Presenter Suzi Perry speaks to Broadcast Sport about TNT Sports’ Reframe The Game initiative and why it’s needed
“I have a genuine belief that if you see somebody you identify with it, and it encourages you to think I can do that.”
Suzi Perry has more evidence than most to back up this statement - two of her current colleagues on TNT Sports’ MotoGP coverage came to her for advice before they broke into the industry. Reporter Natalie Quirk asked her for advice when she was just a 14-year-old and Perry was already on TV, while North One coordinating producer Alannah Fellows spoke to her for her dissertation while studying.
This is where TNT Sports and Warner Bros. Discovery Access’ Reframe The Game initiative comes in. Three films on women’s sport, directed by female directors, which were selected by Perry and a panel of judges to be shown on TNT Sports this Saturday. The broadcaster helped with development and production, as well as giving all ten shortlisted directors training. Perry hopes, “they will inspire and encourage young girls to come and get involved, and encourage older girls in terms of directing and producing.”
She believes the TV industry, “is still a little bit sexist and a little bit ageist as well, but these things are slow to change and they are definitely getting better.”
However, it will likely take more than representation on TV alone to fix this, “It’s not just our industry, it’s a social problem. For example, for the British Grand Prix, there’ll be loads of comments about what I’m wearing. No one says anything about what Gary [Lineker] wears ever.”
This is echoed by one of the directors of the films, Somina ‘Mena’ Fombo, “Too often, our narratives are filtered through a male lens. It’s important to reclaim our stories, tell them authentically, and resist being confined by rules we didn’t create. This industry demands resilience; it will test you. But like women’s rugby, which has grown despite being locked out of changing rooms or underfunded or lack of pitch access historically we persevere.
“In an industry where only around 20% of factual broadcast directors are women – and far fewer Black women in sport-specific content – we need more than representation. We need reallocation of resource.”
Reframe The Game films
The Long Away Game – Directed by Hannah Congdon
A young woman is uprooted from her country in terrifying circumstances. After a headline-hitting evacuation to the UK, she finds a new home and community in a Yorkshire football club.
Perry: “It’s fascinating, it’s eye-opening, it’s emotional. It made me cry on the train. It’s not just harrowing, it’s also incredible to see what sport can do and how it can be a healer for trauma.”
No Rucks Given! – Directed by Somina Fombo
From muddy grassroots pitches to record-breaking crowds, past players laid the foundations, present players drive the legacy. This is the story of the rise in topflight women’s rugby. Featuring former player of the year at the Guinness National Rugby Awards Laura Kapo, No Rucks Given! uncovers the untold struggles, relentless passion, and game-changing moments that built the women’s club level game.
Perry: “It’s really powerful in a different way. You’ve got Laura Kapo talking very openly about her cancer diagnosis and how it affected her, and the rollercoaster of their rugby team. A completely different film to the other two but incredibly watchable.”
SET PACE – Directed by Daisy Ifama
SET PACE tells the story of legendary Carol Glenn, Britain’s first black, female motorsports official, as she sets out on a new venture to launch her own race team, breaking boundaries as the first black woman in the UK to do so. This film is a celebration of motorsports, of Black British community, the fight to improve gender, racial and economic difference on the track and what one woman’s lifetime of dedication can do to change the world.
Perry: “It shows the highs and lows of motorsport, how, in a heartbeat, something breaks and the whole weekend can be ruined. It’s a really lovely film.”
“I think that women are judged first, still, on what they look like, second on their ability,” Perry points out. “If you look at the comments that I get, the majority will be about what I look like and what I’m wearing. The minority will be about how good an interview has been, and those comments about how a good an interview has being will often be from women.”
However, there are green shoots, including TNT Sports’ majority female presenting team, “which just goes to show how much it’s changed. The BBC were also really good with female presenters, really good, knowledgeable female presenters, early, and they were one of the first to change it.”
Comparing it to when she first entered the industry in the 90s, and mainstream media was openly commenting on her looks more than her skills, Perry added, “I do think it is opening up. I think it’s changed. I’ve been doing this for 29 years, and I see a lot of women coming in. It’s de rigueur now to have a female reporter, which is interesting. There’s not so many anchors, but hopefully that will improve.”
Reframe The Game hopes to have done this for these three directors, with The Long Away Game’s Hannah Congdon saying, “Reframe the Game has given me the chance to tell a powerful story about an inspiring young footballer, and to direct my first documentary for broadcast after several years of producing. I feel incredibly honoured Sabriah trusted me with her story, and would love to be able to keep making these types of very personal films that have something to say about the state of the world we’re living in.”
Set Pace director Daisy Ifama had similar thoughts, noting, “I had always wanted to shoot a sports documentary as it’s the type of work I consume the most, but I hadn’t since 2015 when I followed an academy footballer playing for a Premier League club. For Set Pace I liked the idea of bringing a ‘non-traditional’ audience to motorsports through the story of Carol, a ‘non-traditional’ icon in the sport leading her team in a very ‘non-traditional’ way. I hope that my future holds lots more work within the sports field with interesting, trailblazing people like Carol.”
Reframe the Game short documentaries will debut on TNT Sports on Saturday 31 May and will be available to stream on discovery+.
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