Demand Film Studios To Nominate More Leading Actors of Color

Mr. Gary Barber, CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. Mr. Kevin Tsujihara, CEO of Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc. Mr. Jim Gianopolus, CEO of Paramount Pictures Corporation Mr. Sanford Panitch, President of Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. Ms./Mrs. Stacey Snider, Chairman and CEO of Twentieth-Century Fox Film Corporation Mr. Peter Schlessnel, CEO of Focus Features Mr. Ronald Meyer, CEO of Universal Pictures Mr. Mark Burnett, CEO of United Artists Mr. Harvey Weinstein and Mr. Bob Weinstein, CEOs of The Weinstein Company Ms./Mrs. Cheryl Boone Isaacs, President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Ms./Mrs. Dawn Hudson, CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Mr. Lorenzo Soria, President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Ms./Mrs. Gabrielle Carteris, President of the Screen Actor's Guild- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

Dear CEOs and Presidents of the Hollywood film industry, First of all, thank you for the strides you are making in your film businesses and organizations to better reflect the diverse reality we live in in the world today, and in America today. Thank you for recognizing the talents of filmmakers no matter their personal backgrounds. Though it has been a challenge, and the times are going to be tough ahead for all entertainment professionals, the past award seasons have been mostly positive for showing how inclusive the film industry wants to believe itself to be, and that I hope it will continue to recognize that talent has many colors, orientations, ability statuses, religions, economic status, and levels of accomplishment. As a film fan and as a theatre artist myself, I am writing because as great as strides of recognizing the talents of people like Viola Davis, Mahershala Ali, Taraji P. Henson, Idris Elba, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Ang Lee, and countless significant and equally talented men and women of color in film today, I am under the attention that the industry still has barriers in place when it comes for studios to suggest to members of SAG-AFTRA, the Hollywood Foreign Press, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, that it is hard for actors of color to get as far as their peers Meryl Streep, Emma Stone, Matthew McConaughey, Julianne Moore, Mark Rylance, and Patricia Arquette have gotten because a white actor is more likely to get nominated for a leading role than an actor of color, and often, when the voting bodies and membership of these organizations want to recognize an actor of color, they are reduced to nomination in supporting roles for “equal” recognition, when often they are in fact lead roles. I understand studios are more likely to suggest to an actor of color to pursue the supporting role nomination than not. This is problematic to me because I think that actors of color have given amazing performances in film, even in the early days of cinema, when the independent film was the only way to combat stereotypes on screen. There was a point in early cinema where for every D.W. Griffith there was an Oscar Micheaux, until segregation nixed the development as people of color were not attending films glorifying white supremacy like Gone With The Wind. We can learn from the history of film what better to do today so that the future is better, so that it is normal to see an actor of color win Best Actress or Best Actor, because as of count, in the case of the Academy Awards, the ratio speaks 4 to 1 in leading actor category recognition, but the supporting recognition leads 6 to 12. In my own lifetime, I saw Jennifer Hudson win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, Golden Globe, and SAG-AFTRA for her performance as Effie White in Dreamgirls (2006), but saw the film and thought it was a lead performance. I think Viola Davis's performance in Fences (2016) and Mahershala Ali's performance in Moonlight (2016) were leads, but for the sake of bettering the chances, they got supporting nominations. I understand the nature of the film industry and how studios nominate and the associations and branches vote, and while the processes are democratic in proposal and execution, the problem still persists that the studios push supporting for lead performances. So, the proposal in front of you after reading this letter to this point is for studios to nominate leading performances of actors of color in leading categories to increase their chances of recognition. In doing so, I believe that it will equate the nomination and win cycle to a more equitable level while not compromising the idea that the recognition demerits hard work, because there isn't a single actor in Hollywood who is not working hard if they value their craft. I think it would improve ratings, and meet the need of those with valid complaints about the hashtag “OscarsSoWhite” recognizing the disconnect between recognition and reality that led to the creation of the hashtag in the first place. Also, it would be great to see an actor of color being recognized not because of a national tragedy or as an act of rebellion against current politicians in this country. For example, the 2017 awards season, which I feel was a response to both. Actors of color are talented and work hard amid the professional barriers the industry has put in place to prevent them from equal access to their performances for the general public, equal access for their stories to be told and respected and not killed by distributors who are “unsure” of the “appeal” of their stories, and equal access to opportunities that best fit their talent. The problem of racism is not end with recognizing a film and an actor in a film. It takes a lot more hard work, but since the arts are great at starting conversations and keeping them going, I know that it can be done. This letter is going to be apart of an online campaign that I hope will merit your attention, because it is bound to get a lot of signatures. But, I hope that this letter starts working on bringing these barriers of institutional and structural racism in the entertainment industry down, as many people in television and the theatre are working on doing themselves, which I am proud to be apart of as a stage actor, playwright, and stage manager. I am not working on behalf of the actors I mentioned. Please use this moment in our history and correct this wrong. Sincerely,