Black women’s post network gains traction

Source: https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/people/black-womens-post-network-gains-traction/5189569.article

Group set up by Jasmin John partners with Zinc-owned indie  

Diversity and representation network Black Women in Post Production (BWIPP) has partnered with Zinc-owned brand marketing indie The Edge as it moves to shake up existing hiring processes. 

The network was set up over lockdown by McDonald & Dodds editor Jasmin John with the aim of increasing representation and amplifying the value of black women in the industry.  

Jasmin John

As well as offering indies and recruiters the opportunity to tap into the network directly via their internal jobs board, the free-to-join network hosts events and masterclasses.

With 70 fully-fledged members, it is now one of the go-to hiring resources for The Edge, which has clients including Amazon and FIFA.  

It will soon launch a mentoring programme, online training and outreach programmes. It also runs a podcast, hosted by John, who has editing credits on programmes including Boiling Point (BBC1), The Midwich Cuckoos (Sky) and Everything Now (Netflix).  

BWIPP networking event

“When I first started out in the industry, I was immediately conscious of being the only black woman in the cutting rooms,” said John.  

“As I’ve progressed throughout my career, little has changed. I didn’t have a community of black women I could turn to for advice and support on how to navigate the industry or to share my experiences, so I built that community with BWIPP.”  

She added: “We really want to proactively change the existing hiring processes – word of mouth, networks and nepotism – to diversify the post production workforce and this is an incredible step in the right direction.” 

BWIPP recently hosted a Christmas networking event which Studio Lambert’s head of unscripted talent Emily Fielden said was “inspiring”. Also in attendance was founder of Edit Girls Kim French who stated: “I believe wholeheartedly that communities like BWIPP are the forces behind real industry change.” 

You can sign up to join the group here, or sign up to the mailing list here.