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Data revealed gender parity and proportional representation for black cast members, but streamer says he needs to do a better job including other communities, including Latino, MENA, Native, LGBTQ and disability. .
Last month, Netflix released its first-ever inclusion report, a qualitative summary of what the company is doing to diversify its workforce and create a more inclusive work culture. Now, the streamer has extended its commitment to inclusion – and transparency – by analyzing the diversity of its content and making those results public.
To do this, Netflix commissioned the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the leader in this field, to analyze all of its original U.S.-based scripted content released in 2018 and 2019, using the same protocols. rigorous review that IIA applies to its independents. inclusion studies in the entertainment industry. (Last week, Starz partnered with UCLA’s Center for Scholars & Storytellers to commission a similar study of their own programming as part of their new inclusion initiative #TakeTheLead.) Netflix’s partnership with USC Annenberg is long term; AII will publish a Netflix Original Content Report every two years until 2026.
“An internal audit is a critical first step towards inclusive change,” said IIA founder Dr. Stacy L. Smith, according to a blog post by Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos, announcing the results of the report.
The study, “Inclusion in Netflix Original US Scripted Series and Films,” examined the portrayal of gender, race / ethnicity, LGBTQ, and disability status both on screen and in director roles, writer and producer and compared Netflix’s performance to actual population numbers. as well as, where possible, data from top-grossing contemporary films or industry averages for series. At a symposium held to discuss the study’s results the day before its release, Netflix vice president of global film Scott Stuber agreed with moderator Elvis Mitchell that the streamer faces fewer external hurdles in the game. inclusion because he did not have to deal with the operators. “Our distribution platform is definitely a plus because it’s an equalizer,” he said. “You go straight to the audience, which you know is diverse.”
Among the 126 films and 180 series analyzed, the main findings of the report include:
Gender parity in leads or co-leads, with an increase in the number of protagonists identifying women from 48.6% to 55.2% from 2018 to 2019. But when it comes to populating the rest of the world onscreen, Netflix has regressed to industry averages, with just under 40% of characters with lines identifying themselves as female (15% like women of color). Stuber found this result particularly disturbing, as dialogue can have a significant impact on an emerging artist’s career: “This SAG card is everything. This assurance is the start of a dream, and [could lead to] the next great artist. “Women tended to take key roles behind the camera for Netflix at a faster rate than the industry average, but by no means did they make up more than a third of those jobs.
Netflix’s non-white screen representation increased from 2018 to 2019 and topped industry averages, but whites still dominate in front and behind the camera. Broken down by specific race / ethnicity, 15.2% of Netflix original content featured black leads or co-heads, and nearly 20% of all major members of the movies and series cast were black. Other racial / ethnic groups were represented in single-digit proportions: 2.6% of content featured Latino leads or co-leads (Latino actors made up 4.5% of all major actors), 4% of content featured Latino leads or co-leads (Latino actors made up 4.5% of all major actors), 4% of content featured featuring Asian protagonists (7% of major Netflix players). the cast members were Asian) and there were only seven pieces of original content in two years that featured leaders or co-leaders from Middle East / North Africa (MENA ), Native American or Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (NHPI).
Among Netflix filmmakers, 9.2% were black (nine men and three women), 3.1% were Asian, 1.5% were in the MENA region, and one person was Latino. In scripted television, 6.5% of show creators were black, 2.6% were Latino, 1.5% were Asian, and 1.9% were in the MENA region.
IIA researchers noted that projects led by black creatives were much more likely to generate more black leads and other characters. Presumably, the shortage of Latin American, Asian, MENA, Indigenous, and NHPI creators may be related to their respective under-representation on screen.
“When people of color in the room voice their opinions, protest, complain and celebrate, it changes the texture of what you see. [onscreen]Said George C. Wolfe, director of the Netflix feature film. Ma Rainey’s black background, during the symposium. “Diversity has to be a holistic aggression. Without it, people are afraid to make decisions because they don’t want to make bad decisions, so they end up making no decisions.”
Alan Yang, whose Netflix projects include Master of None, Tiger tail and the upcoming adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s Free food for millionaires, added that communities of color can work together to increase their impact. “We have to look out for each other, and that’s a great thing for POC communities,” he said, adding that as an example he recently contacted Charles King’s media company MACRO for a list of Latino writers to endow.
LGBTQ characters are significantly under-represented. At the symposium, Netflix vice president of the world series Bela Bajaria admitted that she was shocked by the poor performance of the company in this area: “I feel like we are so active with intrigue and a big impact, so I was shocked we weren’t doing very well. As Dr Smith knows, I almost fell off my chair. “Although the streamer’s numbers are consistent with the LGBTQ portrayal in the industry, the Netflix study does not give it a pass. At the symposium, LGBTQ people made up 12% of the US population, but 2.3% of Netflix’s original content featured community leads or co-leads (17 characters in total, more than half of whom were women, 29.4% non-white and the most bisexual). The study delves deep into intersectionality, breaking down LGBTQ representation by sexual orientation, gender identity, race / ethnicity, and age – and even points out that only 11 core members of the LGBTQ cast were represented as parents. “This detail has been a great thing to take away for me, because it’s not what the world is like,” Bajaria added.
Characters with disabilities are underrepresented and, when portrayed, are typically white, straight, and cisgender males. According to the US census, 27.2% of the population live with a physical, communicative or cognitive disability, but only 5.3% of original Netflix content featured protagonists with disabilities – of these prospects or co-directors, nearly 65% were male, over 70% were white, and only one was LGBTQ. As with the analyzes of other marginalized groups, when it came to more occasional inclusion benchmarks (main actors, speaking characters), the proportion of people with disabilities was even lower, at 4.7% and 2.1% , respectively.
In addition to releasing an in-depth statistical analysis of its own content, Netflix also unveiled the creation of the Netflix Creative Equity Fund, which will see the company invest $ 100 million over five years in internal programs and external organizations to develop. under-represented talent for careers in the film and television industries. “Doing better means creating even more opportunities for people from under-represented communities to make their voices heard,” Sarandos wrote, “and deliberately filling the capacity and skills gaps with training programs where they are necessary.
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