President of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy was profiled as one of USA Today’s Innovators and Icons. She talks about her history in the industry, her new position and about minorities in Hollywood.
The demographics within our business don’t reflect society, and they certainly don’t reflect the audience. There should be many, many more faces of color,
many more women, many more gay people — you could go down the list. I will tell you that most of my meetings are in rooms with white males.
Kennedy also feels that because she’s a woman, she wants to make sure to work on diversifying the business.
…make a conscious effort to diversify the people I’m hiring. And it needs to come from a place of authenticity, as opposed to putting token people in place.
And she discusses how far women have to go in Hollywood, especially behind the scenes.
I still think there’s huge room for improvement with women behind the scenes. I see very few women in technical positions. Very few on the camera crews,
the sound crews. More so than when I started but there’s a lot of room for improvement even in the area of effects there’s work to be done. The whole below
the line area of filmmaking I think needs work.
Having more brilliant and socially aware women like Kennedy working in power positions will certainly help. Alongside Kennedy’s profile, watch the video at the link below of Kennedy talking about women in the industry, the changing global market and binge watching (she just finished Scandal!).
Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy has produced quite a career
(USA Today)
