It is Oscar weekend and regardless if you follow movies or Hollywood in general, you cannot miss the overwhelming news of more diversity in Hollywood. It started to gain momentum when top executive males started getting called out and charged with their treatment of women and minority. The call for action is still a long way from coming to a comfortable equality for all place which is still a sad state for many of us regardless of the industry.
While Hollywood is still trying to move in a more diverse direction with more women and minorities snagging top producing and acting spots this weekend, we will still see a predominantly white list of nominees (Wolf, 2020). While the Oscar is the top prize the general population is starting to recognize that in the United States, we are more interested in seeing a more diverse cast on screen and in the credits.
According to UClAs latest Hollywood Diversity Report, women make up approximately 50% of the United States population and minorities make up approximately 40%. In contrast, out of the 139 files with the highest global ticket receipts of 2018, 41% of the lead roles went to women and 26.6% went to minorities. Among all acting roles in those same films, 40.4% went to women and 30.9% went to minorities. Things improved slightly in 2019 when lead acting roles went to 44.2% women and 27.6% to minorities (Wolf, 2020). Statistically, Hollywood has a way to go before leading roles reflect equality for women and minorities.
Even behind the scene, women and minorities are not proportionate to the overall population in the United States. For example, in 2018, 7.1% of the directors of top-grossing files were women and in 2019, women made up 15.1%. In 2018, minorities held 19.3% of the directors of top-grossing films and in 2019, 14.4% (Wolf, 2020). It appears that diversity is not making big inroads in Hollywood just yet, even through even small steps are considered progress.
Since Hollywood’s success indicator is based on the credits a person has, writing, directing and acting jobs are critical to women and minorities. Again, in the writing and directing roles, diversity is making some strides but not enough. In 2018, women earned 14.8% of the writing credits for the films analyzed for this article and in 2019, 17.4%. In that same category and time, minorities received 10.4% in 2018 and 13.9% in 2019 (Wolf, 2020).
The Hollywood Diversity Report also reported on workplace analysis of 11 major and mid-major studios. The results were alarming because 91% of C-level positions were held by whites and of that 91%, 82% were males. In senior executive positions, 93% were held by white people and 80% of them were men (Wolf, 2020). In other words, white men are still making most of the big decisions in Hollywood.
Diversity is important to Hollywood not only from the financial aspect, but including diversity in films, movies, TV shows, etc. also helps people relate to the diversity of the characters, how they cope with the story line, and how they relate to one another. It helps viewers see and feel that what they encounter in real life can be part of the big picture in Hollywood as well.
Reference
Wolf, J. (2020, February 6). 2020 Hollywood diversity report: A different story behind the scenes. Retrieved February 9, 2020, from http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/2020-hollywood-diversity-report
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