I’ve tried to get Oscar credentials for the past several years. This year, my dream finally came true. Like most people, I’ve watched the Oscars every year I can remember — years ago for fun, recently for work. They usually disappoint because the Oscars are the culmination of the year in Hollywood, and that is usually the culmination of continual disappointment.

This year, I made it into the interview room, which meant that I got there before 2pm LA time, in a gown, in a spot that barely fit a chair. We had to pay for access to the internet — they shut off the WiFI and the folks who opted not to pay had to sit there for hours with no access, which would have killed me — and started tweeting my ass off as the pre-show began. We didn’t get to see the commercials — which is always a great part of the Oscars and something I look forward to — and in the interview room folks came in to answer questions while the show was going on, so you had to decide whether to listen to the questions (which were, honestly, at most times so shallow and pretty pathetic) or to watch the show using a headset. So, it was hard to keep up and keep focused, which I found frustrating. Covering the Oscars is work and pretty much everyone sitting in that room was on deadline and spent the whole show writing their post-Oscar piece.

The security is super tight. You can’t take any pictures in the interview room. I got nailed for wearing my sneakers so I had to put on my flats — not the end of the world, but a reminder that it’s all about protocol and pretty. Everything looks pretty on the surface. But we all know that the rot of Hollywood is very close to the surface and this year it’s been exposed for all the world to see. The day began with E! deciding to put a 30-second delay on Ryan Seacrest’s interviews on the red carpet. The fact that he still had a prominent spot despite facing well-publicized allegations of misconduct from his former stylist is a reminder that some men who are powerful and who have big machines and a lone accuser can still survive in this new environment.

The show was clearly affected by the new world order of #TimesUp and #MeToo. Host Jimmy Kimmel hit on it right away. But the same broadcast that drew attention to the dearth of opportunities for women and their mistreatment in the industry saw Kobe Bryant — who was charged with sexual assault in 2003 and made a settlement — take home an Oscar for best animated short. Everyone in the press room was falling over themselves to ask him questions. It was disgusting. Then, of course, Gary Oldman was given the highest honor of Best Actor, and he was accused of hitting his ex-wife in the face with a phone.

What the show was able to make clear is that the women of Hollywood are changed. Natalie Portman’s Golden Globes declaration of the all-male directing nominees birthed Emma Stone’s mention of four men and Greta Gerwig. This shit matters. Seeing Salma Hayak, Ashley Judd, and Annabella Sciorra standing on the stage and being acknowledged for speaking out about being assaulted by Harvey Weinstein made a powerful statement, especially because they were there to introduce a video on the need for more diversity and gender equality.

And Maya Rudolph with Tiffany Haddish clearly made the case that they should be hosting next year as they cracked everyone up and held their heels in their hands.

For me the show was made by the beautiful, feminist tirade of Frances McDormand. What she did was mind-blowing. By asking all the female nominees to get up and showing solidarity she also illustrated the sad reality of how few women get nominated. And it seems that this year, as we finally broke the glass ceiling of a woman getting nominated in the best cinematography category, there were very few female winners.

McDormand spoke of being a feminist and raising her son as a feminist and then she dropped the two words that set the whole place abuzz — “inclusion rider.” Here’s an excerpt of her speech via the Academy transcript:

“And now I want to get some perspective. If I may be so honored to have all the female nominees in every category stand with me in this room tonight, the actors — Meryl, if you do it, everybody else will, c’mon — the filmmakers, the producers, the directors, the writers, the cinematographer, the composers, the songwriters, the designers. C’mon! Okay, look around everybody. Look around, ladies and gentlemen, because we all have stories to tell and projects we need financed. Don’t talk to us about it at the parties tonight. Invite us into your office in a couple days, or you can come to ours, whatever suits you best, and we’ll tell you all about them. I have two words to leave with you tonight, ladies and gentlemen: inclusion rider.”

An inclusion rider — which sometimes is called an equity rider — is a tool that A-list actors can use to make sure there is more inclusion on their sets. This is something that powerful people need to use and get comfortable with. The onus for change is on the powerful, not the people who are excluded. This is what can actually radically alter Hollywood. It’s about making sure there is representation onscreen and encouraging people to cast broadly. The clause also pushes for more inclusion with the crew. It could be a game-changer. Dr. Stacy Smith and her colleagues at the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at USC Annenberg pioneered the term and have been meeting with high-level people at agencies to work to get this implemented at the top level of the business.

Here’s McDormand explaining the inclusion rider in the interview room:

Q: “Please explain your comment at the end, the two words ‘inclusion rider.’”
A: “Right. I just found out about this last week. There is ‑‑ has always been available to all ‑‑ everybody that get ‑‑ that does a negotiation on a film, an inclusion rider, which means that you can ask for and/or demand at least 50 percent diversity in not only the casting, but also the crew. And so, the fact that we ‑‑ that I just learned that after 35 years of being in the film business, it’s not ‑‑ we’re not going back. So the whole idea of women trending, no. No trending. African Americans trending, no. No trending. It changes now, and I think the inclusion rider will have something to do with that. Right? Power in rules.”

All in all, it was a wonderful experience to get dressed up, to go to the Oscars, and to be a part of Hollywood’s biggest show. But the reality is that the industry still has so much work to do in becoming an inclusive place — no matter how much it tries to convince us otherwise. The work towards inclusion must continue.