Director of High Rise Ben Wheatley thinks so.
He says that he wants his films to reflect the diverse audience who go to see them.
“When you’re looking at your audience, you’re looking at the whole audience and you want to reflect that audience back in the films you’re making,” he said.
Wheatley said there is an argument “for things when they’re set in the past” to not feature minorities, but “there’s no excuse at all not to be reflective of the period now when you make movies that are modern.”
Film producer Elliot Grove, the founder of independent film festival Raindance and the British Independent Film Awards, says that the industry needs to change the way it markets films.
“Film has been the domain of middle-class white guys, like me. By the time they get old like me, they are just worried about money, money, money. That’s wrong,” Grove says.
“We need to change our perception of our stories and involve people from different cultures, backgrounds and sexual orientations and make sure they have the marketing budget behind them."
At ELAM we agree entirely. We are huge proponents of getting different voices into the Film and Games industries. Apply for our courses here.