The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, alongside Universal Entertainment Group and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, is expanding upon its Spellcheck for Bias software. The organizations have formed a year-long partnership to launch a Spellcheck for Bias pilot tool to “help support more authentic Latinx onscreen representation and casting opportunities during the early stages of the development process,” per Deadline.
The original Spellcheck for Bias tech examines scripts for gender bias and stereotypes. USC is also working with the Institute to expand the resource to analyze scripts and advertising for representation and dialogue by race, LGBTQIA identity, and disability. It also checks for traits such as violence, discrimination, and intelligence.
Under the new partnership with the Institute and USC, “Universal’s Global Talent Development & Inclusion will work with a team of advisors to develop the criteria to expand Spellcheck’s capabilities to include Latinx representation,” the source details. “Once the software is complete, Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Animation (DWA), Focus Features, and NBC Entertainment will provide scripts to test the tool for its effectiveness and potential to be used to help other underrepresented groups in film and television.”
The Institute’s soon-to-be-released 2020 “See Jane” report found that only 4.7 percent of all characters across 2019’s top 100 films were Latinx. That’s compared to the 66.2 percent that were white and the fact that Latinx people are 18.3 percent of the U.S. population.
“I’m so thrilled that NBCUniversal has committed to working with us on this pilot program,” said Davis. “Their support will be extremely valuable in developing the tool to address the sparse and underdeveloped portrayals of the Latinx community which our upcoming study underscores. I believe our Spellcheck for Bias is going to be the biggest game-changer of all in creating onscreen inclusion and will help NBCUniversal and other studios identify opportunities to dramatically increase Latinx representations in their content, to counteract the conscious and unconscious bias in all of us.”
The Latinx representation edition of Spellcheck for Bias counts “Ingobernable’s” Kate del Castillo and Harness, co-founded by “Superstore’s” America Ferrara, among its creative partners.
Last fall Davis was presented with an Honorary Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, for her gender parity. “The message we are sending [in society] is that men and boys are far more valuable to us than women and girls,” she said while accepting the honor. “Here’s my theory of change: nearly every sector of society has a huge gender disparity problem. But there’s one category of gross inequality where the under-representation of women can be fixed absolutely overnight: on screen.”
Davis previously won an Academy Award for her supporting turn in “The Accidental Tourist.” “GLOW” and “She-Ra and the Princesses of Power” are among her recent credits. Next, she’s signed on to headline Leena Yadav’s “Cowgirl’s Last Ride,” a feature about an ex-cowgirl who breaks out of her nursing home.
