Inaugural Diversity Summit Held at MIPCOM

CANNES: A range of production, broadcast and distribution executives took part in the inaugural Diversity Summit at MIPCOM.

The invitation-only event was held in partnership with A+E Networks, Afrostream, Sonar Entertainment and Diversify TV.

Sean Cohan, the president of international and digital media at A+E Networks, was among the event’s speakers. He noted the progress made in 2016, mentioning the continued success of Shonda Rhimes and Empire and the broadcast of Roots as examples. “But there’s still a lot to be done.” He said the content business has come to a point where the idea that “black doesn’t sell well or rate is starting to turn. But I still think we have major challenges in providing access to people in front and behind the camera with an eye toward driving great stories and making great business happen.”

“Diversity in the modern world is not just about the color of your skin,” said David Ellender, the president of global distribution and co-productions at Sonar Entertainment. “It’s about gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, social background, and most importantly, diversity of thought.”

Ellender called on the television industry to think outside of the box. “In fact, get outside the box. This isn’t about race, it’s about imagination, it’s about diversity of thought.”

Ellender highlighted three things that can bring about change. One is a change of mindset, so that commissioners and content creators think about diversity at the beginning of the creative process, not at the end. Second is transparency, to benchmark broadcasters about what they actually do. And the third involves “understanding risk and reevaluating commercial risk. Broadcasters and platforms must take more risk with diverse talent.”

A session about making the business case for diversity featured Mo Abudu of EbonyLife TV, BET’s Michael Armstrong and Sony Pictures Television’s (SPT) Keith LeGoy.

Abudu talked about the struggles to get African content accepted in Europe and the U.S. “We’ve had to look within and say we need to build content that is speaking to us—there isn’t a lot of content out there that is speaking to Africans.” EbonyLife TV, she said, is creating content that speaks to the “new Africa…. Our job is to focus on the other side of Africa. There is more than one face to Africa.”

Armstrong talked about BET becoming an international brand. “Our business every day is elevating those voices, elevating diversity, within the African diaspora, and that doesn’t just mean export of U.S. content. It means elevating other voices as we expand our brand.”

SPT’s LeGoy talked about how the success of Transparent demonstrates the commercial case for telling stories about diverse characters. He also noted the importance of having the diversity conversation beyond the casting level by telling authentic stories about underrepresented individuals.

The next panel focused on how to bring diverse talent in front of and behind the camera. It featured the director/producer/writer Euzhan Palcy, HISTORY’s Paul Cabana and Pact’s John McVay.

Palcy stressed the importance of mentorship. Cabana talked about “big, bold action,” like the show Roots on HISTORY. McVay said commissioners must make sure the shows they order as inclusive and diverse.