The “Inclusion Rider” and Diversity in Hollywood

At the 90th Oscars on Sunday, March 4, 2018, Frances McDormand in her remarks after winning “Actress in a Leading Role” for THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI said:

I have two words to leave with you tonight, ladies and gentlemen: inclusion rider.

A March 5, 2018, NPR article by Colin Dwyer titled “What’s An Inclusion Rider? Here’s The Story Behind Frances McDormand’s Closing Words” explains:

Simply put: It’s a stipulation that actors and actresses can ask (or demand) to have inserted into their contracts, which would require a certain level of diversity among a film’s cast and crew.

The article quoted the following statistics from a study of 900 popular films from 2007 to 2016:

Just 31.4 percent of speaking characters were female, even though they represent a little more than half the U.S. population.

Women represented 4.2 percent of the directors, and just 1.4 percent of the composers.

About 29 percent of speaking characters were from nonwhite racial/ethnic groups, compared with nearly 40 percent in the U.S.

Only 2.7 percent of speaking characters were depicted with a disability, despite the fact that nearly 20 percent of people in the U.S. has one.

As to the legality of such inclusion riders, Scott H. Greenfield in the post “Oscar’s Curious Legal Advice: Inclusion Rider” on his “Simple Justice” blog gives a detailed legal explanation of the ramifications of such a contractual inclusion. (The link to this post is provided below if you want to read the extensive legal explanation.)

Yet “inclusion” contractual requirements (regardless of whether those would hold up in court) should not be necessary if producers, directors, writers, casting directors, etc. naturally did a good job of including people of different genders, races, etc. in fictional portrayals in film and TV. This goal is something to which every person in Hollywood can personally commit.

In my own writing I purposely include gender and race descriptions to provide more inclusion. Yet in a perfect world this would not be necessary because it would automatically happen.

A segment by Alexis Thrower on KTLA5 on February 20, 2018, titled “The Future of Minorities in Major Films/Shows With Film2Future’s Rachel Miller” discusses with Rachel Miller — founder of the nonprofit organization Film2Future — the potential impact of the wildly popular film BLACK PANTHER on increasing diversity.

Watch this brief KTLA5 video now on the future of minorities in films and TV.

Organizations such as Film2Future and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media are working to change the face of Hollywood. Yet all of us involved in (or aspiring to be involved in) Hollywood need to make this a natural part of all film and TV projects.

And here are two previous blog posts I’ve written about diversity in Hollywood:

Click here to read the entire “Simple Justice” blog post by Scott H. Greenfield on the legal ramifications of an inclusion rider.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. Phyllis is available by skype for book group discussions and may be reached at pzmiller@gmail.com

Her Kindle fiction ebooks may be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller — and her Kindle nonfiction ebooks may also be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszmiller