To find it sad that privately educated actors dominate telly/film?

[chulast]

6% of the population go to private school yet the majority of successful British screen actors have been privately educated.

I just find it quite bleak really and makes it feel like it's nigh on impossible to make it in that industry without a leg up and connections.

It's good to have something to blame isn't it.

I think that the reasons behind this are nuanced.

Exposure to the arts from a young age is huge. At many private schools theatre and music are required for all, many pupils who might not have been initially interested may find they have talent or enjoy acting.

My husband went to a state school and doesn’t remember having a drama lesson. There was a drama club but they struggled to run a performance as they didn’t have enough students. I’m sure it depends on the state school and there will be some with excellent drama provision.

Also acting is about who you know, so if you’re in the same circles it will be easier to find work.

It starts young, drama classes cost money. Only a proportion can afford to do it. How many times on here are parents bemoaning the fact that their child never gets a look in because 'Tabitha' who does drama out of school gets chosen and nobody else gets a look in. Unless you get a chance and can showcase natural talent, its difficult for a poor kid to shine.
Unfortunately getting into performing arts be it acting or other disciplines is difficult, very little money in it. Unless you have money behind you, paying the bills takes priority.

20% of those at sixth form level though go to private school and it tends to be the slightly better educate who become actors so this is a lot more proportionate than taking the 7% figure. People have under 30th June to comment on Labour's consultation - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67effa71cb0feef57df7e5cc/CCS1024634010-003_PN9502147_Call_for_Evidence_Equality_Law_Web_Accessible__1_.pdf
This including a new socio-economic duty, ( See also https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/equality-law-call-for-evidence )

A third of the British team at Paris Olympics were privately educated

www.theguardian.com/education/article/2024/jul/24/third-of-team-gb-athletes-for-paris-olympics-educated-privately

Oh yes those pesky working class whingers.

Well, of course @chulast , it’s hardly surprising and unlikely to to change, unless someone is going to pay for the living expenses of struggling actors from poorer backgrounds.

Money and education gives you options and security - it has always been the case across many aspects of life. This is why in many countries around the world people walk over hot coals to get their children educated. The impact on them and future generations is immense.

I live near Nottingham where we have the Television Workshop, famous for cultivating working class actors like Vicky McClure, Samantha Morton, Bella Ramsay, and lots of Game of Thrones people. Everyone in This is England etc. I think I read somewhere that it’s struggling financially but really hope it can continue.

It is very sad, and ultimately it will lead to poorer work and cultural output, just like any other lack of diversity causes

The nepotism annoys me, kids only getting parts or jobs because of their parents...

So you have some statistics to back up your statement then? Seems to largely be anecdote based so far. Also - still unclear why anyone cares what school the director of Hollyoaks went to.

Hasn't it always been this way? And it seems to be an English thing, rather than British - I'm struggling to think of a single privately educated Scottish actor.

Yes YANBU Op, it’s sad . I would replace privately educated with “affluent”
though as I think that’s more accurate.

Some of these rich families sent their kids to state school like my former flatmate, but in her case her parents were able to buy her a 2 bedroom flat in London and she was able to rent out the other room to subsidise her part time work while she went for auditions and did occasional roles in theatre.

As pp said it’s the same with many creative professions. I work in UK publishing and it’s full of very posh people. Many authors don’t care if they get a tiny advance as they have family money or a rich spouse to live off.

Then the publishers scratch their heads and say they can’t understand why it’s mostly rich white people who are getting published and pretend to put diversity initiatives in place.

For those asking for stats : New research from the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre has found that across film, TV, and radio, just over 8% of creatives are from working-class backgrounds. That figure is the lowest in a decade. Earlier this year, an analysis by the Labour party found that almost half of British award nominees in the last decade were privately educated.

https://novaramedia.com/2024/05/31/soaps-give-working-class-actors-a-chance-and-theyre-disappearing/#:~:text=New%20research%20from%20the%20Creative,the%20lowest%20in%20a%20decade.

And from what I understand, yes things have got more imbalanced over the years. I think what a pp suggested is true, that it’s harder nowadays for people who don’t come from money to just live on benefits or squat or get somewhere with cheap rent while working part time in a bar and write the great American novel/create art masterpieces / audition for tv roles. It was maybe a bit easier to do that a few decades ago.

Privately educated rich people dominate in many careers, especially highly paid roles because they have more opportunities and more connections.
I think some of them actually believe it’s because they’re better, harder working or more talented when it’s likely the opposite is true as they don’t have to prove themselves in the way a working class person in the same role has.

Yes as others have said here, it's a nuanced picture. It's not just the casting, writing and inherent bias in the industry towards private-school-type roles (and I realise that is full of problematic generalisations in itself). It's also the ways you can get into the industry which have so many barriers - sporadic work in the early years being the biggest thing. A parallel 'issue' with private-school-types is the amount of what might be called nepotism there too - people with parents in the industry already getting legs up. They are often totally great actors, and deserve to be there, but they got their foot in the door by their network and that was something that others, equally great, didn't have.

