M88 Bolsters Digital Talent Services As Sister Firm UNCMMN Is Folded In to Company (Exclusive)
M88, the management company launched in 2020 to focus on clients from the global majority, is growing its family. The firm is merging with sister company UNCMMN, which was founded in 2019 also to represent historically excluded talent, but in new media. Both firms got off the ground through strategic investments from Macro, the media […]
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Culture Shift: What Community-Based Nonprofits Are Doing During the Strikes
Since launching its summer lab for entertainment professionals with disabilities in 2019, RespectAbility has learned to pivot. The onset of the pandemic meant going fully virtual for the following two years, and by 2022 it seemed like the disability advocacy nonprofit had found its groove, intending to maintain both a virtual as well as an […]
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Rotten Tomatoes Forms Three New Partnerships to Support LGBTQ, Asian Pacific Islander and Black Entertainment Critics
In the five years since Rotten Tomatoes launched its Critics Outreach and Grant Program, the platform has given more than $600,000 to diversify the field of entertainment criticism, including $500,000 to media inclusion scholarships and other initiatives and $100,000 for networking events. In addition, among the 1,000-plus critics it has added to its famous Tomatometer, […]
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Unforgettable Gala to Open Award Categories to International Asian and Pacific Islander Talent (Exclusive)
For its 21st edition, the Unforgettable Gala, which annually fetes Asian Americans in entertainment, arts and culture, will officially be opening its awards categories to talent from Asia and the Pacific Islands. Although the event has in the past honored Asian stars with crossover impact such as Minha Kim (Pachinko), Shohei Ohtani and Psy, the […]
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Culture Shift: Asian Representation in Movies Rose 12.5 Percent in 16 Years, Study Finds
For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has released its signature comprehensive report on the diversity of movies in front of and behind the camera. Analyzing the 100 highest-grossing movies at the box office each year since 2007, AI2’s sample size has now reached 1,600 titles and 69,858 […]
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Women Star in Majority of the Most Popular TV Shows, Study Finds
For the first time since the Hollywood gender parity coalition ReFrame was formed in 2017 by the Sundance Institute and Women in Film, the majority of the most popular shows on television and streaming were toplined by women. According to the ReFrame Report on Gender & Hiring in TV, 108 (54 percent) of the top […]
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‘Blue Beetle’: How Grassroots Backers Are Trying to Boost the Latino-Led Superhero Movie
Two years ago, Xolo Maridueña made a surprise appearance on the red carpet of Warner Bros.’ DC feature The Suicide Squad. It was a coming-out party of sorts, as the night before, at a surprise dinner thrown by DC executives, the Cobra Kai actor learned he had nabbed his biggest role yet: starring as the […]
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Issa Rae’s ColorCreative Reveals Inaugural Find Your People Program Cohort (Exclusive)
ColorCreative, the management/production company founded by Issa Rae and Deniese Davis, is revealing the inaugural cohort for its Find Your People Program, first announced in February. FYPP is unique in that it provides training, resources and mentorship to creatives from seven different filmmaking fields, grouping them together to form interdisciplinary production teams to develop, pitch […]
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BRIC Foundation Launches $3.5M Arts, Media and Entertainment High Road Training Partnership
The nonprofit BRIC Foundation, which was founded to increase employment diversity in entertainment, gaming, media and tech, has launched the Arts, Media, and Entertainment High Road Training Partnership. The initiative will look to address challenges around hiring and retaining employees from historically excluded backgrounds in high-skill and high-wage jobs in AME fields (film/television, animation, visual […]
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‘El Sabor De La Navidad,’ From Salma Hayek Pinault’s Ventanarosa Productions, to Get Toronto World Premiere (Exclusive)
The second TelevisaUnivision movie from Salma Hayek Pinault’s Ventanarosa Productions will get its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. El Sabor de la Navidad (working title A Merry Mexican Christmas) will bow Sept. 13 as part of TIFF’s special presentations program before becoming available on the Spanish-language streaming platform ViX in November. In […]
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Amid Double Strike, Latino Advocacy Groups Issue Open Letter: Our “Stories Need to Be Told”
Looking at the release schedule, this summer had the potential to be the culmination of a long-awaited watershed moment for Latino representation in mainstream entertainment, coming off of hits like The Last of Us and Wednesday and heading into the premieres of Flamin’ Hot and especially Blue Beetle (considered “the first superhero movie directed [by], […]
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Culture Shift: How to Picket Accessibly and Intersectionally: “It’s Only Through Relationships and Connection”
Angela Harvey had one job at the Think Tank for Inclusion and Equity’s picket at the Disney lot last Friday: to take photos and document the event on social media. “I get here and go to take photos, and I left my phone in the car down on Riverside,” says the TV writer and co-chair […]
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