Those were just two of the revelations made in Netflix’s first inclusion report, which was released on Wednesday. The company’s new demographic data shows that its population of black employees in the U.S. grew from 3.8% of its workforce in 2017 to 8% in 2020.
More than 18% of the U.S. population is Latinx, but Latinos made up just 8% of Netflix’s workforce last year, down from just 6% three years ago.
“We could do a much better job of recruiting Hispanics or Latinos and other underrepresented people in all areas of our company,” wrote the report’s authors.
Latinx’s lack of representation in Hollywood and technology has been a constant problem. In 2019, only 5% of speaking roles in the top 100 films went to Latinx actors, according to the latest report from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which analyzes diversity in film and television every year. Latinx individuals were the only racial and ethnic group that was underrepresented in on-screen speaking roles in 2019, the report found.
More than 9.5% of Netflix (NFLX)the company’s leaders were black in 2020, up 4.2% in 2017. The company’s leadership at Latinx last year was just 4.9%, slightly up from 4.5% three years ago.
Overall, more than 46% of Netflix’s workforce in the US and 42% of its leaders were black, Latino, indigenous, Middle Eastern, Asian or Pacific Islander in 2020. Women accounted for just over 47% of the Netflix’s workforce last year.
In 2018, filmmaker Rachel Morrison became the first woman in history to be nominated for an Oscar for cinematography for her work on the original Netflix film “Mudbound”, directed by Dee Rees, a black woman. “Ilha Forte” director Yance Ford became the first trans person to receive an Oscar in the same year.
And in 2019, Netflix had more NAACP Image Award and GLAAD Media Award nominations than any other studio. The company says it also released 20 films by first-time filmmakers in 2020. Twelve of these films had non-white directors and eight were directed by women.
“What we’ve learned about diversity and inclusion is that, while it’s the right thing to do for sure, it’s also responsible for our ability to innovate,” said Vernā Myers, Netflix’s vice president of inclusion strategy, in a company video about their inclusion efforts. “My team’s vision is to equip everyone with diversity lenses, which means that, while doing their job, they think about who is not here.”
Netflix says building its talent channel with an underrepresented population is the key to its global plans.
“I think that if we want to achieve our ambitions around the world, we have to tell stories that reflect the population,” said Netflix co-CEO and content director Ted Sarandos.
.Source
Related
