Stories matter.
What we see on screens impacts how we see ourselves, and what we believe about the world around us.
Our goal is to uplift underrepresented voices and their stories.
Every industry has a “diversity” problem. What makes Hollywood’s different?
Over the course of six months, we interviewed over thirty individuals across the entertainment industry (producers, directors, writers, showrunners, actors, agents, DEI executives) to assess why Hollywood still falls behind on representation of US ethnic minorities -- both on-screen and behind-the-camera.
Individual Barriers
Getting “in the door” is challenging for outsiders
The entertainment industry is notorious for its insider-only attitudes. Those with connections (friends and family in the industry and/or a permanent residence in Los Angeles or New York City) have notably greater access to opportunities. Beyond this, several factors further prevent minority writers, actors, directors, and producers from gaining opportunities:
Low awareness of opportunities
Those without exposure to Hollywood perceive it as a closed off industry, impossible to break into. Unlike traditional industries with carved out paths well known to career advisors and students alike, the road to becoming a success story in Hollywood is mostly opaque for the average person.
Cultural pressures
Even among those with awareness of and passion for the entertainment industry, cultural barriers to success provide another limitation. For many immigrant communities, entertainment is not considered prestigious nor stable, and those interested in the space can be discouraged from exploring as a result.
Lack of financial stability
What’s more, the concerns about financial stability are valid. In the entertainment industry, there is an overwhelming defense of the lack of adequate pay for entry-level workers.
The requirement for Hollywood assistants to survive on $30k or less in Los Angeles or New York after four years of undergrad is considered a critical aspect of the entertainment ladder and "how things have always been done." But this fundamentally precludes anyone with any financial insecurity or dependents, and all but requires parental financial support or a place to live rent-free in L.A. It also serves as a major deterrent for those with other opportunities: high potential creative students who are likely to do well in entertainment may also amass more financially viable offers from other industries. By the time they are financially secure enough to support themselves in entertainment, they are significantly behind their peers who started right away.
Financial outlook for entertainment newcomers
Finding regular work remains a challenge
Even after U.S. underrepresented ethnic minorities do commit to the entertainment industry, they face a variety of challenges:
Hiring depends exclusively on personal referrals
Despite the plethora of "diversity" lists and talent databases making it easier to find working creatives of color, directors and producers prefer personal validation from their trusted peers that the individuals they hire will be good to work with.
This inherently subjective measure is biased by the networks of these producers and directors, and inevitably results in the same few individuals being put up for roles, or even precluding ethnic minorities altogether if they aren't already top-of-mind.
POCs face the "only one" problem
Especially for on-camera work — but for behind-the-camera as well — Hollywood seems to be optimizing for optics. While white creatives are given blanket opportunities, ethnic minorities are often pitted against each other for a single "diversity role."
Then, even once hired, these talent can bear the uncomfortable double burden not only of being the sole spokesperson for representation on a project, but may also see their contributions discounted by their "diversity hire"-status.
A list doesn't tell me anything. I want to call up three people I know who have worked with them who can vouch for them.
- Producer
If it’s between me and another minority woman right now, it’s very much about the trend and what’s culturally significant. We’re still in the phase that we can have one Asian, one Black, one Latina.
- Actress
Certain identities are considered “in vogue” at certain times
While major social movements may increase the greenlighting of certain minority focused-projects, hiring booms are not sustained nor consistent. Typically they align with outrage over a national mistreatment, or the success of an all-x-cast project, and do not continue for the longer term.
Financial instability persists, even once in the industry
Even once established in the industry, we heard that guild benefits can be lacking. Since paychecks are contractually shared with agents and managers (who are typically critical for career longevity), early and mid-level-career creatives with modest success may still struggle financially.
Navigating career advancement remains opaque, particularly without mentors
Even after actors, writers, or directors enter the industry, next steps are often nebulous, including at what stage to get an agent, lawyer, or manager and how to do so. Further, there is little training for advancing in the industry, particularly for writers, where the skills needed to contribute in a writers' room (e.g. taking notes, being collaborative) look nothing like the job requirements for showrunners (e.g. hiring episode directors, crew members etc.)
Industry Systemic Barriers
Hollywood hiring is inherently biased
For many industries, blind resume reviews, or better still, blind work samples can significantly reduce bias in the hiring process. However, in Hollywood, there’s no equivalent for these best practices. Actors are necessarily selected based on subjective characteristics — a certain skin color, eye color, voice, gait, height, comedic style, etc. Exacerbating this, U.S. minority actors are almost exclusively considered for identity-based roles — unless a character is explicitly written as non-white, they will likely be cast as a white actor. Out of fear of becoming typecast in stereotypical roles, many minority actors are forced to become very selective over the roles they choose to take on.
