Studying human resources

USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released a study today examining the diversity of Netflix ’s original content. If anything the study could be summarized by Dr. Stacy L. Smith who said in a video: “Inclusion happens when women are given the keys to the kingdom.” “I rarely have anything positive to say,” said Dr. Smith said during a symposium for the unveiling of the Netflix study. “This report was a bit of a reprieve from my typical rollout of information.” Dr. Smith was joined on the virtual panel by Netflix’s Bela Bajaria , Vice President, Global Series; Scott Stuber Vice President, Global Film; as well as Tigertail director Alan Yang and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom director George C. Wolfe . The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative studies diversity in entertainment and has released numerous studies and reports when it comes to representation . Netflix commissioned Smith and initiative to study for its original, English-language series and film … [Read more...] about USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative Releases Netflix Diversity Study, Finds Women Of Color Are Critical Component Of Inclusion

At the tail end of Time — the feature-length documentary that, since its heralded Sundance debut last year, has deservedly made its director, Garrett Bradley, one of the film world’s women of the hour — an extraordinary thing happens. The movie follows a black family living in the shadow of incarceration. At the center of that family is Sibil Richardson, known as Fox Rich, whose husband, Robert, is serving a 60-year sentence for a crime the two of them committed when they were young, newly married, and desperate. The film is a stunning, surprising mix of present-tense footage (filmed by Bradley and others) and video diaries Rich has been compiling over the course of 21 years — footage shot to show Robert all that he’s missing of his wife and kids while in prison. But then, in the end, comes the moment the two threads merge: Robert is released. And a film that has to that point been almost entirely defined by the man’s absence disarms us with his presence — and with the cosmic, … [Read more...] about A Matter of ‘Time’: Director Garrett Bradley on Making the Year’s Best Documentary

Netflix ’s two top film and TV executives said the streaming service still has plenty of room for progress with diversity , but predicted results in 2020 will likely show improvement over 2019 when all of the numbers are tallied. “I think we are definitely going to improve,” TV chief Bela Bajaria said. “If you think about last year, with Bridgerton and Gentefied and Never Have I Ever — and this is scripted, it’s not including non-fiction — I think we have a lot of titles and we have a commitment to improve every year.” Film boss Scott Stuber said staffers in his group “definitely feel like we’re improving,” citing releases like Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey , Da Five Bloods , The Old Guard and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom . “But the point of this benchmark is to constantly be held accountable. … The whole auspice here is not to pat ourselves on the back. It’s to say publicly, ‘Here’s what we’re trying to accomplish.'” Related Story USC … [Read more...] about Netflix Film And TV Chiefs Talk Diversity Strides And Goals, ‘Bridgerton’, ‘Jingle Jangle’ Breakthroughs

Fatimah Warner’s verified Twitter page is an endless sprawl of revolutionary reading material (she’s been studying Karl Marx ), a bulletin of global atrocities ( LGBTQ activists in Ghana are living in fear of violent persecution, don’t you know), and a celebration of advocates and activists (Nina Simone and communist writer Claudia Jones, recently). With only four songs released since her last album as the rapper Noname , 2018’s triumphant Room 25 , Warner has been engaging fans, detractors, and spectators in her radical education. On the internet, she behaves more like a peer (a comrade, one might say) than as an artist, so much so that she tweeted “lmao i don’t even know how to promote myself as a rapper anymore,” about a month before her song “Rainforest” hit streaming platforms today. Related Stories Song You Need to Know: Jay Som and Palehound Join Forces as Bachelor on 'Anything at All' Song You Need to Know: Got7's 'Encore' Shows the K-pop … [Read more...] about Noname’s ‘Rainforest’ Is Revolutionary Music You Can Dance To

M ike Love bounds up the stairs inside his massive Lake Tahoe home (10 bedrooms in all, 12 bathrooms, two elevators, not to be believed) and into a large walk-in closet stuffed to overflowing with garish, multicolored shirts and a gazillion baseball caps, many of them emblazoned with the name of his band, the Beach Boys . A suitcase rests on the floor. Love nods at it, prods it with his foot. “A lot more shirts are in there,” he says, “because, if you must know, I haven’t unpacked.” And why should he unpack? For the past 54 years, he and various versions of the Beach Boys , which these days include only him as an original member, have toured almost constantly. On his current outing, he has 172 dates lined up, cramming 19 European shows into 22 days this past December, for instance, and shortly thereafter flying back stateside to give the 6,500 citizens of tiny Avon, Colorado, the chance to hear all about California girls. From there, it’s onward, evermore, venues big and small, … [Read more...] about The Ballad of Mike Love