But I'd also say there is an enormous appetite to have more diversity - of all types - on screens etc, and certainly when you look at theatre today it is much more diverse than it was 20 years ago. Diverse voices are definitely getting commissioned at the writing stage, massively more than even 10 years ago. It actively comes into the commissioning decision - to my mind it's problematic because ideally the focus should be on the writing, not who is writing - but writer focus is the way to make the change so it does have its use - but they are often smaller projects so it's still hard for it be mainstream.

I'm not sure there's an easy way to fix it but it's not a new problem particularly, and it's seen across the arts. I myself at the age of 40 have finally just given up the arts dream for a regular job as I just need some money coming in. Over the years, if I look at my cohort of arts colleagues, that those that make it are often those that just stuck it out longest, rather than the most talented. Some are exceptional and deserved their breaks. But most that end up successful really just had the means but also determination to carry on pushing through. It's still a really hard even with a private school background - you've got to have a lot of guts to just keep on trying time after time in the freelance world.

Thinking back to the 70's, 80's and 90's. Was it easier to sign on the dole with low living costs and keep your head down while learning your craft? Living in squats and cash in hand jobs while trying to make it. (Maybe this is totally my imagination that this period ever existed?)

I'm not sure anyone could get universal credit without pressure to job hunt and take a full time job.

@CinnamonCinnabar

You get people on here complaining that GCSE’s and SATs are too much pressure, sports day is too tough because their child might not win, homework is unfair, that auditions and try outs are cruel and that their children shouldn’t get into trouble if they are disruptive. They also get outraged when people try to get their children into better schools if they get allocated a bad state shouldn’t school. Then people wonder why children from competitive, high pressured private schools do better in some industries.

A lot of performing arts schools are private. Tony Blair’s government brought in government funded bursaries so that more children could go to private performing arts schools. I think Keir Starmer said these school places would be exempt from VAT (not sure what the logic is behind that). The fact that the government is paying for these children to go to private school tells you exactly what they think the arts provision is like in the state sector.

There is a shortage of funding for state education and this is probably because there is very little interest in improving actual education from parents or the government. Behaviour is dire in state schools and that limits everything that can be done in schools. There are teacher shortages and high teacher turnover. Labours extra education funding goes on breakfast which frankly any self respecting parent should be providing themselves.

The government likes blaming private schools because it distracts the people and stops them demanding better education. Focus should be on improving state education because that will actually have a positive impact on more people.

Elitism is the downfall of our society. Posh rich people, the royal family, nepotism, elitism, titles, I cannot stand it.

@ColinOfficeTrolley what is the solution? Revolution?

My DD is just graduating from one of the major drama colleges less than 10% of her year group are privately educated. She is making auditions work by teaching performing arts as most open audition calls involve you queuing at 5am, closed calls are usually in the morning and performing arts classes are after school and weekends.
Historically the performing arts courses were diplomas and had very little funding hence only the wealthy could afford them. Since the HEFC gave them degree funding them have become much more accessible and you will gradually see people from a wider variety of back grounds coming through because of this.
Take a look of the casts of more contemporary musicals like Six that are fully of recent grads and you will see that the landscape is changing.

I absolutely agree with you. It’s shocking.

I complete agree OP. My DD is in her 2nd year of drama school and is loving every minute but I’m felling quite anxious about her future. We are a working class family, my husband and I work for the NHS and my DD went to a local comprehensive school. We are completely skint at the moment as we are paying her rent while she’s at drama school and we are counting the days until she has finished. Drama school has been an eye opener for all of us. Nepotism is rife, she has a couple of classmates who have famous parents and they generally get the main parts in things they are working on.

The plan would be that when she leaves drama school she will come home and go for auditions. However I now realise that getting an audition is apparently almost impossible. I believe it’s much easier if you have contacts in the industry, which we don’t have. She will need to try and get a job to earn some money in between trying to get auditions and I’m not sure how that will work if she has to go elsewhere in the country for the audition. I feel guilty that we cannot financially support her while she is trying to get work. I just have to keep being hopeful that she will get some kind of work related to it.

Hop on over to the drama schools thread for chat on this whole topic!

mine went to state school and is now at drama school. She has to work throughout (bar, teaching, babysitting etc). I see a lot of initiatives at drama schools to encourage a diverse intake so they do want that. I know several parents who have said they don’t want their kid to go to drama school as it’s an insecure industry or it’s not seen as a serious degree. These are people who are not broke. So parents have huge influence here.

I'm not aware of which actors have been privately educated and I don't really give a toss.As long as they are a great actor who cares which school they went to.
And I certainly wouldn't be sad about it.
There are other more subjects deserving of sadness.