#Diversity
Apply Now for a Fellowship with WritersForWriters
The lack of mentorship is one the largest barriers to entry women and people of color face in Hollywood. Breaking into the industry is hard, and it’s damn near impossible if you don’t have...
Academy Board of Governors Is Now 39% Female
Shortly after inviting a historic 774 new members to join its ranks, the Academy held its annual board of governors election and, per The Hollywood Reporter, women were elected in...
The Academy Continues to Diversify with 774 New Members
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, best known as the body behind the Academy Awards, has invited 774 new members to join its ranks — topping last year’s record-setting 683...
Quote of the Day: Halle Berry Talks the Lack of Change Since Her Historic 2002 Oscar Win
“This is for every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance because this door has been opened,” a triumphant Halle Berry announced when she won the Best Actress Oscar for...
Exiting Globe Artistic Director Emma Rice to Start New Theater Company
Emma Rice won’t leave her post as artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe until 2018, but she has already lined up her next gig. Per The Stage, Rice has announced her plans to establish Wise...
Study: Women and People of Color Are Being Shut Out of Theater Jobs
Probably more than any other entertainment field, the theater prides itself on being a haven for everyone, for being progressive, and for continuously pushing the envelope. So it’s extra...
Cross-Post: A Collective Call Against Critical Bias
Paula Vogel’s “Indecent”: NewYorkTheater/YouTube This piece, “A Collective Call Against Critical Bias,” was originally published on HowlRound, a knowledge commons by and for the theatre...
The Kilroys Publishes List Spotlighting Women Playwrights of Color
The Kilroys, an independent collective in Los Angeles, has released its annual list of “new plays by women deemed worthy of production,” The New York Times reports. This year’s installment...
New York State Senate and Assembly Pass TV Diversity Bill
The New York State Senate and Assembly have passed new landmark legislation: the TV Diversity Bill. Spearheaded by State Senator Marisol Alcantara and Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, the bill would...
Study: CAA Finds That Diverse Films of All Budgets Fare Better at Box Office
A recent study and corresponding database from Creative Artists Agency (CAA) found that diversity does, indeed, sell. As the Los Angeles Times writes, the research suggests that racially inclusive...
Trailer Watch: John Boyega Is the Scapegoat in Kathryn Bigelow’s “Detroit”
“I assume this is about what went on at the motel?” John Boyega’s character, Dismukes, asks during an interrogation in the new spot for “Detroit.” It’s obvious he wants to cooperate with...
Web Series “Brown Girls” Is Coming to HBO
Like “Broad City,” “High Maintenance,” and “Insecure” before it, the web series “Brown Girls” is making its way to TV. According to ELLE, “Brown Girls” director Samantha Bailey...
Yara Shahidi-Led “Black-ish” Spinoff Greenlit at Freeform
Zoey Johnson is officially heading to college. “Black-ish” star Yara Shahidi will topline a spinoff of the ABC comedy, Variety reports. The 13-episode first season of “College-ish” will...
Misha Green Teaming Up with Jordan Peele for HBO’s “Lovecraft Country”
If you couldn’t get enough of “Get Out’s” winning combination of horror thrills and biting social commentary about racism, you’re in luck. The smash hit’s writer-director, Jordan Peele,...
Quote of the Day: Ava DuVernay on the Privilege of Being Able to Say No
Ava DuVernay is dropping truth bombs yet again. The Hollywood Reporter recently brought together some of the top showrunners and producers in the business, and the resulting feature is full of...
Playwright Katori Hall Named Artistic Director of Memphis’ Hattiloo Theater
“The Mountaintop” playwright Katori Hall will be the next artistic director of the Hattiloo Theater, the New York Times reports. Located in Hall’s hometown, Memphis, the Hattiloo is an...
Tina Gharavi and Samantha Harrie Selected for HETV Director Program
Directors UK and Creative Skillset’s High End TV (HETV) Council have announced two directors set to participate in the High End TV Drama Directors Career Development Programme. According to a...
Viola Davis-Produced Web Series About Emerging Artists Released
“You can’t tell yourself no. There’s going to be a lot of people saying no. You can’t be one of those people,” says one of the characters in “Emerging Artist Series,” a new web series...
