Report: Diversity Not Sagging
That's according to the Screen Actors Guild's annual employment report released Monday.
Roles for performers of color in Hollywood hit record levels last year, with minorities snatching up 23 percent of all movie and prime-time television parts, according to the study, but, with more than three-quarters of all roles still going to white actors, SAG's president William Daniels says there's still more to be done.
"We're moving slowly but steadily toward the reality of portraying the American scene," said Daniels, responding to the study. "But there's no question there's still plenty of room for growth in diversity in the television and film world."
Here's a quick rundown of some key points in the report:
There were 53,134 roles assigned to SAG members in 2000, up 7 percent from the 49,662 cast in 1999. African Americans made up 14.8 percent of the roles cast, up from 14.1 percent in 1999, and the largest jump since the guild began keeping track of the statistics in 1992. Latino/Hispanic actors saw employment jump from 4.4 percent in 1999 to 4.9 percent. That figure, says the study, is still considerably less than the estimated 11.4 percent of Latino/Hispanic population in the United States. Asian/Pacific Islanders landed 2.6 percent of the roles, up from 2.2 percent in 1999--again, however, it doesn't match their estimated 4 percent representation in the U.S. population. Native Americans still barely register, moving up from 0.2 percent of the roles in 1999 to 0.3 in 2000.
The study boils down to a numbers game. SAG spokesman Greg Krizman is quick to point out that the report did not examine the quality of parts being offered, just the quantity. He also attributes the recent job boom to producers ramping up production earlier in the year when there was still threat of a crippling strike by actors and writers who were renegotiating their contracts.
While that's the second year in a row minorities have gained ground in the industry, the numbers still aren't where they should be, says Lisa Navarrete, spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic advocacy group.
"It's too little progress but the number is going in the right direction," Navarrete tells the Associated Press. "We're 13 percent of the population of the U.S., so I'd hope we could get 13 percent of the roles."
Several activists also say the quality, as well as quantity, needs to improve, with minority actors getting offered more than stereotyped parts. A positive example is Benicio Del Toro's Oscar-winning role in Traffic.
To that end, SAG is trying to find ways to liven up Tinseltown's pasty image. The guild has hosted a series of industry roundtables involving producers, casting directors and show runners. It's also organizing a number of seminars with the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America to come up with ways to implement a diversity plan of action.
Says Daniels: "We hope to convince industry insiders that diversity can improve their bottom line--and they need look no further than the Screen Actors Guild for highly competent performers. We believe many producers and programmers are missing opportunities to reach a larger, broader audience through more diverse casting."
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