Netflix on Friday released a commissioned study from top academic researchers that shows that the streaming giant is overtaking much of the film industry in the inclusion of original films and the TV series aige.
For years, academic studies have sought to capture inequality in Hollywood and hold studios accountable for making film and television that does not reflect American demography. These surveys have typically relied on box office or ranking data, often leaving platforms streaming.
Netflix is trying a different path with both more transparency and more company control. The climber commissioned USC Inenberg’s Inclusion Campaign to review the original and live-action films and series 2018 and 2019, and presented the results to members of the media Thursday in a video presentation. The results, as Annenberg Inclusion Initiative founder and director Stacy L. Smith said, were far more positive than most Annenberg reports, which have generally found only slow, sporadic development in the most popular movies.
Netflix is trying a different path with both more transparency and more company control. (Photo: Liam Daniel / Netflix via AP)
Netflix achieved gender equality among main characters in all films (48.4 percent were female directors) and TV (54.5 percent) in 2018 and 2019. The study covers 126 movies and 180 series in total . It does not include documentary or non-documentary series or films, animation, international productions or content hosted on Netflix that it did not release itself.
Netflix movies were more likely to direct (23.1 percent), write (25.2 percent) or make (29 percent) than the top movies in 2018 and 2019. The co. perfect relationship from Netflix distribution. both large and small budget films but most of the major box office films come from higher priced productions.
In Netflix movies and series, 31.9 percent of directives from ethnic and ethnic groups were underrepresented. That finds demographics (about 40 percent of the U.S. population according to census data) but Netflix showed significant improvement between 2018 (26.4 percent) and 2019 (37.3 percent).
“The point of this criterion is to always be accountable,” said Scott Stuber, vice president of global film. He said 2020 movies like Black Bottom at Ma Rainey, Da 5 Bloods and Old Guard show that Netflix is still on the rise. “But it is not the full support here to keep ourselves on our backs. It says publicly what we are trying to achieve and we are going to be accountable, ”he said.
It’s a level of visibility that traditional studios, and other streaming companies haven’t taken before. (Photo: David Lee / Netflix via AP)
The study will continue for the next six years. It’s a level of visibility that traditional studios, and other streaming companies haven’t taken before. In a blog post Friday, Netflix chief executive Ted Sarandos said he hoped the move would spur wider change.
“By better understanding how we do, we hope to drive change not just at Netflix but across our industry as a whole,” Sarandos wrote.
Smith did not answer questions about Netflix’s terms for the review, or what the company paid for it.
Last month, Netflix released their first inclusion report, showing that 47 percent of its global workforce is female and 46 percent of its U.S. workforce is from ethnic groups. or ethnic without appropriate representation.
Not all of the conclusions were positive. Talking characters in Netflix movies were disproportionately male (around 64 percent). Only 16.9 percent of film directors from ethnic or ethnic groups were underrepresented, and the figures for film producers and screenwriters were no better. Among series creators, only 12.2% from an ethnic or ethnic group were under-represented. Latino production was significantly lower, making up just 4 percent of film directors and 1.7 percent of series directors. LGBTQ leaders only appeared in 2.3 percent of Netflix movies and series, although 12 percent of the U.S. population identifies them as LGBTQ.
Stuber and Bela Bajaria, vice president of global series, said the results show Netflix where work is needed. But announcing that Netflix developed from 2018 to 2019 in almost every metric, Smith praised the company for putting inclusion at the heart of its work.
“If we’re doing a show that another studio is doing and we’re doing it from the beginning, from program one, we have every conversation,” Bajaria said. “How many people of color lead? How many women are leading? Who’s in the writers’ room? We have these conversations all the time. “
Bajaria said Netflix has benefited from just a few non-white tokens but a pipeline full of diversity. “More bats” for minority creators, she said. She cited shows like the Bridgerton made by Shonda Rhimes and the Spanish language La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) as examples of how Netflix is reproducing what has traditionally been successful.
“We have great displays that don’t look like what you would expect or perhaps what the system has always told you,” Bajaria said. “I feel like us, it gets more stories than the same failure.”
Netflix also said it would create a $ 100 million fund to bring more underrepresented organizations into film and television. Netflix’s Fund for Creative Equality will be distributed within Netflix’s initiatives and in companies outside the company over the next five years.