Opportunity alone isn’t enough.

Remember when Rocky is first offered the chance to fight Apollo Creed, for the heavyweight championship of the world? His first answer was a definitive (mumbled) “No”. As he later says “I ain’t even in the guys’ league.”

In the end, it worked out for Rocky, but in real life, dumping a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity into someone’s lap doesn’t always make for lasting success. An enduring career requires a network of steady encouragement, predictable income, and opportunities for growth.

Making sure we see diverse backgrounds up on the screen, and cultivating diverse decisionmakers is a regular goal in most Hollywood DEI initiatives. But the vast majority of roles in the creative industries are those whose names and backgrounds are never known by the paying public.

Producing a film with diverse writer, director, and cast may not be something to congratulate yourself about if every other person on the production is from the same old guard.

Diversity in craft and tech roles is vital. If the industry is going to make the transformations ahead to ensure its survival, it must incorporate everyone, at every level, into the change. And, honestly, in a civilized society, well-paying jobs in a cool, creative field—one that creates culture— should be equally accessible to everyone.

Stay for the impact

¡AU!’s Emergency DEI Summit panel “How to rise when you’re below the line”, looked at how to get new talent into technology and craft jobs, and to offer them training and encouragement for developing a long-lasting media industry career.

Panelists were Simon Devereux, who heads up Access VFX, a charity helps young people from all backgrounds into the animation and effects sector, Amanda Sapp, VP of media at Bread Of Life, which helps resource-challenged people in Houston, and General Manager of community-supported radio station KMAZ 102.5, and Ellen Walker, head of RightsTech Women, a Geneva-based nonprofit offering technology and human rights training for girls and women.

The discussion underlined the fact that there isn’t a lack of talent for the industry to draw on. What there is however is a lack of access for talent that already exists.

“Come for the music, stay for the impact” is the slogan of LPFM radio station KMAZ 102.5, supported by Houston’s Bread Of Life charity, that serves Downtown Houston.

At Bread of Life, we work with organizations like Workforce Solutions that allow us to hire young adults, ages 16 to 24, who are disengaged,” explained Amanda Sapp.

“In Texas, there are 177,000 young adults who are disengaged. We know that there is a talent pool that are tech savvy, that are online, and doing all of these amazing things they’ve already learned on the internet.”

Bread of Life has a deep and practical understanding of impact. The organization serves vulnerable people around 500 meals a day and supports 3000 people a month with its food distribution programs. Their media arm is alsso directly supports the community, broadcasting directly to the local area.

“We understand the target audience that we have at Bread of Life, and we find the training to help them learn, not only what they can do through our mentorship, but also connecting the dots with other people in the industry.”

Diverse talent for diverse roles

Access VFX was started in 2017 specifically to get talent from diverse backgrounds into visual effects roles. It was a direct reaction to the reality that the industry was run by geeky white boys who like explosions and Marvel movies,” said Devereux.

“We’ve been trying to change the rhetoric around that and the population of the industry. We’re in the business of storytelling, and storytelling comes from all walks of life.”

Given that effects-driven tentpole movies are a staple of global cinema, there is a surprising lack of education about what the VFX industry really does.

“VFX isn’t part of the common vernacular in schools and colleges,” said Devereux. “What we do with Access VFX is create that awareness. Within the equity, diversity, inclusion space, there is a lot of talk and not a huge amount of actually doing the work. Anything we do has to have an output. There has to be something we’re actually doing. One thing we’ve always done is to spotlight careers through our outreach efforts.

“There are a lot of courses that have a high proportion of ‘diverse’ students but that doesn’t always translate to the industry itself.”

Access VFX has an intensive e-mentoring program that connects newcomers to the industry with VFX professionals globally in roles from marketing, HR, and finance, to animation and creative direction.

Within the equity, diversity, inclusion space, there is a lot of talk and not a huge amount of actually doing the work”

Simon Devereux

You have a human right to training

Ellen Walker is a human rights lawyer by background. As founder of RightsTech Women, she brings training and education to women and girls around technology, but also places it within a human rights framework.

“The language we use around this subject changes over the years,” explained Walker. “But one common thread that goes on beneath it is human rights. Human rights have a vocabulary that can be helpful and also tools that can help you stand up for, protect, and advance those rights—and not just let them stay where they are.”

Walker addressed the whether the principle of equity—trying to provide access for specific groups, rather than assuming a level playing field—really are just. The current United States government asserts DEI programs are actively hostile and detrimental to equal access. Is the government right? Is DEI practice fundamentally unfair?

“Under international human rights law, it is actually required,” explained Walker. “After World War II, people were trying to prevent atrocities. Governments got together, and they wrote human rights into human rights treaties. Included in them was that you have to take proactive measures to address historical discrimination.”

Walker’s presentation was a reminder that waiting for the law to rule in your favor, or hoping someone will throw you a bone, should not be a normal state of affairs. Human rights exist a priori to business practices or to laws.

“Everybody has them. It’s not a favor, and governments must deliver them.”

Among those rights is a right to education—which encompasses the right to professional training.

“You have got the right to education, which includes tech skills. There is also a human right to human rights education itself.”

Businesses themselves can be a prime driver of this education, making training and empowerment part of the service they provide. Responsibility rather than reactivity is where progress is most likely to happen.

“It’s a question of who are you serving,” said Bread of Life’s Amanda Sapp. “What population are you serving and do you want to serve them well? Part of that is training, which I get to do with our young adults here.

“If we’re open to becoming mentors for people, that gives us an opportunity to not have to consider all the different acronyms that are out today, what words and policies that are being set out for us. I feel like as leaders, we have that responsibility to control the narrative.”

This article first appeared in the Summer 2025 issue of ¡AU! Journal. Access the whole magazine here.

WATCH our discussion with Simon Devereux, Amanda Sapp, and Ellen Walker at the Emergency DEI Summit: