Culture Shift
How NBCUniversal’s Creative Impact Lab Provides a Systemic Solution to Diversifying the Advertising Ecosystem (Exclusive)
Public service announcements have always been a popular way for media companies to exercise their corporate social responsibility, either through providing airtime for charitable causes or going a step further and making the spots themselves. But NBCUniversal has taken the strategy to a new level with its Creative Impact Lab, an original, multi-pronged program that […]
- By
Issa Rae Says Studio Cancellations of Black Shows Have Her Considering the Indie Route: “You’re Seeing Very Clearly Our Stories Are Less of a Priority”
Issa Rae’s career as a Hollywood writer-producer has included four series developed through the studio system, but she says that recent industry tides have her considering alternate avenues as a creator in the future. “You’re seeing so many Black shows get canceled, you’re seeing so many executives — especially on the DEI side — get […]
- By
BarbieGate: Why All Oscars Snubs Are Not Created Equal
It’s been barely 48 hours, and already the Oscars snubs have gone through multiple news cycles featuring a variety of hot, cold and truly outré takes, with even a former U.S. presidential runner-up weighing in. At the center of it all are Barbie’s leading ladies Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, who were left out of […]
- By
‘Mean Girls’ Directors Launch Acting Camp for Underserved Youth (Exclusive)
The directors of the new Mean Girls musical movie are using the powers of a bus for good. Arturo Perez Jr. and Samantha Jayne are launching the Yes Bus Acting Camp for underserved youth in Los Angeles, with the goal of equipping them with some training to strengthen their confidence to enter the entertainment industry. […]
- By
‘Fire Through Dry Grass’ Team on Making a COVID Doc Inside a Nursing Home: “We Were Fighting for Our Lives”
The horrors and resilience of people during the biggest global pandemic since the height of HIV in the ’80s and ’90s has been captured again and again by documentaries over the last several years. Inside looks at the country’s emergency rooms as they raced to save lives have been cast against theaters trying to weather […]
- By
Oscar Nominations Include a Diverse Supporting Actress Race and Historic First in Lead Actress
A relative diversity of ethnicities, genres and films characterized the nominations of the 2024 Oscars. Seven of the 20 acting nominees are people of the global majority, spread across all four races. Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown were nominated for lead and supporting actor, respectively, for best picture nominee American Fiction, which skewers pop […]
- By
Lily Gladstone Is First Native American Oscar Nominee
Native American characters have been depicted in the movies since the dawn of Hollywood, but in 2024 an actual Native American actor has finally been nominated for an Academy Award. Lily Gladstone (Blackfeet/Nimiipuu) has been a frontrunner all season for her performance in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, and on Tuesday morning she […]
- By
Doris Duke Foundation Commits $6M to Support Muslim American Storytellers (Exclusive)
The Doris Duke Foundation is making sizable gifts to promote peace and understanding through the power of narrative. Noting that Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and hate against Asians and other communities of color are all on the rise, the Foundation is committing a total of $6 million in grants to three initiatives that support U.S. Muslims in […]
- By
“It Felt Like a Prayer”: How Short Film ‘ALOK’ Captures the Spirit of Queer Identity
Alex Hedison was around three-quarters of the way through capturing the 40 hours of footage she would eventually collect of celebrated nonbinary Indian American performance artist, scholar and writer Alok Vaid-Menon when it finally became clear what angle her short doc Alok should take. “At the time where I was trying to figure out what […]
- By
Sundance’s Fifth Annual Latinx House to Feature Artists From ‘Ponyboi,’ ‘In the Summers’ (Exclusive)
The 2024 edition of The Latinx House at Sundance will feature filmmakers and castmembers from many of the Latino-centered films screening at the festival. “When we launched The Latinx House in 2019, we were committed to honoring the long legacy that Latinx creatives have built at the Sundance Film Festival,” co-founder Olga Segura said in […]
- By
Sundance’s AANHPI-Focused Sunrise House to Feature Fireside Chats with Steven Yeun, Lucy Liu (Exclusive)
Last Sundance was marked by a number of new official cultural affinity “houses” at the festival, and they will all be back. Sunrise Collective, comprised of Daniel Dae Kim’s production banner 3AD, Gold House and The Asian American Foundation, will again host its Sunrise House for the greater Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander […]
- By
Adobe Launches $6M Film and TV Fund to Support Underrepresented Creators
Adobe and the Adobe Foundation are committing $6 million to launch a film and television fund to help underrepresented creators starting out in their careers. The Adobe Film & TV Fund will support the work of existing nonprofits that serve historically excluded communities, with the inaugural cohort of grantees including Easterseals, Gold House, Latinx House, […]
- By