QUOTAS: A SMART STRATEGY?

Hollywood loses $10 billion a year over lack of black representation, Forbes announces.

In a recent Forbes article written by Carlie Porterfield we are informed about the loss of money Hollywood experiences due to a misrepresentation of black talent.

Key Facts mentioned:

The U.S. movie and television industry (not including sports or reality programming) is estimated by McKinsey to bring in $148 billion annually, and could increase annual revenue by 7% or about $10 billion a year by improving Black representation on-set and on-screen.

Reflexion Point: The estimation is based on what, exactly? Where do these figures come from? It may be true, however, I believe that revenue in the entertainment industry comes from good storytelling. One cannot, and should not, ascertain that simply a lack of diversification leads to a lack of revenue possibilities. Talent and creativity after all cannot be measured analytically. Perhaps the statement should be rephrased to: “Revenue could increase by “easing” or “encouraging” diverse ethnicities to enter the big screen”. It is not a matter of improving representation, but of encouraging global talent. What do you think?

Audience interest for diverse storytelling is on the rise, McKinsey found — between 2017 and 2019 alone, demand more than doubled for new television projects that featured casts made up of at least 40% racial and ethnic minorities.

Reflection Point: True. But is it just a matter of ethnicity or ingenious storytelling? Why has “The Bridgetons” become the nº1 most viewed series in Netflix? Is it because of ethnicity per se, or because of the core of the story? I who mostly interact with conservative white societal circles, enjoyed hearing out opinions. Did they talk about ethnic differences? Perhaps. But the key points where: How hot the duke was, how great gossip was, how great sexual scenes where. The key success factor, was not including different characters with different ethnicities, which I believe certainly added interest and novelty, it was the juicy content what appealed most. I would argue then that demand for novel projects is rising, but beware: Do not think it is ethnicity per se, the core of the story is the key to success and interest.

Black-led projects are still “underfunded and undervalued” in Hollywood, according to McKinsey, despite the fact they often see higher returns than other projects.

Reflection Point: Is it not natural? We, as human beings are as a general rule risk-averse. Investments are mostly done with caution, we hate to lose and we love to win. Should we not, however celebrate the achievements of ethnic/black-led projects? It is not just Black projects, but also Asian, Indian. Netflix Spain for instance is including more and more Korean, Chinese and Indian movies and series. Is that not an achievement? Black-led projects may be underfunded but I believe that outstanding and ingenious storytelling seldom is. The Bridgetons for instance. What can you say about that?

Black on-screen talent is also often limited in the types of roles available to them, McKinsey found: “When [studios are] looking for Black content, they’re looking for Wakanda or poverty, with no in-between,” one creative executive told the consulting firm.

Reflection Point: Is that so? I strongly disagree. I believe it is not Hollywood per se what is limiting the content, but also Black talent itself. We write, we create, we express what we feel, what we have experienced. For a long time, slavery, poverty, violence has been linked and been part of black societies. But for a long time, so has their happiness, their hard-work, their resilience and their faith. Out of hard and painful experiences, resilience is born. We tell what we are familiar with and that is nothing to be ashamed of. Either way, creativity has no limits, it is accessible to us all, it is however, the way a story is told, the unfolding of characters what makes it interesting. So perhaps, Mckinsey should not think about what “roles are available to whom” instead, it should think about how to create new roles. Roles aren’t assigned. We start with what we are familiar with and it is hard to narrate a story he are hardly familiar or comfortable with. What do you think. Is it a matter of assigning roles or of working on creative ones? Creativity is not just intuition, it is hard work and it must be practiced.