doing this lightly. It’s about believing fundamentally in having a cohesive society. It’s cyclical; politicians come along and say silly things about ‘wokery’, and then disappear again. You just have to be ready to take them on.” AN ODE TO CHANGE Later, we witnessed another panel discussing the next generation and how to give them a new voice. It uncovered the power of collaboration – how broadcasters and content creators can transform the viewing experience, how to overcome barriers when transitioning to broadcast, how traditional TV can support content creator talent as well as recognising and managing those existing cultural barriers. Commissioning editor for Channel 4, Cimran Shah, shared his advice to those creators hoping to make the seemingly Odyssey -like journey into television. “There are a few main criteria: originality is key, being funny and smart and having consistent output. Also, collaboration is often the hardest part. Content creators are the masters of their own domain, so they need to be open-minded and prepared to diversify their output. “In the past, there used to be much tougher obstacles when trying to get in front of a commissioner. But it’s become a much more democratised process thanks to social media.” Later, we got to meet sociology professor Jason Arday. He is the youngest Black professor to ever be hired by Cambridge University. He shared his incredible story with the audience in an intimate conversation, detailing how he’d been diagnosed with autism at the age of three, learnt to speak at 11 and then learnt to read when he was 18. He was also told he’d never be
able to get a PhD – which, as you can probably note from his record-breaking professorship, he made sure to prove wrong. Then, we saw Alex Brooker from The Last Leg . He shared how it has promoted disability representation since its launch during the 2012 Paralympics. It is evident that the show has done a huge amount of work in normalising disability in media – but there is clearly a long way to go before representation is near where it should be in mainstream media. One last highlight for us was the colourful ‘How reality TV is helping the cause of LGBTQ+ rights’ panel. LGBTQ+ representation on and off the screen has made progress, but as the panel highlighted, there’s still plenty that needs to be done. The key takeaway from this harked back to the event’s name: to be yourself. “Don’t be a Diet Coke,” proclaimed drag performer, actor and television personality Kitty Scott-Claus, “you need to be the full- fat. People want the sugar!” From stamping out bullying to building diverse crews and nurturing next-gen talent, there was no doubt the 2024 cohort of Be You attendees left the day full of ideas and inspiration. POLITICIANS COME ALONG AND SAY SILLY THINGS ABOUT ‘WOKERY’ AND THEN DISAPPEAR AGAIN
QUEER TO STAY Panellists examined the importance of not just who is represented, but how LGBTQ+ individuals are portrayed overall
feedmagazine.tv
Powered by FlippingBook