Little inclusivity behind camera

Study: TV industry falls short of hiring minorities off-screen

LOS ANGELES — When Zendaya won last month’s EmmyAward for top drama series actress, her triumph seemed to underscore the TV industry’s progress toward inclusivity.

The “Euphoria” star became the second Black winner in the category in five years, followingViolaDavis’ drought- ending win for “How to Get Away With Murder” in 2015.

But such success contrasts with the lag in diversity in behind-the-camera jobs and among TV executives as measured by race and gender, according to a University of California, Los Angeles, study released last week.

“There has been a lot of progress for women and people of color in front of the camera,” Darnell Hunt, dean of the school’s social sciences division and the study’s co-author, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, there has not been the same level of progress behind the camera.”

That’s most notable in Hollywood’s executive suites, where little has changed since the UCLA study tallied the numbers five years ago, he said.

As of September 2020, the study found that whites held 92% of chair and CEO