If films want to add diversity, they should look to television
Roles more abundant on small screen with wider variety of stories
NEW YORK — As Hollywood continues to be battered by a backlash to the lack of diversity in the Oscar nominations and in the film industry at large, it doesn’t have to look far for inspiration: just turn on the TV.
Where the movies have lagged, television has recently exploded with diversity across the dial. Some of the most talented people of color have turned for greater artistic freedom and the chance to tell more varied stories that don’t require capes or marketability in China.
Many previous Oscar nominees are already there.
Ava DuVernay, director of last year’s best picture-nominee “Selma,” is currently at work on “Queen Sugar,” a drama series for Oprah Winfrey’s OWN. John Ridley, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “12 Years a Slave,” is in the second season of his acclaimed ABC series, “American Crime.” Forest Whitaker, who won best actor for 2016’s “The Last King of Scotland,” is part of a “Roots” remake for A&E. Two-time Oscar nominee Viola Davis is on Shonda Rhimes’ “How to Get Away With Murder” for ABC.
“TV cares about its audience,” says Davis, who in September became the first African-American to win an Emmy for best actress in a drama. “TV wants to cater to the demographics of what is America.”
Television is a more nimble medium than film, and it also has some structural advantages. Power in Hollywood is still largely held by the six major studios and a handful of other large production companies. In television, there’s a veritable ocean of opportunity, including cable and streaming networks with deep pockets and a willingness for riskier material.
Though the television landscape was less diverse just a few years ago, it’s — for now — flush with the likes of Lee Daniels’ “Empire,” Aziz Ansari’s “Master of None” and Jill Soloway’s “Transparent.”
As a producer, Whitaker twice found rejection at the studios before raising money independently for 2013’s “Fruitvale Station,” the breakout debut of “Creed” director-actor duo Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan, and Rick Famuyiwa’s 2015 teen comedy “Dope.”
New streaming platforms have provided new avenues for some filmmakers.
Spike Lee, who has said he won’t attend the Oscars, found a home for his latest film, the gang violence takedown “Chi-Raq,” with Amazon. The child soldier drama “Beasts of No Nation,” which provided the much-praised but un-nominated performance by Idris Elba, came from Netflix.
“We must do a better job of cultivating and recognizing diversity,” Chris Dodd, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, said Wednesday.
Two of 2015’s most popular films — “Furious 7” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” — grossed more than $1 billion with casts that came closer to reflecting American society and moviegoers than past blockbusters
But Darnel Hunt, head of UCLA’s Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American studies, cautions against viewing gestures of diversity as representations of deeper progress.
“I don’t think most of the public is aware of what goes on behind the scenes and how exclusionary the business really is — particularly if you see people of color on screen, which you do increasingly see on television,” says Hunt. “But if you look behind the scenes, you don’t see nearly as much diversity.”