There’s An Obvious Answer To Hollywood’s Unequal Access Problem
Posted on February 15, 2016
Turns out, increasing the presence of and access to diverse roles in entertainment is easy if you have two things: clear intention and unbiased hiring practices.
Hollywood’s issues with diversity have been national headlines for years now. From marginalization of African American actors to gender pay gaps to white male dominance of positions behind the camera and in the boardrooms, so-called “liberal Hollywood” in fact is very conservative. Every excuse possible has been thrown in defense of this status quo, the favorite being that there are no qualified candidates for key roles on sets and in production rooms except the white heteronormative ones. But if that’s true, how did Samantha Bee, host of the new late night show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, manage to hire a staff that is 50% female and 30% nonwhite?
If you haven’t seen the show yet, Bee is on fire just like she used to be on The Daily Show. And since I’m sure this isn’t a one-woman show, the sharpness of her comedic jabs is due in part to the very diverse staff she hired. So, how did she find all of these candidates while no one else seems to be able to? Well, she just tried.