BAFTA/Jordan Anderson BAFTA held a Pride month One-to-One games chat with actors David Menkin and Samantha Béart, who discussed LGBTQ+ content and talent in games.
The BAFTA One-to-One event strand delivers talent-to-talent conversations while the audience gets to listen. In this Pride month edition of BAFTA One-to-Ones, BAFTA brought together pairs of LGBTQ+ talent from across the film, games and television industries to share insights and experiences, explore what changes they'd like to see in their respective industries, and what best practice looks like to them.
In this event, David and Samantha shared their experiences of working in the industry. They discussed the relatively high percentage of LGBTQ+ identifying individuals in games versus the general population – 25% identified as such in the most recent UK games industry census with 3.1% identifying as such in the UK national census. They mused the possible reasons behind this, noting perhaps it was due to how games is an inherently creative industry, and how the existence of character creation tools in games can allow players freedom in exploring their identity.
However, both also shared their experiences of facing barriers – particularly earlier in their careers.
You can watch snippets of the chat through our BAFTA YouTube channel:
Representation and bringing lived experience to a role
Finding their own space in the games industry
The importance of pronouns
How the treatment of LGBTQ+ people has changed in games
For more events, keep an eye on the events page here.
