Studios Should Flag Scripts for Harmful Stereotypes With a "Bigotry Pass" (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.

Instagram on Friday, the “Little Women” star recalled three times she now regrets in which she, as a white woman, borrowed the culture of another nationality or person of color.“Like many, I’ve read, listened, signed, donated, read again, sssh’d my white fragility and really wanted to trace instances in my life where I have been guilty,” Pugh wrote.

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.

Ruth Wilson, Cush Jumbo, and Rosamund Pike are in talks to star in the Take That movie 'Greatest Days'. The upcoming film is based off the musical, 'The Band', which focuses on the life of fangirls, with songs by the British boy band featured throughout.

Ruth Wilson, Cush Jumbo and Rosamund Pike are in negotiations to star in Greatest Days, the film adaptation of the stage musical The Band. Sierra/Affinity is shopping the music-driven project about the English boy band Take That to international buyers starting at the Cannes virtual market.

Andreas Wiseman International EditorEXCLUSIVE: Ruth Wilson (The Affair), Cush Jumbo (The Good Fight), and Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) are in negotiations to star in Greatest Days, the film adaptation of the hit stage musical The Band, about record-breaking UK pop group Take That.Sierra/Affinity has come on board to handle international sales on the film and will be introducing it for the first time at this week’s Cannes virtual market.

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.

Jill Goldsmith Editors’ Note: Deadline’s Reopening Hollywood series focuses on the complicated effort to get the industry back on its feet while ensuring the safety of everyone involved. Our goal is to examine numerous sides of the business and provide a forum for leaders in Hollywood who have a vision for how production could safely restart in the era of coronavirus. Before the pandemic left its nine soundstages empty, Blackhall Studios in Atlanta was bustling with production.

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.