BAFTA has made key changes to its Television and TV Craft awards in an attempt to level the playing field for women in historically imbalanced categories such as directing.
For the 2023 awards, which are set to take place next spring, the Director categories of factual, fiction and multi-camera will see the top three male and top three female directors from the Round One membership vote automatically going through to jury consideration.
The new intervention is a first for the TV Craft Awards, and intended to increase the visibility of women at the crucial longlisting stage, “with the longer-term aim to encourage a greater representation of women considered,” according to BAFTA.
Not one woman has been nominated in the best factual director category at the awards — a stunning stat that received heavy criticism earlier this year from We Are Doc Women, an org dedicated to supporting female documentary directors, which lambasted the disparity in the nominations.
Elsewhere, for entertainment performance, the top three male and top three female performers from the Round One membership vote will now automatically go through to jury consideration. This is another first for the TV awards, which again is aiming to grow the visibility of women at the longlisting stage.
Meanwhile, the Original Music category will be halved to create two categories: one for fiction and another for factual. This change recognizes the increasingly high volume of entries in the composition field.
In the International category, in order to right the balance between non-scripted and scripted contenders (historically, more scripted shows have moved on to jury consideration), the top three non-scripted and top three scripted programs will now automatically be longlisted.
Sara Putt, deputy chair of BAFTA and chair of the BAFTA Television committee, said: “Television and the way in which audiences consume content is ever-evolving, and it’s essential we adapt alongside. As a mirror to the industry, we are in the privileged and unique position of being able to drive and influence positive change. I’m delighted that the updates to our 2023 BAFTA TV Awards announced today including specific interventions to address historic gender inequity, reflecting our commitment to widening representation, amplifying key craft roles across both ceremonies and levelling the playing field for all.
“Developed with BAFTA’s Television Committee and through close consultation with our sector peers and members, these changes ensure that our Awards celebrate excellence on and off the screen, whilst remaining competitive. Entries open tomorrow – we and our members can’t wait to get going on voting,” said Putt.
