By: Peter White, Ethnic Media Services
Can we tell our own stories yet? According to Michael Tran, co-author of the latest Hollywood Diversity Report, “The short answer is ‘No’, I’m afraid.”
A UCLA sociologist who collects entertainment data and tracks trends, Tran says despite recent efforts to make the entertainment industry more reflective of the nation as whole, there is still more work to be done.
“While there has been historic progress on multiple fronts, including shattering several onerous Hollywood myths about diversity, progress has been mixed,” says Tran.
He notes that over the last 11 years the diversity of screen actors has increased. African Americans, for example, are much more proportionally represented among casts. Still, other groups – especially Latinx and API communities – are consistently underrepresented. “And this is especially egregious for the Latinx community because they’re consistently the biggest consumers of media,” Tran notes.
And while casts are growing more diverse, there’s less diversity behind the scenes, where the decision-making happens.
“In 2022, when we looked at the numbers… we found that women directors are getting more opportunities, but much lower budgets than white male directors,” he says. Women directors are getting shunted into smaller budget comedies specifically for women audiences, while male directors of color are given bigger prestige projects like Black Panther.
Few opportunities for Latinx actors, directors
Tran spoke alongside a panel of directors, producers, and media makers last week during an EMS media briefing on the state of representation in film and television.
According to Franny Grande, a Venezuelan American award-winning filmmaker, actor, and director, and the CEO of Avenida Productions, “Latinos are almost 20% of the US population, yet we only get 2.3% of leading roles on TV. Half of those are negative stereotypes.”
Grande echoed Tran, pointing out that Latinos “buy one in four movie tickets. We consume the most streaming. The top 10 streaming shows from last year were in part thanks to the Latino community. Yet we don’t get the opportunity to participate in this industry.
Even fewer opportunities exist for Latinos behind the camera, continued Grande, who explained that only 1.5% of members in the Directors Guild of America (DGA) are Latino.
Grande started acting about 25 years ago, when the only opportunities for Latinx actors involved stereotypical roles of the perennial immigrant. There’s nothing wrong with being an immigrant, but Latinos are constantly being portrayed as the other, she says.
Grande launched Avenir Productions seven years ago. “What we do is empower the storytellers. We empower actors, writers, directors, and we use all non-traditional methods.”
Grande said her company has helped raise millions of dollars for hundreds of creative projects over the years.
“We have a studio space in Los Angeles and now we’re gonna be launching a streaming platform because there’s a void, there’s a huge void in the market.”
The solution, she says, is to build something that communities of color own and that they can leverage to demand a seat at the table, given the financial role they play in the industry.