The Verge: Michael B. Jordan posted on Instagram last night that his film production company, Outlier Society Productions, will adopt inclusion riders for all their forthcoming projects. An inclusion rider is a clause in an actor’s contract where they can set out baseline diversity requirements for the cast and crew before the actor commits to a project. The concept was mentioned by Best Actress award-winner Frances McDormand during her acceptance speech and quickly went viral.
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6 comments:
I love this idea, and I am glad to see so many notable figures taking on the call. This just makes sense. I do not know why we have not had diversity riders before. This is a really great step in the right direction towards true equity in our field. Without writing these things explicitly into contracts, there will never be a guarantee that anything will change. I am glad to see people taking actual action towards a world where diversity is a priority and an actual, achievable goal. It has been too white and too male for too long. White men do not make good theatre. It takes people of all backgrounds and experiences collaborating together for actually good shows to be created and produced. This is just adding to the list of great things that are starting to come about now, which already includes Jordan’s other works like Black Panther.
I am in full support for inclusion riders. I can see where Netflix is coming from; a rider definitely sounds like a creative limiting factor, but because contracts are already so built into the entertainment industry, another rider will hardly make a negative creative impact. If anything, it will ensure that the stories we tell are diverse and told by diverse people. I saw a TED talk in high school called "The Danger of a Single Story" (or something along those lines). It was told by a Nigerian woman, a writer, who grew up surrounded by only stories of white children. She grew up believing that people only wrote stories about white people. That is a problem. In world where inclusion riders exist, we greatly reduce the chance that a child like that author grows up without seeing themselves as the hero of the story. The last internship I applied to actually required that we submit a "Diversity Statement," a response to the theater's mission statement of telling diverse stories, and I think that, whether we are required to think about it or not, should be on all our minds as we enter this industry that has been telling one story for so long.
I’m really looking forward to what inclusion riders can do for Hollywood and potentially other industries. I was surprised to see that Smith had hard number on how much inclusion riders could help, but I think that these number prove that inclusion riders are a good idea. I hope they can move over to other industries such as the sciences. Forcing events to have a certain numbers of different minorities would increase the visibility of different people in these fields. I wonder if there are statistics on how effective this practice would be in other fields. Though I see how it could work in news and other types of organizations, I wonder if it can truly succeed without the “star power” that is found in Hollywood. Overall, I’m excited to see where inclusion riders take the film and television industry, what changes they create, and what movies and television look like with inclusion riders.
I love the fact people like Michael B. Jordan are actually implementing the inclusion rider. The Oscars are a show and recently there has been a lot of talk about change and activism, but it makes me happy that it is actually being implemented. I also really like this policy because it helps institutionalized a more diverse Hollywood. I hope that in the wake of this year, we will see more diverse stories and less white washing. In many ways I don’t know why this hasn’t happened sooner, because over the past year we have seen that diverse stories can be financially successful. I think it’s actually bizarre that Hollywood hasn’t realized this earlier and trusted that American audiences don't just want to see white people. When the stories are more diverse they are also more interesting and complex. I don’t think inclusion riders are the end all, fix all but they are certainly a step in the right direction.
I am so happy that things are being done to help minorities gain representation, and to help minorities come into the success that they deserve. There have really been some big pushes in the recent pass to get people in the spotlights they deserve, with Black Panther, a bunch of TV shows coming out like Insecure and Dear White People, and, soon, a Wrinkle in Time. People want to see diversity. Diversity is a desirable thing. And even if movies start casting a more diverse group just because people want to see diversity and will pay money to see it and not because it is morally correct, that might just be ok. We need to see these people in big movies, in commercials, in TV shows, everywhere, so that the stereotypes of who and what minorities are is completely shattered. I can see that we are on our way to that, and it is so exciting.
Let me just say, I love Michael B Jordan. Not only has he put on incredible performances in movies like Fruitvale Station, Creed, and Black Panther, but he has shown himself to be a very down to earth person despite his fame, and has been a real agent for change in the industry. Adopting inclusion riders is an important precedent to set, and the fact that Michael B. Jordan is leading the charge makes it even better. It is so important for the industry to begin adopting these riders, as echoed in Frances McDormand's acceptance speech at the Oscars, and It is encouraging to see actors begin to lead the charge in this mission. Way to go Michael B. Jordan! In other Michael B. Jordan news, and another example of him being a cool guy, I read an article last week about how MBJ purchased a 17 year old girl a new retainer after she bit through hers at the theater when Michael B Jordan's character in Black Panther went shirtless. The girl's plight went viral so MBJ actually offered to get her a new one. Somewhat unrelated but it made me laugh and it's just another example of why I love Michael B Jordan.
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