How Casting Director Tracy ‘Twinkie’ Byrd Found Her ‘Voice to Direct’ (Guest Column)

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorI’ve often been told that I’m not Asian enough. Not white enough.

Just about one year ago, I left my office on the Sony lot in Culver City around 8 p.m. on a Tuesday night, expecting to return the next morning to pick up again on the latest Sisyphean tasks.

Ross Golan This column by songwriter-producer Ross Golan — who has worked with Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Celine Dion, Justin Bieber and many others and is also creator and host of the “And the Writer Is” podcast — calls for the Recording Academy to change the “33% rule” it uses to determine which contributors to an album receive an award. Variety welcomes suitable and responsible guest columns, to submit please email [email protected].

Editors Note: For the latest in Deadline’s A Year of Covid series looking back at the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic, Time’s Up boss Tina Tchen surveys the damage the lockdown inflicted on women in the workforce, and some of the steps we can take to begin rebuilding in a healthy and inclusive way.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorI worry a lot about my parents these days.It used to be the other way around; they’d be the ones nitpicking at me, always finding something to fuss about whenever I visited home.

Editors note: Oscar winner Laura Dern is executive producer of the Oscar-shortlisted animated short film If Anything Happens I Love You, which depicts a couple attempting to move through their daily lives in the aftermath of their daughter’s death in a school shooting — while devastating, the film also instills hope. Dern and Sandy Hook Promise co-founder Nicole Hockley penned a guest column for Deadline exploring our current moment in the face of the continued gun violence in America.

Editor’s Note: Brian Tee has become a notable face of Asian Hollywood, providing representation to a community that has been wildly been underrepresented and, on more than one occasion, misrepresented. He has appeared in big banner films such as The Wolverine, Jurassic World, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Merrill Jonas, a casting director who helped place such stars as Patricia Neal, Karl Malden, Anna Maria Alberghetti and Mel Brooks in TV commercials, has died. She was 96.

Pat Saperstein Deputy EditorTV commercial casting director Merrill Jonas died Thursday at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, Calif. after a long illness.

Ginny & Georgia faced the wrath of Taylor Swift on Twitter earlier this week, but the show’s star, Antonia Gentry, is till beyond grateful for what the series has given her. Amidst the backlash for sexist commentary about Taylor’s dating history, Antonia praised the show for giving her “reprieve” after years of feeling “voiceless.” The actress did not address Taylor or her fans directly, but did boldly stand up for the show and what it stands for.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been overwhelmed by phone calls, emails, public comments and DMs of support in response to an open letter that I had posted on social media about my personal experience with an abuse of professional power. The truth is that while the inundation of comments and calls were rooted in good intentions, some still fell short.

Editors note: Aravind Adiga won the Man Booker Prize in 2008 for his debut novel The White Tiger, which his old Columbia University classmate Ramin Bahrani turned into the movie that has been generating awards buzz since its Netflix release in January. Adiga penned a guest column for Deadline about how the pair became fast friends by bonding over Scorsese films in Bahrani’s dorm room, a kinship that has lasted ever since.

Editor’s Note: A regular on the barrier-breaking Vida over the three-season run of the Starz series, Ser Anzoategui has long identified as non-binary. With the Golden Globes tonight, Anzoategu, whose credits also include East Los High and Better Things, has penned a guest column for Deadline about what they see as a need for a significant shift in the way performers are categorized in awards season.

Leah Daniels Butler Being in the entertainment industry is challenging but comes with rewards, so when I was asked to talk about what Black history meant to me, I couldn’t start the conversation without mentioning the history of Black casting directors who made it possible for me to be in the position I am in now.I am blessed to have been mentored by a casting legends Jaki Brown and Kimberly Hardin, two phenomenal women whose shoulders I stand on.

Editor’s Note: Rashad Robinson is president of racial-justice organization Color of Change. Founded in 2005, it has more than 7 million members.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorGrowing up, February came chock full of goodness: Martin Luther King Jr., Shirley Chisholm, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T.

Editors note: Often kept secret until retroactive reckonings occur like the ones going on now with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Justice League, on-set bullying and drama that was once the calling card of some power players is something the powerless suffered in silence. Gary Foster, a second-generation film producer who followed his late father David Foster into the movie business, makes an argument that many of those abuses are eminently preventable.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorWith a career spanning more than 30 years, Kim Hardin is one of Hollywood’s top casting directors, with credits including “2 Fast 2 Furious,” “Hustle & Flow,” “Cadillac Records” and most recently, Regina King’s “One Night in Miami.” But Hardin is one of just a handful of Black casting directors in Hollywood.“I’ve done all types of films and historical stories,” says Hardin, but working on “One Night in Miami” was particularly meaningful, she says, “diving into the