Ground-breaking online tool to measure diversity in Australia’s TV and film industry shows promising engagement in first year
Diversity in Australia’s film and TV industry both on and off screen is being captured for the first time through a ground-breaking initiative from the Screen Diversity and Inclusion Network (SDIN), with all Australian productions being encouraged to take part.
The SDIN is a network of Australian broadcasters (including SBS, ABC, 7, 9 and 10), streamers, screen funding agencies, guilds and industry bodies working together to create a more inclusive screen industry.
Launched in 2019, SDIN’s The Everyone Project is an online tool that aims to capture the diversity of all cast and crew working in the Australian screen industry by allowing screen productions to register and complete a voluntary demographic survey.
The inaugural Everyone Project survey attracted responses from 2,811 cast and crew across 70 TV and film productions completed in 2021–22. Industry participation in year one was encouraging, with a response rate of more than 40% of cast and crew on registered productions completing the survey.
Preliminary results from the inaugural survey have been captured in Everyone Counts: Preliminary data on diversity in the Australian screen industry from The Everyone Project, released today, which draws on existing industry research to provide context and nuance to the preliminary high-level findings. While not representative of the entire industry at this early stage, these first-release findings will help to establish a baseline for the project to build upon in future years to paint a fuller picture of diversity in the Australian screen industry.
As The Everyone Project enters its second year, the SDIN is encouraging all Australian screen productions to register and help grow the pool of diversity data.
As industry engagement with The Everyone Project increases in future years, the responses collected will provide more valuable insight into the diversity of cast and crew working across Australia’s TV and film industry, from extras to on-screen leads, producers to runners, and camera departments to hair and make-up, working on productions ranging from reality TV through to documentaries and feature films.
Over coming years, The Everyone Project aims to continue to capture the diversity of all cast and crew in TV and film in Australia.
SDIN Co-Chair and SBS Content Industry Diversity Manager Michelle Cheng said: “The SDIN is excited to launch Australia’s first glimpse into the diversity of our TV and film sector, to help us work towards benchmarking representation and better understand areas where our industry needs to improve. We hope these figures will spark conversation that can lead to meaningful action, so cast and crew in the screen sector will increasingly represent all Australians, including people who have traditionally been under-represented in the media.”
SDIN Co-Chair and Head of Indigenous at ABC TV Kelrick Martin said: “The release of the inaugural The Everyone Project report is a significant milestone for diversity and inclusion in our industry. I’m proud of the continued dedication and commitment demonstrated by both the SDIN membership and the Australian screen sector so far, and The Everyone Project will now become a regular gauge of how well we’re meeting our community’s expectations. It’s the first step in a long journey ahead for all of us.”
The Everyone Counts report is available on the SDIN website at www.sdin.com.au/reports and www.sdin.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SDIN-Everyone-Counts-Report.pdf
Find out more about The Everyone Project and register your screen production at theeveryoneproject.org
For media inquiries, please contact SDIN Project Officer Kata Fodor on [email protected]