Chicken & Egg Pictures Announces Participants of Diversity Fellows Initiative
Chicken & Egg Pictures has announced the newest participants of their Diversity Fellows Initiative. Now in its second year, the program supports non-fiction projects directed by women of color....
DGA Announces Participants of New TV Director Mentorship Program
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has selected the participants for a TV directing mentorship initative, SHOOTonline reports. The program will see “early-career directors (Protégés)”...
Bravo Developing Drama Series About African-American Female Mayor
Bravo has elected a female mayor. According to Deadline, the network is developing “Candy,” a drama about the youngest — and first African-American female — mayor in an unnamed...
Trailer Watch: Everyone Just Wants to Survive the Night in Kathryn Bigelow’s “Detroit”
“Detroit” Throughout her career, Kathryn Bigelow has explored the traditionally masculine subjects of war and violence. “The Hurt Locker” suggested that life-or-death situations can be a...
“Ghost in the Shell” and a Brief Herstory of Whitewashing
Scarlett Johansson in “Ghost in the Shell” During its opening weekend, the anticipated yet controversial film “Ghost in the Shell” took home a measly $19 million at the domestic box office....
Trailer Watch: Niecy Nash is a Badass Salon Owner in “Claws”
If you wish “The Sopranos” had included more women and people of color onscreen — and had doubled down on Carmela’s fierce manicures — your dream has come true. The Niecy...
WTF of the Day: Marvel Exec Thinks Female & Diverse Characters Are Ruining Sales
Wow. After the Aaron Sorkin debacle last week, you’d assume that powerful executives with a platform — especially if they are white dudes — would carefully consider their words before...
Gurinder Chadha Moves to TV with FremantleMedia-Backed Bend It TV
Gurinder Chadha is branching out into television. The “Bend It Like Beckham” director’s TV production company, Bend It TV, will receive 25 percent backing from FremantleMedia, Variety writes....
Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs Accepts CinemaCon Pioneer of the Year Award
Cheryl Boone Isaacs accepted the Pioneer of the Year honor at CinemaCon’s Will Rogers Motion Picture Foundation Dinner, held Wednesday. The President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and...
Bentonville Film Fest to Open with Gaby Dellal’s “3 Generations”
“3 Generations” The 2017 Bentonville Film Festival will open with Gaby Dellal’s controversial “3 Generations,” Indiewire reports. Written by Dellal and Nikole Beckwith, the drama, once...
WTF of the Day: Aaron Sorkin Was Unaware of Hollywood’s Diversity Problem
“Are you saying that women and minorities have a more difficult time getting their stuff read than white men and you’re also saying that [white men] get to make mediocre movies and can continue...
Quote of the Day: Jennifer Lopez Says Roles Like “Selena” Are “Few and Far Between”
“It was a meaty role, but it was few and far between, especially for Latinos to have a role like that,” Jennifer Lopez recently told Variety, discussing her Golden Globe-nominated role in...
Firelight Media Launches Impact Producer Fellowship & Names Inaugural Honorees
Firelight Media has introduced the Impact Producer Fellowship and announced the initiative’s inaugural participants, Shadow and Act reports. “The first-ever training program dedicated to...
Shonda Rhimes Branches Out Into Theatre
We all know Shonda Rhimes as a top showrunner and the writer/producer/director extraordinaire behind “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal,” and “How to Get Away with Murder.” And now we’ll...
Apply Now for the Producers Guild’s Power of Diversity Master Workshop
The deadline for the Producers Guild of America’s (PGA) 14th annual Power of Diversity Master Workshop has been extended, the PGA announced in a press release. Applications will now be accepted...
Viola Davis’ Production Company Raising Significant Cash
Viola Davis won an Oscar less than a month ago and is showing no signs of slowing down. The “Fences” actress is “embarking on an effort to raise $250,000,000 in a global expansion plan for the...
Guest Post: Candice Thompson on Frizzy Hair, Big Lips, and Navigating a Career in Comedy as a…
Guest Post: Candice Thompson on Frizzy Hair, Big Lips, and Navigating a Career in Comedy as a Biracial Woman Guest Post by Candice Thompson Three things happened when I was eight years old. I...
