After publishing its much-discussed 2014 Hollywood Diversity Report (PDF), UCLA’s Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies is giving the public an opportunity to get involved in the next phase of its landmark study, which tracks the level of diversity in film and television — both in front of and behind the camera.
The Bunche Center is inviting the public to weigh in on Twitter about why diversity in Hollywood is important (using the hashtag #ChangeTheNarrative), and is launching a crowd funding campaign to help support an in-depth annual analysis of diversity in Hollywood.
Led by professor Darnell Hunt, director of the Bunche Center, and Ana-Christina Ramón, the center’s assistant director, the 2014 report clearly quantified the woeful underrepresentation of women and minority actors, writers, directors and producers in films and TV. It also showed that TV and film productions with relatively diverse casts also tend to have greater viewership, resulting in larger profits for the studios and networks.
The follow-up reports aim to effect change in Hollywood by:
- Providing the industry with comprehensive analyses of the inclusion of women and minorities in starring roles, writing, directing, producing and talent representation for TV and film.
- Identifying and disseminating best practices for increasing the pipeline of underrepresented groups into the Hollywood entertainment industry.
- Advancing existing entertainment industry efforts to better serve the United States’ increasingly diverse population.
The crowd funding campaign, which launched today at UCLA Spark, aims to raise $10,000 during October to help fund the center’s next Hollywood diversity report.
Since the first report was published in February, it has generated national and international media attention and led to conversations between the Bunche Center and major networks and studios about how to improve diversity both in front of and behind the camera.
