LOS ANGELES | While several television series with ethnically diverse casts like “The Get Down,” “Sense8”, “Pitch” and “American Crime” have been cancelled recently, panelists at the Los Angeles Film Festival’s “Diversity Speaks” event remain hopeful that there will be improvement in the future.
“Things are getting better, but the truth is, we need more black executives,” said keynote speaker Lena Waithe, the star of “Master of None” on Netflix.
“Not that this is the only answer, but we need more people of color in those (casting) offices,” she told The Washington Times. “That way, they are on the calls, they can be helpful in terms of the notes process because they understand the world … versus the writer trying to explain the world to executives and them giving notes on a world they don’t know much about.
“That’s always a tough thing for artists of color.”
Despite the controversy surrounding comedian Bill Cosby, Miss Waithe said that “The Cosby Show” spinoff “A Different World” had a strong impact on her career.
“These characters were so human, you could smell them through the TV screen,” she said. “There is something about it that feels like home. They made us feel like we were human.
“Without ‘The Cosby Show’ and ‘A Different World,’ I don’t know if I would be sitting here right now,” Miss Waithe said.
Miss Waithe, who is generating strong Emmy buzz for her Netflix role, has also created a series for Showtime called “The Chi,” set on Chicago’s South Side, which will debut next year.
Longtime Hollywood journalist Marc Malkin, who most recently was a managing editor at E! News, moderated a panel called “Reclaiming Gay for Pay: What it Means to Be ‘Out’ in Hollywood.”
“It’s certainly a slow process, but I think the industry has made great strides when it comes to representing LGBTQ characters and issues in film,” Mr. Malkin said. “Many more people in front of and behind the camera are coming out like never before. But there’s still fear that publicly acknowledging you’re gay will hurt your career.”
Mr. Malkin said directors, screenwriters and producers often have a hard time imagining LGBT actors playing straight characters and fear audiences might reject such films. However, he also believes that the younger generation, for the most part, has “no judgments either way.”
“Sexual orientation and gender identity are seen as just one part of person,” Mr. Malkin said. “Younger filmmakers and actors want to see the diversity of the world represented in their projects. They don’t have the same fears as the old system.”
“Westworld” star Leonardo Nam, who was on the panel “Whitewashing: Asian and Asian-American Representation in Film/TV,” said there is a marked shift in how the Asian community wishes to be represented on screen.
“I definitely think things are changing for the better if we are all able to really identify, ‘hey, this thing over here [is] offensive, but this thing is OK,’” Mr. Tam said. “The more that we are able to facilitate that communication, the better the conversation gets. The more inclusion, the more representation that we all want.
“It’s really on a case-by-case basis, it’s not just a blanket thing that we do,” he said.
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