Even for behind-the-screen talent where appearance doesn't matter, writers and directors are often hired based on subjective personal experience. While this does mean an increased effort to hire certain minorities to write or direct for minority-focused projects, these same qualified talent may still be less likely to make the “list” for non-identity-based projects.
A growing international focus limits opportunities for U.S. minorities
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In theatrical film, increased dependence on international box office revenues — particularly from China — has caused film executives to prioritize bigger name on-screen talent, limiting opportunities for less established minorities in major starring roles. This dependence has also enabled Hollywood executives to over-emphasize a widely held myth — that films starring underrepresented U.S. minorities don’t perform well overseas. Even while this harmful narrative has been proven inaccurate by numerous studies, it still holds a powerful influence over Hollywood decision-makers.
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Film is not alone in this either — we heard similar remarks from network television executives on the importance of international sales to ensure profitability for their TV slates. Even streaming executives prioritize subscriber growth opportunities abroad over perceived “niche” US underrepresented minority stories.
Original content starring Asian-Americans is not a huge priority for the company right now. We’re more focused on content from Asian markets and growing subscribers there.
- Streaming Executive
Hollywood is the Opposite of Silicon Valley
In contrast to the “move fast and break things” culture of Silicon Valley, we heard consistently that Hollywood is much more driven by fear and risk aversion than by innovation.
In Hollywood, the fear of potential social media or PR backlash has forced many executives to shelf identity-focused projects for fear of being “cancelled” for the wrong hiring decisions.
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Beyond this, while the tech sector is famous for imagining what can be possible, Hollywood almost exclusively uses past success as a predictor of future successes — inherently limiting the content it believes will find an audience.
Even when major films with diverse casts break through at the box office, studio executives may still get cold feet if another example flops.
Many experts said they expected a renaissance of Asian American representation to follow the success of Crazy Rich Asians, and yet for many talent (both behind the camera and on-screen), this heyday was short-lived.
With the increase in studio box office over time being concentrated in fewer “less risky” tentpole franchises, the opportunities for breakthrough films starring leading US underrepresented minorities is decreasing.
People of color don't have the same room to fail. No executive ever said 'we can't make any more movies with all-white casts' after one flops.
- Writer-Director
What are immediate solutions the industry has developed?
How can the future look better?
Given the sheer quantity of barriers to adequate representation listed above, it’s clear that lots of change needs to happen, on an individual and systemic level.
In an industry worth over 720.38 billion USD in the United States alone, this includes:
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Normalizing livable wages for entry level employees
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Offering paths to success in the industry that don’t involve the “paying dues” as an assistant for several years that few other industries require
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Reckoning with bias in existing hiring structures
While system-level changes may seem daunting, smaller things that can be done in the short term.
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By expanding on the work of pipeline programs to encompass aspiring entertainment leaders, the industry can create access points for historically underrepresented groups at pivotal career consideration moments.
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Solution: offering well paid opportunities for historically underrepresented ethnic groups to experience opportunities during their sophomore years of college — a year typically less critical than the junior year summer where long-term career decisions are often made. Early exposure helps students understand what a career in entertainment looks like and helps create networks they can lean on later, even if they're not financially capable of working in the industry immediately post-grad.
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While the ingrained nepotism may take decades to break down, mentorship is a proven way to assist historically underrepresented groups in their quest for success in entertainment.
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Solution: Offering organized mentorship opportunities with successful US underrepresented minorities in entertainment; with their support, those on the verge of careers in Hollywood can gain a more equal level of sustainable long-term career opportunity.
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About Us
Tara Rajan
Originally from Chicago, Tara has been passionate about storytelling since she was a kid scribbling stories instead of paying attention in class. After graduating from Yale, she spent her career working in brand marketing for social causes at Google, and is currently pursuing her dual Masters degree in Public Administration and Business from Harvard and Stanford.
She’s passionate about the importance of representation, and the power good storytelling has to change the world.
Takara Ashley
Takara Ashley is joining Netflix as a Content Strategy Manager after receiving her MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Before Netflix, she worked across the entertainment industry, from independent film production and distribution, to her most recent role as Director of Global Insights & Analytics at Warner Bros.
Throughout her career, she has worked to cultivate greater equity and inclusion and hopes with her MBA to continue uplifting underrepresented voices.