Quote of the Day: Jessica Chastain Strives to Create More Inclusiveness and Empathy
Jessica Chastain has consistently used her platform to address Hollywood’s lack of inclusivity. Even while onstage accepting awards, the two-time Oscar nominee has spoken out about “the need to...
Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks to Adapt “Native Son” for the Screen
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks is writing for the screen again. She’s penning an adaptation of Richard Wright’s influential 1940 novel “Native Son,” Flavorwire reports....
2017 Diversity Report: Women and Minorities Still Woefully Underrepresented in Hollywood
“Television is looking up; it’s moving in the right direction,” Darnell Hunt, director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA told the Los Angeles Times. “Film,...
Ruth Negga to Receive an Oscar Wilde Award from US-Ireland Alliance
No matter what happens at the Academy Awards on February 26, Ruth Negga will still end up with an Oscar. An Oscar Wilde, that is. The “Loving” actress will be honored at the US-Ireland...
Berlinale 2017 Women Directors: Meet Daniela Thomas — “Vazante”
Daniela Thomas writes and directs films and plays, creates opera and theater sets, designs exhibitions, and creates installations. She is based in São Paulo but her work has been seen, exhibited,...
Quote of the Day: David Oyelowo on the Oscars’ Long Path to Equality, Inclusivity
David Oyelowo is impressed with this year’s slate of Oscar nominations, but doesn’t think the Academy should pat itself on the back just yet. While promoting his new film, “A United...
Guest Post: Hollywood’s Changing Attitudes Towards Latina Actresses
Guest Post by Marlene Forte Not sure when I became the old broad on set, but here I am, in 2017, recurring on four TV shows as the mama to female leads who all happen to be Latinas! Twenty-five...
Guest Post: Striving for Inclusivity as a Producer One Choice at a Time
Guest Post by Jennica Schwartzman The theater goes black. I’m watching the credits at the end of my latest film. It’s a private debut screening, and my first time watching “Parker’s...
New Research Shows Number of Women Directors Hasn’t Changed Over the Last Decade
Our sentiments exactly, Ava DuVernay: Democracy Now!/YouTube A new study from USC Annenberg’s Media, Diversity, & Social Change (MDSC) Initiative found that the past 10 years have seen little...
CBS Orders Pilot from Katie Couric and Jenny Lumet
We all know Katie Couric as a respected veteran TV journalist and producer. And now we’ll know her as a TV drama series executive producer. According to The Hollywood Reporter, CBS has ordered a...
Viola Davis and Julia Roberts to Star in “Small Great Things”
Viola Davis and Julia Roberts are teaming up for “Small Great Things.” The A-listers are set to star in Amblin Partners’ adaptation of Jodi Picoult’s 2016 best-selling novel of the same...
Quote of the Day: Octavia Spencer on Her Dream Role and Diversity
“Hidden Figures” just surpassed $100 million at the box office, and that’s just one of the many reasons Octavia Spencer has to celebrate. Spencer and her “Hidden Figures” costars, who...
“The Salesman” Star to Boycott Oscars in Protest of Trump’s Visa Ban
Actress Taraneh Alidoosti, Iranian star of “The Salesman,” will not be attending this year’s Oscars. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Alidoosti announced via Twitter that she will boycott...
“Fresh Off the Boat” Team Secures Pilot Order from NBC for Family Comedy
NBC has ordered a pilot for an untitled comedy based on the life of “Fresh Off the Boat” producer Kourtney Kang, The Hollywood Reporter confirms. The project marks the first comedy pilot the...
Sofia Vergara to Pursue Latin American Stories with New Mobile Platform Raze
The highest-paid actress on TV is using her clout and business acumen to tell more Latin American stories with Raze, a digital startup. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Modern Family” star...
ABC in Early Talks for “Black-ish” Spinoff Starring Yara Shahidi
There aren’t many television series focused on young women of color. There are even less that depict college life. The potential “Black-ish” spinoff could be an antidote to both those...