Culture Shift
New Talent Accelerator Industry Standard Launches to Diversify Post-Production Fields (Exclusive)
Last year, MakeMake Entertainment managing director Jennifer Sofio Hall and veteran impact producer Bedonna Smith helped launch MakeMake Residencies, a nine-month paid program for people from historically excluded backgrounds to build careers in post-production. Now the two women are continuing that work with a new independent venture, Industry Standard, a talent accelerator for early- to […]
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NAACP Reacts to ‘Good Times’ Trailer: “Choices Were Made and Approved” (Guest Column)
Shortly after Netflix released the trailer for its new adult animated series Good Times two weeks ago, our office started receiving calls and emails. Inspired by the iconic live-action sitcom of the 1970s, the new show’s use of the beloved title conjures notions of familial fabric and community cohesion, amid challenges of generational poverty and […]
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National Hispanic Media Coalition Releases Its First-Ever Media Guide for Storytellers (Exclusive)
As part of its ongoing mission to promote Latinx civil and human rights, the National Hispanic Media Coalition is releasing its first-ever media guide for storytellers in the entertainment industry. “The media guide is an analysis for the entertainment industry to understand our community,” NHMC president and CEO Brenda Victoria Castillo tells The Hollywood Reporter, […]
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Starz, CAPE Team for Showrunners Incubator for Asian Pacific Islander TV Writers (Exclusive)
Many of the current generation of Asian and Pacific Islander writers working in television today came up through the CAPE New Writers Fellowship, one of the most successful entry-level programs in the industry. Now, the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment is expanding its focus to the other end of the pipeline. The CAPE Showrunners […]
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Neurodiverse Filmmakers and Narratives Take the Spotlight in Two New York-Based Film Festivals
Screenwriter Tony Spiridakis wasn’t familiar with the Museum of the Moving Image’s Marvels of Media Festival — which celebrates the work of mediamakers with autism — before penning his star-studded film Ezra, about parenting a child on the spectrum. But he quickly became a supporter after MoM founder and former AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan […]
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Greta Gerwig, Lily Gladstone Join Selection Committee for Cate Blanchett’s Fund for Women, Trans, Nonbinary Stories
Eight top female, trans and nonbinary creatives are coming together to support the Proof of Concept Accelerator, which exists to bring to life projects about people from those backgrounds. Chloé Zhao, Emma Corrin, Eva Longoria, Greta Gerwig, Jane Campion, Janicza Bravo, Lily Gladstone and Lilly Wachowski will form the eight-person selection committee for the fund, […]
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ColorCreative’s Find Your People Program Adds Composer Track for Year Two (Exclusive)
ColorCreative’s Find Your People Program is introducing more people – this time, composers. The talent development initiative from the company founded by Issa Rae, Deniese Davis and Talitha Watkins is unique in that it isn’t only targeted to emerging creatives in above-the-line roles. Instead, it solicits applicants from seven disciplines – directors, producers, cinematographers, production […]
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Reflecting on Lily Gladstone’s Historic Awards Run: “There Was Not a Single Misstep Taken At All”
Lily Gladstone’s awards run for Killers of the Flower Moon was historic, with the performer knocking down milestone after milestone: first Indigenous Golden Globe and SAG winner and first Native American Oscar nominee. Although the votes fell just short of securing her that final superlative — Poor Things’ Emma Stone won the Academy Award for […]
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‘True Detective’ Star Kali Reis Embraces Her Afro-Indigenous Heritage: “I Have Two Rooms I Can Stand In”
Kali Reis does not take her identity for granted. “I’m the first generation of my line who was actually able to grow up in the culture,” said the True Detective: Night Country star of being from the Seaconke Wampanoag people. “My great-grandmother, grandmother, mother were taught, generation after generation, ‘You don’t say you’re Wamp.’” She […]
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A Recent History of the Academy’s Accessibility and Disability Inclusion Efforts
The 2021 Oscars was the first time a front-facing ramp was an integrated element of the Academy Awards’ custom-built stage. Academy member Jim LeBrecht, who uses a wheelchair, initiated the effort and executed it alongside his Crip Camp co-director Nicole Newnham and executive producer Howard Gertler after an Oscar nomination for the Obama-produced Netflix doc […]
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How Documentary Orgs Serving People of Color Are Coming Together to Survive and Thrive
Two years ago, documentary impact strategists Sahar Driver and Sonya Childress launched Color Congress to build a coalition among doc organizations that serve filmmakers and/or audiences of color. Today, Color Congress has published a new report that lays out how solidarity among these groups has impacted the field for them all. “The People of Color […]
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Sacheen Littlefeather’s Claim to Native Ancestry Has Just Gotten a Little More Complicated
Nearly a year and a half ago, the late Sacheen Littlefeather became the face of Native identity fraud when skepticism about her background was publicized shortly after her death in October 2022. Now, one of her friends and former associates has come forward with genealogical records that indicate the activist best known for refusing Marlon […]
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