I Am Not Sure If "Inclusion Riders" Will Fix the Diversity Problem in Hollywood
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Frances McDormand onstage after winning the best actress Oscar for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri."
“I have two words to leave with you tonight, ladies and gentlemen: inclusion, rider”. - Frances McDormand
If you tuned into the 2018 Oscars on Sunday, March 4th, then you witnessed Frances McDormand take control of the room in a stirring speech of which she ended with two words that sent people racing to their trusty Google ; “Inclusion Rider”.
Watch McDormand's Speech here:
Underrepresented minority groups remain vastly sparse in Hollywood Films. Isn’t it ludicrous that only 24% of the 100 highest grossing films have female protagonists?? This is including ‘Girls Trip’ and ‘Wonder Woman’ that took the world by storm this past 2017 summer.
What in the world is an inclusion rider? Did she mean Inclusion Writer?
No. She said what she said!
The inclusion Rider is an innovative concept and idea of Stacy L. Smith, founder, and director of The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California. It is a type of language used in contracts that set benchmarks for diversity in staffing. According to Smith, inclusion riders would support the “idea that A-list actors have the ability to stipulate, in contracts, that diversity is reflected both onscreen and in the crew" of their productions. It is basically a language of writing legal documents that make it a priority to increase diversity both in movies and within the production crew.
Kalpana Kotagal, an attorney who has been working to develop an inclusion rider to popularize diversity in Entertainment revealed that using this type of language in contracts would require producers and directors to make an apparent effort to cast underrepresented minorities in supporting and background roles. To have this sort of stipulation in a contract would require that there be a “good faith effort” in the hiring process to ensure representation in cast and crew, and failure to meet the terms of the rider could lead to a fee or a penalty from the studio or distributor. We already know how difficult it is to break a Hollywood contract!!!!
We have some powerful people in Hollywood who have the ability to curtail their contracts in order to help to support diverse casting as commonplace. According to Kotagal, “The thinking behind this tool is to ask those who have the power in the industry, which is primarily straight white men, to use their bargaining power in negotiations with studios… we want them to use their influence" [ for the greater good].
However, there are plenty of critics on this concept. Adversaries of affirmative action programs are already arguing that procedures like these would enforce quota systems which could lead to “reverse discrimination".
Whatever that means. Am I right?
Imagine the discourse around affirmative action magnified. Just imagine the number of lawsuits that would arise from angry white actors and actresses who were not hired and blame it on the “inclusion rider” that was written into so and so' s contract. There would also probably be an escalation of lawsuits from the directors and screenwriters, themselves? According to an employment attorney at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, “Such a producer could argue that the First Amendment provides the freedom to cast whomever they want". So as you can see, there are still segments of this concept that need to be worked out.
Aware of some of these adversities, Kotagal states that “the contract would be worded so that productions are not forced to hire a certain percentage of women and minorities, but they would have to make a good faith effort to audition or interview potential candidates from those constituencies. If they fail to do so, the productions will be fined and the money can go into a fund to support underrepresented filmmakers”.
This all sounds great and dandy, but what constitutes "good faith" effort? A good faith effort could be just auditioning talent in "good faith", but not actually choosing the best candidate due to personal preferences.
Regardless, I can actually see this being successful, if these A-list celebrities actually make a more intrusive effort to ensure that "good faith" is being regulated. Maybe Brad Pitt could sit in a couple of auditions?
Sign me up for that one.
Moving on, my real question, though, is what A-List celebrity would put their entire reputation online to enforce this rider in their contracts? Some would say they already have enough supporters to do what they want. Regardless it is one thing to "talk the talk", but it sure does place pressure on many mainstream actors to actually practice their “support”.
Sources say that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's production studio, PearlStreet will be adopting an inclusion rider agreement in future deals. So hey, look at it already in action! Have faith.
What is certain is that whatever Hollywood's current diversity situation does not seem to be working. We see numerous celebrities nod their heads and jump on the media trending topics when it comes to inclusion and diversity, but nothing seems to change within the industry. So maybe this inclusion rider could be a sure way of guaranteeing that diversity is being managed.
This may be a necessary step towards the manufacturing of films that actually reflect the diversity of the world in which we live. When McDormand she says “After [learning about this legal asset, we’re not going back. So, the whole idea of women trending, no. No trending. African Americans trending, no. No trending…It changes now. The inclusion rider will be a huge component of this change, right? Is there power in rules?
I do not know if the inclusion rider will permanently "fix" the diversity problem in Hollywood, as the matter of inclusion is something that can be changed if mindsets do, but I do think that it is a necessary step towards inclusion.
What do you think? Are you a proponent of the Inclusion Rider? What is your opinion of this concept and its potential to generate diversity in Hollywood?
Please comment below with your opinions!
