20yearsofUNESCO’sConventiononCulturalDiversity:readthefullspeechfromdirectorDelythThomas

Directors UK Board member Delyth Thomas recently spoke on a panel marking 20 years of UNESCO’s Convention on Cultural Diversity.

For the speech, Delyth was given a specific brief to respond to from her perspective as a creator. The brief was:

3- 5 minute introduction to you/your career. We would like you to reflect on the way policy can enhance or hold back the diversity of what is produced and, in the context of our on-line and AI environment, to consider how this has affected your creative practice.

Read the full speech from Delyth below.

Good afternoon.  

I asked AI to write an introduction for me. The prompt - my name, profession, AI and policy. 

This is the short version. 

Buckle up!  

Delyth Thomas stands as one of the most accomplished and influential directors working in television today. With a career defined by artistic integrity, emotional intelligence, and a relentless pursuit of excellence, she has helped shape some of the most compelling, authentic, and memorable stories on screen.  

In the online environment, algorithms and AI-driven recommendation systems can unintentionally narrow exposure by privileging popular or homogenised content.

Thomas’s career sits at this crossroads: her success within traditional broadcasting shows what supportive policy can achieve, but the changing digital landscape suggests that new AI governance and online media policy are needed to sustain that progress. 

I’m obviously very flattered with that introduction but in all seriousness, I wouldn’t expect you to have heard of me…For context though, I have directed over 150 episodes of British Television drama, short form, episodic, feature-length – from crime, comedy, to family. I’ve made all sorts. 

Right – let’s unpick that AI introduction. 

Paragraph one: Creator.

It seems apt to start with 2005 when this convention was adopted. At the time I’d been working on a show for kids called The Story of Tracy Beaker. As the convention states, Children are very important. They are our next generation of consumers and creators, and 20 years later, I don’t think we’re serving them nearly as well as we should.  

For those of you who don’t know the show, it was a mixed live action and animation drama series aimed at 6-12 yr olds. It was very rewarding, and very, very challenging to make – kids’ hours, low budget. B.I.G ambition.  

It was a huge hit and ran for 5 series. It got big audiences of all ages, because it was shown on BBC1. One episode (I think written by Tracy Brabin), got the highest percentage of audience share that day. Quite a feat for a kids show.

Given that creators have always embraced technology for storytelling, and tech is rapidly evolving, I’ll touch on tech as I go along. Beaker was relatively low-tech. It was shot on digibeta, the animation was computer-generated, and any FX were in-camera. No gen AI!

The show has had a long lasting legacy. 

It made children in care feel seen and understood, we were able to cast freely so kids from all walks of life saw themselves reflected on screen. It’s still on the BBC iPlayer if you’d like to watch it, and a highlight for me was when Stormzy sampled the theme tune on his 2019 song, "Superheroes" from the album Heavy is the Head. It’s beautiful, please listen to it.

Now to the 2nd Paragraph: Exposure.

By 2012, TV for children of all ages had moved from the main channels and was only shown on digital platforms. At the time I was making mostly family shows and as a consequence, had a lot less visibility. This had an impact on the type of work I was offered, until 2017 when I directed a block of The Worst Witch with the (now) superstar Bella Ramsey. This needed a much bigger budget than was standard for CBBC because of the VFX. So it was made as co-pro with CBBC, ZDF/ Netflix. Ironically because it was on a streamer, it gave me more visibility, which in turn helped me get a much higher budget job after that. It’s still on Netflix, although whether the algorithms push it or not I don’t know… In terms of tech, it was shot on HD, the VFX were CGI – still no gen AI.

To the 3rd paragraph, part one: Policy.

 The recent work I’ve made has benefitted from HETV tax breaks. Bigger budgets and mainstream exposure, whether on digital or terrestrial platforms. 

    • Victoria was shown in over 150 territories 

    • Vera – 180+ territories 

    • Silent Witness – 235+ territories and shot on 2K 

    • Then You Run, was a Sky uk + Sky Germany co-pro, shot in Berlin on 4k (sidebar -  please, please, make it easier for us to work in the EU – I’ve lost out on 3-4 jobs because I have no EU passport even though my grandfather was French) 

    • And most recently Call The Midwife, shot on 4k UHD and shown in 237 + territories 

Although I didn’t use AI directly on these shows, I’m pretty sure AI will have been used somewhere in the post-production process as a tool for efficiency.
 
To the 3rd paragraph, part two: The crossroads I’m apparently at.  

Is it/ has it been a sustainable career?

Yes and no. I’ve always had to have side hustles, running acting workshops, teaching filmmaking. I also work voice directing on video games. It’s an amazingly inventive industry at the forefront of tech, and worth at least £12 billion. Here, I come across AI more often, localisation, translations – and it always needs a human, whether actor or director, to need to tweak the language and make it sound more “human”.  

Then there are the hidden costs to being freelance. The need for a top spec laptop to keep up with tech,fast reliable broadband. Then there’s the bills, no sick pay or pension, etc. Royalties are essential to keep going when I’m not working. Thank you Directors UK.

Bottom line – in the current climate, it’s getting much harder!

So please support us to survive, to thrive and keep on contributing to a healthy financially viable industry. We need to support all voices from all walks of life.

Who tells the stories matters.