Biography of Parminder Vir
Cultural Diversity Adviser (Carlton Television)

Parminder Vir is a film and television Producer and Cultural Diversity Adviser at Carlton Television. She has the dual responsibility for developing talent as well as policy for achieving diversity both on and behind the screen.

She is the Executive Producer of Carlton's Multicultural Achievement Awards honouring future role models. She is the Series Producer of the award winning series 'Single Voices' - half hour comedy dramas. Since joining Carlton Television in 1996 she has helped to launch several awards celebrating the achievements of ethnic minorities in the UK including Music of Black Origin Awards (MOBO) and the Ethnic Minority Multicultural Media Awards (EMMA) on Carlton Regional television before the were transferred to the network channels.

She is developing two feature films: 'Dr Bannerjee's Daughters' takes Jane Austen's timeless social satire 'Pride & Prejudice' and transposes it to a modern, class-ridden Indian community in Britain. 'The Prince of Dalston' is a spin off of the award winning comedy monologue for 'Single Voices' by Felix Dexter of the same title. 'The Prince of Dalston' is being developed with financial support from the Film Council with Felix Dexter adapting the original monologue for a screenplay.

Also in development is an adaptation of an Andrea Levy novel 'Fruit of the Lemon' by the award-winning Alan Plater for television drama.

She is a board director of the Film Council, charged with developing a strategy for the British Film Industry. She is a member of the Diversity Sub Committee charged with setting policy and monitoring progress on mainstreaming Black and Asian filmmaking. She is a member of the Specialised Exhibition and Distribution sub committee developing policy for the cultural sector. She is a board director of Women in Film and Television (WFTV) and was one of the organisers of 'Shooting from the Hip', a one-day festival celebrating the contributions of Black and Asian women the film and television industry. She served on the Cultural Diversity Committee of the Arts Council of England from 1996 to 1999.

In 1997 through her own production company she produced her first feature film 'Babymother' a reggae musical set in West London, made for Film Four which was released in September 1998.

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