Maya Rockeymoore Cummings Urges Hollywood To Commit To “Inclusion Revolution” – Guest Column

At the beginning of the shutdown, the conversations that I saw and organized were focused on making sure that the work that had been done on inclusion — including keeping the attention on building the pipeline for women and people of color, while watching some of those same people get laid off — would not get left behind post pandemic. Now, due to the protests across the country and globe, the conversation on inclusion is rightly shifting to urgently centering the voices of Black people.

Lena Waithe Money is the only language that people in Hollywood understand. The only way we’ll see change in an industry that benefits from systems of inequality as they exist today is to hit people in their pockets.We need mandates for inclusion.

Laurel Stearns A week ago, I hopped on a Zoom call not knowing what to expect. The Town Hall-style conference was for a newly formed non-profit organization called The National Independent Talent Organization, or NITO (www.nitolive.org).

Marcus Lemonis For the past decade, I’ve dedicated myself to helping small business owners all across America achieve their dreams of running successful, profitable businesses that serve the communities in which they live. From a pie shop in Key West, Fla., to a toy store in Santa Claus, Ind., and dozens more in between, they all share the same desire to succeed and the same drive to overcome obstacles.

For motion picture exhibitors laid low by COVID-19, the resurrection of the drive-in theater is more an exercise in desperation than nostalgia, a back-to-the-future gambit seeking to dip into the only safe-space revenue stream for theatrical cinema. Of course, catering to moviegoers encased in vehicles has the added appeal of avoiding the nightmarish protocols that theaters under roofs must abide by: socially distanced seating, masking of moviegoers, and disinfecting the premises.

Bambadjan Bamba A constrained sigh — a fleeting release. My reaction to the Supreme Court voting in our favor to block the Trump administration from ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), last Thursday, was one of surprise.

Ri-Karlo Handy EDITOR’S NOTE: Ri-Karlo Handy is the co-founder of Sunwise Media, a production company based in Pasadena.  Over a 25-year career in the entertainment industry, Handy has been an editor and producer for networks like BET, MTV, and OWN.

Broaching the subject of race when you’re not the most powerful person in the room is one of the toughest parts of being a Black professional in Hollywood. That’s especially true in the writers room, where stories are told and culture is made.

During an impassioned speech on racial justice after the death of George Floyd, Star Wars star John Boyega said, "Look, I don't know if I'm going to have a career after this, but fuck that." The remark gave public voice to the private tension all Black entertainers confront as they try to balance their commitment to causes that may help fans who look like them without sacrificing the careers that allow them to reach fans in the first place.

The producer reflects on the backlash she received in 2015 after arguing on-air with Matt Damon, an EP on Project Greenlight, a reality show that followed filmmakers as they directed features for the first time. Damon admonished Brown that diversity is for “the casting of the film, not the casting of the show,” or behind the scenes.

Ihave spent my entire 30-plus-year career as a talent lawyer. For most of that time, whenever I attended a team meeting of representatives, I have been the only Black person in the room.

I have this reoccurring thought about how I would pitch the movie version of the year 2020. I imagine that in my well-rehearsed presentation, the Amy Cooper/Central Park section is where the room of all-white executives I'm pitching politely put down their pens and stop taking notes.

Jeremy Helligar The Dixie Chicks have a reputation for being one of the most progressive acts in country music. If “Goodbye Earl,” the Texas-bred trio’s 2000 hit about a battered wife who offs her husband by slipping poison into his black-eyed peas, didn’t tip us off, frontwoman Natalie Maines sealed their liberalism — and their fate — after the U.S.

NAACP launched a national campaign against the racist film “The Birth of a Nation,” which portrayed Black characters as violent criminals and the Ku Klux Klan as heroes. Recognizing the power of cinema, the NAACP feared the movie would incite additional violence against Black people — and indeed, both the number of lynchings and the membership of the Klan reportedly rose the year the film was released.

Years ago, I sold a script to Fox Animation that included a character wrongly accused of a traffic violation (believe me, it was more entertaining than it sounds). A few days later, I received a call from Fox's Standards and Practices department insisting that I change the wrongful accuser from a police officer to a private investigator.

Keke Palmer I like following rules and doing what I’m told. As a kid, these rules stick with you.

Noelle S. Lindsay-Stewart No matter how much you protest or share social media posts, the majority of writers, creators and executives in Hollywood could be doing much more to prevent tragedies like the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor or Tony McDade.It’s reported by the Geena Davis Institute that 80% of the media consumed globally is created in the United States.

Noelle S. Lindsay-Stewart No matter how much you protest or share social media posts, the majority of writers, creators and executives in Hollywood could be doing much more to prevent tragedies like the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor or Tony McDade.It’s reported by the Geena Davis Institute that 80% of the media consumed globally is created in the United States.

Byron Allen Last night I was sitting in my living room and a convoy of trucks drove by my home filled with law enforcement and National Guard troops.I am a 59-year old African-American man and this brought back vivid childhood memories.