Stacy L.Smith Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Angelique Jackson As Hispanic Heritage Month continues in the United States, a new report from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative assesses the state of Hispanic and Latino representation in Hollywood’s top-grossing films. The full study will be released next month, examining 1,600 top-grossing films released from 2007 to 2022 and more than 69,000 speaking characters, with qualitative data about how those Latino and Hispanic characters are presented in films, including whether they “stereotype or stigmatize” the community. It’s the third study analyzing Hispanic and Latino representation from the Initiative’s researchers, led by founder Dr.

Barbie may have rescued the box office in 2023, but she could not tip the balance for representation of women in films.

Angelique Jackson In a year where the box office was dominated by the $1.4 billion-grossing “Barbie” — produced by its star Margot Robbie and directed by Greta Gerwig — one might expect to find a plethora of other hit films led by women and girls among Hollywood’s top earners. However, 2023 marked a historic low for women in leading roles among the year’s 100 top-grossing films, according to the latest USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative report. Researchers led by Dr.

Cate Blanchett, center, Stacy L. Smith, left, and Coco Francini, have taken action against the long-standing lack of representation in the film and television industry. Proof of Concept will provide funding and mentorship to filmmakers whose stories promote the perspectives of women, trans, and nonbinary people. Photo: John Phillips/Getty Images for Stacy Smith, USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative

Cate Blanchett and Emmy Award-nominee Coco Francini, who are partners in Dirty Films, along with Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, have launched the Proof of Concept Accelerator Program. Supported by Netflix, the program’s goal is to identify the next generation of filmmaking talent whose stories promote the perspectives of women, trans, and nonbinary people.

Jaden Thompson Cate Blanchett and Coco Francini, who are business partners behind Dirty Films, are collaborating with Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative to launch the Proof of Concept Accelerator Program.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The 2023 Variety Gotham Week Expo kicked off in New York City on Thursday with a series of panels focused on diversity and inclusion. The first panel of the day was “Deep Dive: The Inclusion List” with the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative in collaboration with the Adobe Foundation. Panelists included Dr.

A new study by USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has found little improvement in casting among marginalized groups in Hollywood’s most popular films, this despite years of advocacy for more representative characters on the big screen.

Angelique Jackson The annual report from USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that Universal’s “Bros” accounted for 80% of the transgender characters in the 100 top-grossing movies of 2022. According to the study, just 87 of 4,169 speaking or named characters (2.1%) in 2022 movies were LGBTQ+. Of that number, five characters identified as transgender and four of them appeared in “Bros.” Written by and starring Billy Eichner, the film made history as the first gay rom-com to be given a wide theatrical release by a major studio and featured a cast almost exclusively made up of LGBTQ actors.

EXCLUSIVE: Mental health is on the minds of medical professionals, policy makers, parents, and advocates these days. Yet a new study reveals that one area where little has changed for mental health is popular movies.

Eva Longoria put Hollywood on notice during her Kering Women in Motion talk at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The “Desperate Housewives” alum, who was joined by University of Southern California Annenberg professor and researcher Dr. Stacy L. Smith, is making her feature directorial debut with “Flamin’ Hot,” an inspirational story about a Frito-Lay janitor who invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. The film won an audience award at the SXSW Film Festival. As a female director, a first-time director and a Latina director, Longoria said she “felt the weight of my community” and “the weight of every female director” when production started on “Flamin’ Hot.” Speaking with Variety chief correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister, Longoria noted that Hollywood does not play fair when it comes to films directed by women flopping versus male directors. There can be no margin of error for a director like Longoria, as one flop could cost her another directorial gig, she says.

Today, Dr. L Stacy Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, in collaboration with the Adobe Foundation, debuts a new, first-of-its kind ranking system, The Inclusion List, to show the world just who is doing it best when it comes to representation in theatrically-released films.

www.Inclusionlist.org, The Inclusion List is a new, data-driven ranking that provides the 100 most inclusive theatrical releases from 2019 to 2022. Topping the list among all such movies was Gina Prince-Bythewood’s acclaimed and crowd-pleasing “The Woman King.” The Inclusion List, appearing at www.inclusionlist.org, is a new data-driven ranking that provides the titles of the 100 most inclusive theatrically released films from 2019 to 2022.

William Earl Variety has announced the initial lineup for the Kering Women in Motion talks at the Cannes Film Festival. Moderated by Variety’s Senior Correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister, this year’s talks include some of the most important women working in cinema and offers a mix between up-and-coming talent and iconic figures such as Cate Blanchett and Michelle Yeoh. On Thursday, May 18, playwright, actor and philanthropist Jeremy O. Harris, who stars in Directors’ Fortnight premiere “The Sweet East,” will kick off the Women in Motion series to discuss female representation in his work. Following Harris’ talk, actress and director Katie Holmes will speak about her work as a director and how the industry has changed in its approach to female directors since she first began working in television.

Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, supported by the Adobe Foundation, have launched a website called The Inclusion List. The research effort tracks and celebrates progress made in the entertainment industry as well as the effects of the #OscarsSoWhite movement that April Reign started eight years ago.

Charna Flam As awards season moves forward, the discussion surrounding how creatives of color and their projects are repeatedly snubbed by awards bodies continues, most recently and notably including Viola Davis’ “The Woman King”; but a new study from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has noticed an increase for women of color in leading roles across the top-grossing movies of 2022. Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative conducted a new research study examining the gender, race, ethnicity and age of lead and co-lead actors across the 100 top-grossing movies each year from 2007 to 2022, in the Inequality Across 1,600 Popular Films: Examining Gender, Race, Ethnicity and Age of Leads/Co-Leads From 2007 to 2022 study.

A new report released by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative investigates the portrayal of Muslim characters in TV, revealing that not only are Muslims nearly absent from episodic content, but they are still stereotyped in negative ways. The report, titled “Erased or Extremists: The Stereotypical View of Muslims in Popular Episodic Series” comes from Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, with support from Academy Award winner Riz Ahmed and his production company Left Handed Films, the Ford Foundation and Pillars Fund. The 2022 study explores quantitative and qualitative aspects of Muslim representation in 200 top-rated television shows from 2018 and 2019 aired in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, ultimately highlighting a disheartening reality. The full report is available here.

The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, known for its oft-critical reports on Hollywood’s hiring practices and portrayals of underrepresented groups, is launching a “new focus” that will measure the film and TV industry’s depictions of a wide range of political issues, including abortion, gun violence, voting, marriage equality and interracial relationships.

MTV Entertainment Studios today announced that USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative will become the long-term home of the Mental Health Storytelling Initiative. The effort was spearheaded last year by MTVE, who brought together a coalition of over 60 entertainment media companies and mental health expert organizations to raise awareness and change the narrative on mental health.

Malina Saval Associate Editor, FeaturesThe subject of teenage depression is generally played for high-octane drama in showbiz. In 2017, “13 Reasons Why” fell under rapid-fire controversy for its inclusion of a graphic suicide scene, which was ultimately removed by Netflix. Conversely, in Hulu’s true crime miniseries “The Girl From Plainville,” the pinnacle suicide scene is kept off-camera.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn the last day of Women’s History Month, results of a new research report reveal from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative concludes that, for women in music, “the last decade has been one of insignificant change in the recording studio.”The study, titled “Inclusion in the Recording Studio?” is the fifth annual report on the music industry from Dr. Stacy L.

Women and actors of color made slight gains as the leads of the top-grossing films of 2021, according to a new study released Monday from Stacy L. Smith’s USC Anennberg Inclusion Initiative.Across the 100 top-grossing films of 2021, 41% of movies had a female lead/co-lead, a rebound from 36% in 2020 and slightly below the peak of 43% in 2019. 2021 demonstrates the progress made since 2007, when the percentage of films with a female lead/co-lead was 20%.

USC Annenberg’s Inclusion Initiative released its annual “Inclusion in the Director’s Chair” which analyzes 1,500 top films from 2007 to 2021 for gender and race/ethnicity representation.

Pat Saperstein Deputy EditorThere are more films than ever before with amazing visual effects work, but a new study titled Invisible in Visual Effects finds that women’s credits in that area have remained flat over the past few years.The study from Dr. Stacy L.

the Grammy Awards will be produced with an inclusion rider, in order to ensure equity, diversity and inclusion during the production.Inclusion riders are a provision in a person’s (typically an actor or filmmaker) contract that provides for a certain level of diversity in casting and production staff.A template for inclusion riders was first developed by academic Stacy L. Smith in 2016, primarily for use in the film industry.Actor Frances McDormand popularised the concept further in 2018.

Shirley Halperin Executive Editor, MusicIt’s Grammy week and International Women’s Day, which means it’s also time to reveal the latest findings of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s “Inclusion in the Recording Studio?” report. Authored by Dr.

USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released a study today examining the diversity of Netflix’s original content. If anything the study could be summarized by Dr. Stacy L. Smith who said in a video: “Inclusion happens when women are given the keys to the kingdom.”

Academy Awards in 2024, best picture nominees will have to meet specific requirements addressing gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity and disability in front of and behind the camera in order to qualify. Films must comply with two of four broad representation categories: On screen; among the crew; at the studio; and in opportunities for training and advancement.Some said they went too far and accused the new rules of inhibiting art and artists with quotas.

Last year, the stories of women and people of color were more likely to be playing at a theater near you than they’ve been in over a decade.

The latest USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative study, titled Inclusion in the Recording Studio?, was released today, the third authored by Dr. Stacy L. Smith.