9/6/2023 0 Comments Kelly edwards calibre systems![]() That will separate those executive producers who are with the program from those who just pretend to be. Better yet, for every script you bought this season, tell the showrunner you are making the lead a person of color. ![]() If you have the power to order another mildly entertaining series starring Oliver Hudson, you have the power to order a spectacular one starring John Cho. Here’s my challenge to everyone at the executive vice president level - mandate it. Black male executives continue to be hired at pathetically low rates, and when they do get hired, they’re eventually pushed out by a system that refuses to support them. When they advocate for a project from a BIPOC writer or an idea with a brown lead, it’s still questioned much more than if it had a white one. Executives of color are still harassed by their co-workers and then expertly gaslit into believing those slights weren’t personal. You’re out of the loop.)ĭiversity is still the last item discussed in a meeting. ![]() If you can’t find an HBCU student to hire, that’s on you. Bring one of them up the ladder with you and watch what great things unfold. Those students have a code of ethics unlike any other I’ve seen. Really want to do yourself a favor? Recruit from an HBCU. Without family support to backstop them, BIPOC assistants struggle even more, so saying “agency experience” is really just a subtle call for a white assistant. It’s been well documented that agency assistants have had to go to the mattresses to get fair wages and the average pay is still $40,000 a year. (Sidebar: If you’ve ever uttered the words “I want someone with agency experience for my new assistant job,” you’re not helping. The question is: How do we fix it? We can start all of the programs we want, but we still need to address the fundamental problem that lies underneath. “When was the last time we saw an Asian lead who wasn’t doing martial arts?” “We are kidding ourselves if we don’t correlate the lack of Asians on-screen with the rise in hate crimes against the AAPI community,” I said. Before same-sex marriage became law in the U.S., decades of work went into “normalizing” gay relationships.īy those calculations, we’re light-years behind on Asian representation. I paraphrased a book I’d read called “This Is an Uprising,” about how it takes years for a social movement to take hold. Suddenly I heard myself railing about Asian and Latino representation. ![]() What I want to know is, “Why are we still asking remedial questions?”Īnd that right there is how this interview became less of a polite Q&A and more of a rant. ![]() UCLA’s 2020 Hollywood Diversity Report notes Latinos accounted for less than 7% of the leading roles in broadcast, cable and streaming, and Asians less than 4%. We know the acting talent is out there, but it continues to be overlooked and the ratios are still terrible. For every show developed by a writer of color, so many more are passed on. For every executive of color promoted, many more are held back or denied advancement. We started this latest diversity movement in TV more than 20 years ago, and so far, the progress has been slow to excruciatingly nonexistent. If someone doesn’t understand what diversity is and why it matters, I said, they need to be fired immediately. “What does diversity mean to you?” “Why does diversity matter?” “Have we made any progress?” “What would you like to see happen next?”Ī few days later I was sitting in front of my computer, the red “recording” light blinking in the corner of the Zoom screen, and telling the interviewer that under no circumstances was I going to answer the first two. To prep me, the organization sent me a list of questions. A couple of weeks ago, I was interviewed for a video commemorating a diversity event I moderated back in 2018. ![]()
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