversity row, the latest of several for Bafta, and yesterday the organisation announced a rule change.
Winners will be offered “the chance to purchase two additional masks for key individual creatives”.
Other changes announced by Bafta as part of a diversity overhaul include the introduction of a new daytime television category for 2021, “recognising the important role that daytime programming plays in the lives of viewers and in providing a pipeline for new and underrepresented talent”.
The number of nominees in the acting categories will increase from four to six, in the hope of creating more diverse shortlists.
The breakthrough talent award will feature double the number of nominees, as it will be divided into fiction and factual categories.
From 2022 onwards, entrants must be able to demonstrate that they have met certain diversity standards in terms of representation either on-screen or behind the camera.
Hannah Wyatt, chair of Bafta’s television committee, said: “We are delighted to confirm the updated rules and eligibility criteria today.”
She added: “This announcement comes in the wake of the Bafta 2020 Review, which involved in-depth consultation with the industry and signalled the beginning of a significant cultural shift at Bafta.
“We saw significant progress in the diversity of our 2020 television awards and these additional changes are designed to continue that trajectory, ensuring Bafta champions an industry taking proactive steps to level the playing field.”