How DEI was released in Hollywood

In 2020, as protests against racial violence and police brutality erupted across the country, corporate America responded with unparalleled financial giving and a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Nearly every industry is being forced to think about its diversity; for the first time, business leaders seem poised to go beyond lip service and take steps to bring about lasting change.

Two years later, however, some of those efforts have faded or proved more complicated than business leaders might have hoped. “People want a quick fix to this problem,” Alana Mayo, president of Orion Pictures, said during a panel discussion Tuesday at the Fast Company Innovation Festival. “They wanted a DEI hire plus some training and a workshop – yes, we settled [systemic racism],” Mayo said. “I want everyone in this room to know that’s not the case. “

In Hollywood, she said, the racial uprising following the murder of George Floyd has really raised awareness, especially about how the industry has shaped the public’s policing and violence against black people through on-screen portrayals. view of behavior.Greater investment in diverse filmmakers and even policymakers: Mayo himself Recruited to helm Orion Pictures, the studio relaunched a division of MGM in 2020 to focus on underrepresented voices and stories. “The level of representation, and the number of people getting dollars – which is really the most important lever – no [getting funded] When I first moved to Los Angeles 16 years ago, it was also shocking,” she said.

But there are no easy solutions to transforming an industry with a long history of homogeneity. In hindsight, some of the actions companies and executives took in 2020 were short-term solutions to more general systemic problems.

For example, the publishing industry is trying to diversify its workforce by recruiting new people into the field, which some argue is not the right way to develop a talent pipeline.

“On the editorial side, [publishing is] An apprenticeship program,” said Tracy Sherrod, executive editor and vice president of Little, Brown and Company, who works with Mayo and Apple Music Ebro Darden“That’s how it works, because you need the skills to be able to convince someone to give you a million dollars. You need the skills to know how to get a book into production. You need the skills to know how to edit a book.”

At the same time, many white editors were tasked with editing more books from underrepresented authors, some of whom received huge advances they couldn’t earn — which in turn hurt their ability to get another book Chance. White editors tend to overestimate the sales of these books and whether white readers will accept the book, Sherrod said.

This optimism may come from a lack of understanding of readers of books by underrepresented authors. “I’ve been to publishing friends at their house—I don’t see black books on their shelves, even the ones they publish,” Sherrod said. “I think their view is optimistic and we have to pay for it.”

Darden agrees that DEI’s efforts in the workplace don’t exist in a vacuum. “We have to be honest with our colleagues who come back to very homogeneous communities,” he said. “But then we want them to come to the workplace and flip the switch and be a conscious, inclusive person.”

On the other hand, he noted, addressing diversity at work could also affect how people spend the rest of their lives. “You’re learning about different holidays that they don’t even teach in your kid’s school, [but] You haven’t gone to the PTA meeting and asked, ‘Hey, I studied Juneteenth at my workplace this year, but we’re not going to do that at school. how come? ‘” Dutton said.

“You come to the workplace and load the game because you have to, because inclusivity and diversity are fashionable,” he added. “But if we really want a solution, aren’t we going to do it at home? “