Jungleboys drops ‘boys’ from its name claiming ‘lack of female directors on roster bothers us’
Production company Jungleboys ditched the “boys” in its name while vowing to increase the number of female directors and production executives on its books.
From now on the company will be known as Jungle, with managing director Jason Burrows arguing the time was now right for them to make the name change, but said the change has been planned for months and was unrelated to the recent controversy over sexism in the industry.
“The timing is a coincidence given what’s been in the press the last couple of days/week,” said Burrows. “The name Jungle is more representative of who we are now, and with our film and TV business incorporating in the US, we should, at the very least, try and pretend to be grown ups.”
In a statement Jungle said it currently employs 15 full time staff, half of whom do not identify as ‘boys’, including Chloe Rickard who has just been promoted to partner/head of production – film & television.
Rickard said: ‘The current industry statistics do not match the female talent on offer, and it’s great to be part of rectifying that inequality.
“I’m very excited about the two female creative led films we already have in development with Screen Australia, as well as a new female led TV series which is just around the corner.’
Burrows
Jungle said the next step is to increase representation of female creatives in the business which would be helped by Screen NSW launching Operation Sheena.
Sheena recipients will be by selection rather than application, and will kick off with one female writer and one female director being given access to Jungle’s resources, including mentoring on Jungle productions, access to technical resources and workshops to foster and encourage writer contributions.
Executive producer of TV Commercials Nick Simkins said: ‘The lack of female directors on our roster bothers us so we’re putting systems in place that ultimately lead to the nurturing and elevation of female directors.
“This name change, and Operation Sheena, reflects our growth and our company ethos.”
Courtney Gibson, CEO of Screen NSW, said: “For Screen NSW, contributing to Operation Sheena is about levelling the playing field. We are actively looking for opportunities to work with the industry to ensure that women get the same opportunities as men and that the strongest work gets supported. This is a great first example.”
Nic Christensen
Quickly changing before people put the spotlight on you does not show forward thinking as nicely as you’ve spun the PR.
And what about people of colour? Jungle sounds a bit racist!
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Obviously Junglepersons didn’t cut the mustard.
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Couldn’t they have just formed a sister agency called Junglec***s? Now that’s a logo I’d love to design.
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Smart move by Jungle(boys) … they now get to take two bites of Screen NSW’s equality funding cherry.
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