Has Hollywood played its part?
Although the protests have quieted, Hollywood companies say they remain committed to racial justice and inclusion.
Challenged to rise to 2020’s call for social justice, entertainment companies point to progress.
When massive protests erupted nationwide last summer after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, the entertainment industry was initially slow to respond. Studios and major corporations responsible for creating content to entertain America kept their distance.
That inaction brought a stinging rebuke from CNN anchor Don Lemon. “What about Hollywood?” he asked on-air during the network’s coverage of the protests. “Strangely quiet ... Have some moral courage and stop worrying about your reputation and your brand.”
Soon after Lemon’s reprimand, major entertainment companies sprang into action, issuing statements of solidarity with and support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Companies pledged millions to support organizations dedicated to social justice. They established or expanded internal programs and pipelines to promote diversity and inclusion.
They promised more transparency in dealing with issues revolving around race.
Antiracist programming came to broadcast news shows and kids cable channels alike. Multiple companies implemented training and education initiatives and conversation series about race for employees and executives.
“We knew we had to seize the moment,” said Craig Robinson, chief diversity officer at NBC Universal. “This is not a passing fad. So many employees in corporate America are looking at what their companies are doing.”
Although the protests have quieted, studios, networks and producers say they remain committed to racial justice and inclusion. Many charitable donations continue, as do most of the pipelines and programs initiated in the wake of the protests.
Michelynn Woodard, head of social impact, diversity and inclusion at J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, said: “What we try to do is continue to capture the
moment and determine how we continue to evolve our work to make sure we’re making the right investment for a world that’s rapidly changing around us.”
She said Abrams and his wife and producing partner, Katie McGrath, have made a commitment “not to separate social impact and profit.”
Numerous projects revolving around Black issues and personalities have blossomed since the protests, including documentaries about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and critically acclaimed TV series such as Amazon’s “The Underground Railroad” and HBO’s “I May Destroy You.”
But the jury is still out on whether Hollywood’s actions will result in meaningful change for an industry with persistent barriers to entry for people without existing connections — or the ability to toil for years in lowpaying assistant jobs and internships.
On-screen representation has noticeably grown. People of color accounted for nearly 40% of the leads in top films for 2020, the highest share on record, according to UCLA’s Hollywood Diversity Report.
But inclusion gaps remain, especially behind the scenes. People of color accounted for 25% of the directors for 2020’s top films, UCLA data showed. Though that was an 11% increase from the previous year, researchers note that many big-screen releases were delayed until 2021, and the smaller films that get released through streaming tend to be more diverse.
And studios continue to run into landmines with race-related controversies (see “The Bachelor”).
Darnell Hunt, dean of social sciences at UCLA, said real change won’t happen until the racial makeup of the executive ranks changes. Those jobs remain dominated by white people. In a review of 11 major and midsize film studios in early 2020, Hunt and other researchers found that 91% of studio heads, 93% of senior executives and 86% of unit heads are white.
A Times survey of Csuites that year found similar results.
“The one area that’s been the most stubborn to change over the years is the executive suites, where the real power lies, where the decisions are made that affect everything else,” Hunt said. “For the most part, the numbers look just like they did five years ago. Once we see change there, then I’ll be more optimistic.”
Christy Haubegger, chief inclusion officer at WarnerMedia, said the impact of the nation’s racial reckoning went beyond the numbers. Floyd’s murder raised awareness of racism and the importance of creating environments where people of color can thrive, she said.
“1.0 was getting people in the room,” Haubegger said. “But if you have worked really hard to get a diverse group of people in that room, and they don’t feel they can talk or their contributions won’t be valued, you don’t get the benefit of having those people in the room.”