Following the Hollywood diversity conversation could, at this point, be a full-time job. For Paris Barclay, the head of the Directors Guild of America, it already kind of is—and he’s really tired of the lack of action.
In a statement, Barclay pointed out that the lack of color in Hollywood isn’t a new problem and executives keep pitching softball solutions at a gargantuan issue. From Variety:
“Many times, with the best of intentions, a subject that is a symptom of this industry plague, but not the root cause, is targeted,” Barclay said. “The Academy’s decisions – to broaden its leadership and membership, and to limit voting rights for those no longer active in the industry – are important actions and may lead to greater acknowledgement of more diverse films and people who make them, but this alone will do little to create more choices and get more films and television made that reflect the diversity we all deserve.”
Barclay continued, saying that the time for “The diversity numbers are awful!”-type talk is done. He called for executives to discard their tried-and-truly wrong ways of hiring their friends and friends of friends. Instead, as Spike Lee suggested during a Good Morning America interview last week, Barclay called for rules to “open up the hiring process and rethink the idea of ‘approved lists.’”
“Only when those who control the pipeline decide to individually, or jointly, take concrete action will we see significant change,” he said.
P.S. Shout to Paris for his director skills on the late FX show Sons of Anarchy; he helped create this hard look at Charlie Hunnam.
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Image via AP.