Spotlight #11 – About Diversity

We woke up to a new world: the USA finally announced their 46th President – Joe Biden, and his VP – Kamala Harris. That makes it a historic moment – Harris is the first woman and the first woman of colour ever to be elected a VP. That being said, let's take a look at how diversity and inclusion work in our industry lately.

This Week's Curated Articles

Lashana Lynch Being a Black Female 007 Is 'Revolutionary'

Lynch is the first woman of colour ever to bear the famous Bond's digits. Some of the close-minded fans of the franchise could not handle such ground-breaking news and made her a target of their frustration and anger.

During those times, she reminded herself: "It’s not about me. People are reacting to an idea, which has nothing to do with my life." And together with Phoebe Waller-Bridge (co-writer of No Time to Die), they became a part of something revolutionary – and we can see how that worked out in April 2021.

Groundbreaking 'Star Trek: Discovery' Episode With Trans and Non-Binary Characters

Star Trek had diversity in the core values since the beginning (putting a woman of colour and Asian male on the bridge in 1966) and they are not stopping now – I would say they're taking it further. Until Star Trek: Discovery came to life, there was no explicit LGBTQ+ representation in this TV franchise.

The latest season of Star Trek: Discovery takes the crew of USS Discovery to 34th century. Kurtzman (writer) says: "we get to create the world that we want to see", so they decided they want to include more characters from marginalized communities on the screen. They wrote a love story between a trans and non-binary character, and in the end, they ended up even casting a trans and non-binary actor for those roles. That is a huge milestone for queer community and definitely a historic moment for a TV Show.

Now, if you want to know more about origins of those ideas, about how they wrote those episodes and worked with actors, dive into the original article.

Amazon Studios' Europe Headquarters to Remain in U.K. Post-Brexit, Deal or No Deal

Brexit or not, Amazon will keep their headquarters in the UK, no matter the regulatory issues in the play. EU passed, back in 2019, a law that requires streaming services to devote at least 30% of their on-demand libraries to local content.

The compliance with the law can be executed in several ways – producing more local content, acquiring already filmed content or contributing to national funds through a surcharge on subscription (such as Netflix in Germany after losing their lawsuit). The opposite way would be to limit EU viewers content from the US, Asia and other regions to match the required ratio. Thankfully, streaming services did not choose that way.

Getting back to Amazon – they admit if UK content won't be eligible for the quotas, they will have to come up with new libraries for EU countries. That shouldn't be a problem for them, they say, but it might become an issue for smaller UK producers.

From the Archives

How to Become a Showrunner

Becoming a Showrunner is not a sprint, but a marathon. And one thing you need to learn to finish that race successfully is to write. So practice, practice and practice. If you really want this job, then write spec pilot scripts, make a web-series, study which shows work and which does not and why. And watch those that already made it (list of the best one's included in the article).

And in the following article, you can take a look at the most diverse shows on Netflix, in terms of cast. But that is not the only place where the diversity is needed – and to accurately portray the lives of marginalized communities, we need to include their peers in the process of writing and producing such shows; otherwise, characters won't be relatable because the writing won't accurately represent their world through their eyes and experience.

The Award's & Festival Window

Award Winners - 28th Raindance Film Festival - Raindance

The 28th Raindance Film Festival didn’t let anyone stop them from announcing this year’s Festival Award winners Online. You can read about who won in the article, but we would love to take a moment and say congratulations to our friend Apoorva Satish (and her crew) for being a part of the official selection with her movie Kanya!

This Week's Recommendation

The Queen's Gambit | Netflix

Have you ever watched a game of chess? If so, the first adjective that comes to mind is probably not "thrilling". Yet that is exactly what this show is. And on top of that, you can expect a brilliant performance, stunning visuals (including some great VFX) and an exciting character study.

The Queen's Gambit by Netflix is an amazing series with a strong female lead (Anya Taylor-Joy) showing the emptiness that some (I would say majority of) extremely talented and brilliant people feel. It's a show about competitiveness, addiction and obsession. About how messy life can be, no matter how successful one is.