Happy Friday. Time to blow up the “talent pipeline” myth, Hollywood style.
The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California is back with a new list about diversity in Hollywood. But rather than focusing on where inclusion isn’t, this one focuses on where it is.
The Inclusion List, released Thursday evening and debuting at the Cannes Film Festival this weekend, is a new, data-driven ranking of the 100 most inclusive theatrically-released films from 2019 to 2022. (The think tank’s streaming list will drop at a later date.) The data also highlights the distribution companies and producers outdoing their peers with inclusive casts and intentionally curated crews. “We thought it would be really important to actually quantify how folks are doing on screen and behind the camera,” Stacy Smith, founder and director of USC Annenberg’s Inclusion Initiative, tells Fortune. “There are so many excuses against inclusion happening. But you can see from this list what is, in fact, possible.”
The analysis yields some interesting insights.
Topping the list of inclusive films are The Woman King, The Farewell, Zola, Harriet, and Laal Singh Chaddha, three notably earning a Metacritic score of 75 or above. “People like to think that film is this high art, but most of the films that we evaluate every year are failures—most of them receive a score below 60,” she says. “I’m an academic, and that’s a failing grade.”
The clear winner on the distribution side was Universal Pictures, which has 24 films in the top 100 list, including Harriet, Honk for Jesus. Save your Soul, and Queen and Slim.
The eight producers who made the cut demonstrate a real commitment to inclusion and have clearly found solidarity with each other. (Many have worked together over the years.) That list includes Will Packer (Little, The Photograph, Beast), Dede Gardner (Minari, Women Talking), and Jordan Peele (Candyman, Us, Nope). “These are the folks over four years who are consistently making decisions to include people who have talent and not exclude them based on their identity, which is exactly what Hollywood has done since the dawn of the industry,” Smith says.
Smith, who spoke to me by phone from LAX on her way to Cannes, frames the list as a truth-to-power tool.
“We actually capture people who are doing a really good job. There are no excuses,” she says, noting that the studios and filmmakers are effortlessly finding composers, production designers, cinematographers, and writers from underrepresented backgrounds who traditional power players say don’t exist.
And yet true inclusion remains elusive: The movie industry became less diverse last year. Why? Smith ticks through the usual talking points. Yes, the business case for inclusion in entertainment has been made and remains compelling. And, of course, the world would be vastly improved if we understood each other more deeply through the powerful medium of cinema and storytelling.
Make no mistake, she says, this is about power.
“Who gets to kill people’s dreams? Who gets to shut the door? Who gets to tell somebody they’re not gifted, brilliant, or talented?” she says. “When a very small group of decision-makers get to give a green light based on somebody’s identity, not their talent, that’s a form of oppressiveness and discriminatory action.”
In a perfect cinematic moment, she boarded her flight with a rallying cry for equity.
“Until we see at every level that people have recognition—and command respect through pay and opportunity that is equal to all the achievements of white men—then this work matters.”
Ellen McGirt
@ellmcgirt
Ellen.McGirt@fortune.com
This edition of raceAhead was edited by Ruth Umoh.
On Point
Disney halts construction on Florida office complex
The company’s feud with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis escalated this week when it pulled the plug on the planned construction of a billion-dollar office complex in Orlando that would have brought over 2,000 executive-level jobs to the state. “Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people and pay more taxes or not?” Disney CEO Bob Iger said on a conference call with analysts last week.
Fortune
Leaders push for limited Dollar Stores in Black communities
The Black downtown of Toledo, Ohio, is a food desert without a grocery store. Galvanized by a study showing Dollar Stores tend to drive other stores out of business, a group of local ministers pushed for a moratorium limiting the number of new Dollar Stores in underserved communities across the state. “They’re like an invasive species. They overpower all the resources and make the businesses in those neighborhoods vulnerable,” says Rev. Donald Perryman.
Capital B News
IRS: Yes, we’re more likely to audit Black taxpayers
The admission came this week after research published earlier this year showed that the IRS disproportionately targeted Black taxpayers for further scrutiny. “Our initial findings support the conclusion that Black taxpayers may be audited at higher rates than would be expected given their share of the population,” IRS chief Daniel Werfel wrote to Congress.
New York Times
On Background
If you read one story this weekend, make it this one
It is the surprising tale of Michelle Saahene and Melissa DePino, who raised the alarm when two Black men were asked to leave a Starbucks in Philadelphia five years ago. The event put the coffee giant in the middle of a national conversation about race and subsequently changed their lives. Saahene, who is Black, and DePino, white, later joined forces to conduct anti-racist work around the country. It went well until it didn’t. This thoughtfully reported piece explores the tender territory of race, allyship, and the business of diversity, and their trajectory mirrors the rise and (perhaps) fall of the inclusion movement. It's also a deeply personal story of exhaustion, friction, and how different the work feels based on identity.
Los Angeles Times
Parting Words
“I don’t see myself casting a white dude as the lead in my movie. Not that I don’t like white dudes, but I’ve seen that movie.”
