NEW YORK.- The hundreds of open television, cable and streaming series USAand the executive producers who created them, are the subject of a new list that rates them on the diversity and inclusion of the people who work both on screen and behind the camera.
The Inclusion List for episodic programming, to be released Thursday by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California and the Adobe Foundation, ranks the 100 highest-rated broadcast and cable television series that aired this season. television 2021-2022 and the 100 best-rated streaming platform series between 2021 and 2023, in addition to listing the executive producers who obtained the highest score in all their programs in that period.
It’s a way to celebrate the producers and shows that are working to make the television industry more welcoming, as well as highlight that there is still a lot of work to be done, said Stacy L. Smith, founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. which has also published reports on inclusion in the film industry.
It’s important to say, here are the programs, because it tells the rest of the world that there are no excuses. It can be done, Smith told The Associated Press.
The top-rated shows on broadcast and cable television included the series Queen Sugar, about a group of black siblings in Louisiana, and The Baby, about a childless woman who ends up with a mysterious baby. Streaming platforms’ top performers included offerings like Raising Dion, about a Black mother and her son, and Gentified, about Mexican-American cousins.
The list of producers includes Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schecter, Ava DuVernay, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling and Charles King.
To compile the ratings, the Inclusion Initiative devised a scoring system. On screen, the series’ regular cast was rated for representation of gender, race and ethnicity, age, disability, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Behind the scenes, 10 positions, including director, screenwriter, producer, casting director and costume director, were rated by gender, race and ethnicity. The highest possible total score was 15. Queen Sugar, for example, had a score of 12.8 and Raising Dion had a score of 13.3.
Several shows that made the list are no longer on the air, but that is not the goal of the effort, Smith said, noting that audience reception of a show can be attributed to many other factors such as marketing and schedule, etc. The point is to see who gets to be part of the industry, how they add to their resumes and make their connections and have an impact on what is made for the public to see.
This is the beginning of the sustainability of the race, Smith said, adding. People worked. They got paid. Now they can do it again.
Alan Luna, a Los Angeles-based casting director, has seen it in action, as when an actor lands a regular role on a series, even one that only lasts one season. It gives him credibility when trying out for his next roles, he said.
When you are a regular character in a series, you can enter all rooms. If you have regular credit as standard, they can’t say no, she said. It’s like saying, this guy has done it. Yes, maybe it didn’t work, but he did it. Maybe it was a one-season show, but he already did it. And that really changes lives.
And he sees it in the work he does. The 29-year-old Mexican-American knows that his background and experiences influence the way he tries to approach his casting work, trying to present talent that wouldn’t normally be presented in that environment.
It has a ripple effect, said actress Jurnee Smollett, referring to the variety of women taking on roles behind the cameras. I think the more women of all types we see behind the camera, the more we will see the change reflected in front of the camera.
Tracking inclusion in the industry is even more important now after last year’s actors’ and writers’ strikes, Smith said, which disrupted the lives of many.
That’s why a list like this is so important, he said. Immediately after the strike, these companies need to think about it, it can’t just be business as usual.
While inclusion and diversity are something that has been talked about in popular culture, there is something particular about the power of television that makes whoever is behind the scenes and on the screens, creating the content for audiences to consume , is vitally important, said David Stamps, professor of public relations and media psychology at Bentley University in Massachusetts.
Their presence in American homes can have a much greater impact than movies or books, he said, and that makes television much richer and much more accessible, meaning it is positioned to do more in terms of cross-cultural contact. .
FUENTE: AP
