Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1518296
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 47 Emma identifies herself this way. "As a mixed-race woman who has worked in the industry for more than 13 years, I am continually faced with being one of the only women on most sound teams (as a result, I have faced sexism and bullying), and I have struggled to progress into high-end drama as a re-recording mixer. As my ethnic identity is not visually evident, I have not personally faced racism in the workplace (although I have experienced racism in my lifetime). As such, this research explores the barriers to career progression that relate to women, Black, and ethnic minority sound professionals, and whether there are commonalities in experiences. Additionally, this research considers exactly what actions can be taken to remove these barriers to ensure wider inclusion in the post-production sound profession." As far as those 60 available roles, "In total, six women were included out of the 60 available roles. All other members of the teams identified as white men." Emma continues: "To better understand the barriers people of ethnic or minority backgrounds and women are facing in progressing in their careers, I interviewed five participants. Two white women and three men from ethnic minority backgrounds. Each participant was at a different stage in their career and faced different challenges." I'll just cite this example from her paper, about one white woman in her study. "She found that during her early career stages, she was not encouraged or given the opportunity to learn and train while working as a runner. She notes that 'there was a hierarchy where you had to know your place, keep your head down, and if you were allowed into a studio, you were lucky.' She also notes that these studios lacked diversity across all aspects of identity. It wasn't until she worked for her fourth facility, a working environment where the staff was diverse rather than uniformly white, where she was actively encouraged to enter the studios and learn, which helped her progress. "When asked if she met anyone who looked like her at any point starting out in her career, or whether she had any female role models in the industry, she noted that she met one other woman mixer at the first facility she worked at. Having left that first facility, it was a long time before she worked with any other women. This was an observation also made by Participants 2, 4, and 5. Starting out, they encountered no one who looked like them with Participant 2 noting that post- production sound was overwhelmingly a field that employed white men. Since entering the industry here in the UK, he could only think of four or five people from Black or ethnic minority backgrounds working in post-production sound, who he had met socially (not worked directly with)." This article is so good, I just want to quote it all! (The link to it is below!) "One of the main barriers Participant 2 had experienced as a freelancer was "finding the work and getting people to trust you who don't know you" as "they want to work with people they are comfortable with, and that comfort comes from trust and that trust comes from familiarity and similarity." This was a challenge also faced by Participant 3 with her noting, "There's set people that people like to work with and if it's not broke, don't fix it, so they have their circle of people and the boys they go to the pub with and it's hard to break into that." She comments that this circle of hiring (a who-you-know approach) is preventing more diversity within post- production sound. She concluded by saying that "People need to try to hire people who don't look like them a bit more, and go a little further and reach a little farther than their circle of friends." "Ageism was another barrier that Participant 2 identified. Having decided to change your career to try and enter post-production sound at a later stage in his life, he was fully prepared to start as a runner and work his way up in order to work on high-end drama. However, what he found was that 'there was certain resentment toward older people.' People working in the industry told him he shouldn't have to start from entry-level positions (due to his age), but took the decision out of his hands by not considering him for these entry-level roles, even though he was prepared to work his way up. He has felt his experiences over the last few years have made him reconsider working in this industry, evidencing that some of these barriers to progression can lead to people leaving the field entirely. This participant's experience highlights the importance of ensuring that 'new entrant' schemes are also inclusive of people from a range of age groups. "Participant 2's reason for taking part in this research was because he was tired of his experiences in the industry and wanted to help create change. It is important to highlight however, that he was also aware that speaking out about topics such as this can have negative consequences for freelancers, stating that 'I thought if I'm seen to be promoting this [research into diversity], I'm going to get less work. That was my fear but then I thought, what have I got to lose?' Freelancers often have precarious roles in the industry and are officially 'outside' of big production organizations. This means that highlighting issues freelancers face, and advocating for change as an individual may be difficult." This is a really important part and I'm sure most of us women sound editors have experienced this type of sexism. "Participant 3, a white woman who worked in sound for more than 20 years, remembers a [male] sound supervisor "We have to ask why emphasis has been put on diversity in front of the camera but post-production sound is forgotten about?"