A Call for Diversity in Web TV.

I, for one, seriously prefer to watch shows of all types - web, television, movies - which feature a diverse cast in terms of race, age, size, sex, etc., etc., etc. It's one of the reasons that Grey's Anatomy is a favorite, can't-miss show of mine. There are all different types of people in my world, and I find that removing this facet of life from our content needlessly depreciates our stories. It's one of the reasons I love 70s cinema. Obviously, there were diversity issues, but everyone looks so interesting and real.

Shiny-white-everyone's-uber-thin-and-pretty casting simply bores me to tears.

Now, I have no idea how one sits in a Hollywood office and fights their viewership statistics, foreign sales numbers, the biases of those in power, and the sheer inertia of how it's currently done. I've no idea how, for example, you fight the casting of white leads in films such as The Last Airbender and 21 where the source material features Asian characters. I refuse to see those films despite my explicit interest in the source material, and I'm sure the studio could care less.

I don't know how you effectively fight the establishment on these things. Very, very slowly through small victories I'd imagine. (Though I will posit that in the case of The Last Airbender the studio is finding themselves on the wrong side of a major change in the zeitgeist.)

I suspect that when you bring up these concerns in casting meetings you are still often shut-down and made to feel like you are naive and/or pushing a PC agenda. Rather than honestly trying to bring to the table that which you know the audience is starved for. And that which you know there is a vast audience for, if only the studios would stop with the same old, same old and take some damn risks already.

I mean, Heroes comes out and immediately Hiro is the most popular character. And still the leads of The Last Airbender are white kids playing explicitly Asian characters in an Asian world. The whole issue infuriates me. Don't even get me started on the rarity of average-sized women in entertainment. HOLY HOLY DO I WANT TO SEE WOMEN OF ALL SIZES ON THE SCREENS. But I digress.

At this time, most original web content is not coming from a studio. Most web content comes from you, the web community. It is watched en masse, by us, the web community. This is our chance, and This is the time.

I call to all web content creators to be open to diverse casting. More than that, Seek It Out. PUSH. If you are a filmmaker you know in your bones what I'm talking about when I talk about The Push. Push to hold a few extra auditions even when you are tired, poor, and under a time crunch. Push to find a variety of people to audition. Push. What you do here makes a difference. It can change the world.

I'm not saying don't cast the very best talent for your roles, whoever that turns out to be. I know from experience that sometimes you shoot for out-of-box casting, and it doesn't come together. But I know, too, that an ongoing commitment to diversity in your casting rooms will bring diversity to your projects because there are certainly people of all types who are great, interesting, awesome actors. There is magic to had.

Point your cameras at it and shoot.

Diverse casting will elevate your projects and your audience in this space, because your audience is the entirety of the world wide web. And the powers that be are dead wrong about what we want.

This is our space first. We are the ones creating and distributing our content. Don't be lazy. Don't aspire to what so many producers already do in their sleep with all their money and their numbers and their rules and their biases.

Be innovative. Be interesting. Push.

And then send me your link, because I want to talk about you and your shows all up and down this space. Go, Web TV, go!

Comments

[Michael A]

A call for diversity you are preaching to the choir. As a gay man I want my art to reflect some of me in it. However Hollywood’s idea of a gay man is not my idea of one. I find this funny because there are lots of gay men in Hollywood who make these kind of decisions. I’m sure lots of it has to do with job security , but come on have some balls. I understand not wanting to lose your seat at the big table once you get there, but what good are you if you let things stay the same. Diversity is one of the reason I like Felicia Day’s web show The Guild. It’s full of diversity, and not a show you would ever see on TV.

One of the first things I created after college was a gay sitcom. Its about two guys who buy a house and want to start a family. Before they can start the grandmother, and one of the guys sister with her son move in. The show is about everyone trying to understand each other. I have had it up on an industry web page for about a year. Its been looked at several times, but with no results. On a few occasions I have received an email that in not so many words let me know the characters where not gay enough . That is to say not the way Hollywood views gays. So I have started looking at shooting it this summer and putting it on the web.

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawlJbEl2UWNWH2P4W_KBwu3jF5NoQ_yIN28]

Here here!
We put together an awesome (and diverse) cast for this webseries: www.lovepoptrash.com
We only have the preview up now, but check it out!

[Barry]

Have you seen "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency"? If not, you must. HBO has really scored with this one.

[Maria Niles]

Brava, Liz! Brilliant post.

That is all :)

[lizriz]

The stereotype issue is really frustrating. I think your sitcom idea sounds like a good one. It's really crappy that it was dismissed that way.

[lizriz]

Cool - I will definitely check it out. :)

[lizriz]

OMG I really want to see it!!! Alas, I don't want to pay for extra cable channels. Maybe I'll be able to download it off iTunes at some point or something. Good call, though. That show seems really up my alley.

[lizriz]

Thank you! :)

[Karen]

Umm...amen to that! My film blog is all about spotlighting diverse movies/TV.

[lizriz]

Cool! Love it! I've totally added you to my reader. :)