Industry News: Still Lacking Diversity
Not that this is surprising, a new report from the Screen Actors Guild shows that minorities, seniors, and women are underrepresented in television and film roles.
Minorities, seniors and female actors have achieved few gains in recent years in the number of film and TV roles they receive, according to casting stats released by the Screen Actors Guild.
“The diverse and multicultural world we live in today is still not accurately reflected in the portrayals we see on the screen,” SAG president Ken Howard said in a statement. “We will continue to work with producers, hiring executives and industry professionals in accurately portraying the American scene by ensuring equal access to employment opportunities for all of our members.”
The latest statistics, released Friday, showed minority performers reached a high mark in 2007, with 29.3% of total roles, and then declined last year to 27.5%.
The breakdown of film and TV roles for 2008 was 72.5% Caucasian, 13.3% African-American, 6.4% Latino-Hispanic, 3.8 Asian-Pacific Islander, 0.3% Native American and 3.8% other-unknown. SAG noted in its report that U.S. Census data from 2000 showed that the nation’s population was 73.4% Caucasian, 11.5% African-American, 10.6% Latino-Hispanic, 3.7% Asian-Pacific Islander and 0.8% Native American.
Producers who are signatory to SAG contracts are required to submit hiring data in order to examine the trends of “traditionally underemployed and disenfranchised members.”
SAG also noted that people with disabilities remain “virtually invisible” in casting even though 20% of the U.S. population has a disability.
SAG, AFTRA, Actors Equity and the WGA held the inaugural Hollywood Disabilities Forum at UCLA on Saturday.
The report noted that male actors continue to fill the majority of roles, especially in the supporting category, with about two roles for every female role. [read more]
Interestingly, this is released just after Tyler Perry is criticized by Spike Lee, sparking a major debate in “Black Hollywood.”
I think we can all see the lack of diversity in TV and film… it can be very annoying.
I chose a picture of The Game because I feel like CW really gave viewers a slap in the face with the ungracious exit of Girlfriends and The Game. Quality sitcoms that featured some diversity as if our demographic did not matter.
