The Cypher

The Hollywood DEI Edition

Hey fam!

This week we’re sharing what we’re watching, listening to and reading as it connects to Hollywood and DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in entertainment), curated by CF Rachel aka Dr. Rachel Raimist aka “Doc” aka Rae One.

Rachel’s energy here on The Remix is being a part of the change she wants to see in the entertainment industry and she hopes you will join her on that mission by visiting these links:

Watch

Disclosure (streaming on Netflix) - http://www.disclosurethemovie.com/about

In Our Mother’s Gardens (available on Netflix, May 6) - http://www.arraynow.com/in-our-mothers-gardenshttp://www.arraynow.com/in-our-mothers-gardens

This Changes Everything (streaming on Starz and Kanopy)- http://www.creativechaosvmg.com/genderinhollywood

They’ve Gotta Have Us (Netflix series) - https://www.netflix.com/title/81243942

Listen to the “Insider Hollywood” Podcasts

Catch a Break - https://www.catchabreakpodcast.com/

Happier in Hollywood - https://happierinhollywood.com/

Paper Team - https://www.tv-calling.com/paperteam/

Scriptnotes - https://johnaugust.com/scriptnotes

The Director’s Cut - https://www.dga.org/Craft/Podcast.aspx

Third & Fairfax: The WGAW Podcast - https://www.wga.org/writers-room/features-columns/3rd-fairfax-podcast

Read these reports on the state of the industry

Behind the Scenes: The State of Inclusion & Equity in TV Writing from Write Inclusion

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) reports on inclusion in television directing

The many research studies from the Gina Davis Institute on gender in the media

Dr. Stacy Smith’s Annenberg study, “Inclusion in the Director’s Chair: Analysis of Director Gender & Race/Ethnicity Across 1,300 Top Films from 2007 to 2019”

Dr. Stacy Smith’s Annenberg study, “Inequality in 1,300 Popular Films: Examining Portrayals of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, LGBTQ & Disability from 2007 to 2019”

Dr. Stacy Smith’s Annenberg study, “Inclusion in the Recording Studio? Gender and Race/Ethnicity of Artists, Songwriters & Producers across 800 Popular Songs from 2012-2019”

Join and support these orgs

Alliance of Women Directors - https://www.allianceofwomendirectors.org/

CAPE - https://www.capeusa.org/

Chicken & Egg Pictures - https://chickeneggpics.org/

Film Fatales - http://www.filmfatales.org/

Glass Elevator - https://www.ourglasselevator.com/join

In The Cut (on the Mighty Networks) - http://www.inthecut.org/

NALIP - https://www.nalip.org/

NYC Women Filmmakers - https://nycwomenfilmmakers.org/

Sisters in Cinema - http://sistersincinema.com/

Women Of Color Unite (WOCU / JTC list on The Mighty Networks) - https://wocunite.org/

Women in Film - https://womeninfilm.org/

Women in Media - https://www.womennmedia.com/

Women Make Movies - https://www.wmm.com/

Women’s Voices Now - https://www.womensvoicesnow.org/

Women’s Weekend Film Challenge - https://www.womensweekendfilmchallenge.com/

Look at these Links & Resources

Gina Davis Institute on Gender in the Media - https://seejane.org/

Latinx Directors - https://www.latinxdirectors.com/home

Think Tank for Equity and Inclusion (TTIE) - https://www.writeinclusion.org/

Rachel’s Saturday Session Resource List

& Let Me Reintroduce Myself: Rae #Hollywood Edition

It was 2009, faculty orientation at the University of Alabama. I was newly hired and not yet minted with my Ph.D. but I was hired to teach media production. I was a young mom, a solo parent, a New Yorker turned Cali girl and who was coming from Minneapolis. I was not used to the southern heat, all the fried food, the accents and I didn’t know why everyone kept saying “bless your heart” to me and my brown kids. Thankfully, a warm voice from the row behind me leaned in and said, “Hi, I’m Brittney. I wrote an essay your hip-hop feminist book.” 

Before I became a professor or even a Hollywood director, I lived a #RapLife - I’ll share more about this in future posts, but for now check out that book, Home Girls Make Some Noise.

I turned around and wanted to jump the row to hug Brittney, but it was not the place (I was supposed to be a polished professor now, and also BC is not a hugger, unless she hasn’t seen you in a while, so maybe next visit, we get hugs?!) CF Brittney, CF Robin and I all started the post-grad professor gig together that day in faculty orientation in Tuscaloosa, and I could not have gotten tenure or survived the south without them or the CF sisterhood.

Not too long after, Brittney asked if I wanted to be in the crew. She shared the origin of the Crunk Feminist Collective and introduced us to CF Susana, who was at Auburn at the time, and their beginnings of the collective started at Emory. I looked at her thinking I was not Crunk because I’m from New York. She looked right back at me and said, “Girl, you crunk. You are so crunk.” How could I say no?

Over the last decade and more, this crew has inspired me, taught me, lifted me up (literally off of a gas station floor at my lowest and most broke) and they give me love, support and all the things my children and I have needed. The friendship, community, scholarly engagement, encouragement, patience with me and my fear of public writing (yep, it’s true) and all the things, is why I’ll always be a Crunk Feminist and a member of this crew.

I was tenured at Bama and left it, not because I didn’t work hard to get it or that the weight of being the second Latina tenured in media production in this country wasn’t important, but I left because my I got the opportunity to direct an episode of QUEEN SUGAR - here’s the story, for those who want to know how this happened, and I’ve been directing television ever since. So fast forward to now, 11 years later, and I’m living my big Hollywood dreams. 

Here’s a peek at a little behind-the-scenes of my new Hollywood life:

And while I left tenure at Bama, I have continued to teach and mentor hundreds of students and women filmmakers. I now serve as an associate professor of cinema and television at Elon University and am the academic director of Elon in Los Angeles, where I support students who are working to break into the entertainment industry. I also host a facebook group open to all women and non-binary directors and creatives called Saturday Sessions, which started as a group of three women directors that I taught shot listing to and has since expanded to a group of over 800 filmmakers from current students to working Hollywood directors. (& Yes, women and non-binary students, writers, directors and other creative folks, you can join our facebook community!)

How it started: members of the CFC at the NWSA in 2010

How it’s going: repping the CFC on location at Warner Brothers Studios

& Where I’m at today: prepping to direct an episode of WU-TANG: AN AMERICAN SAGA for Hulu. Yes, yes, ya’ll. I’ll share more about my #RapLife in future posts.

I hope you will continue on this journey with me. On this site I will do my best to make the industry transparent and inclusive and through events and workshops that I’ll offer exclusively to our subscribers, I’ll help you prepare to live your best Hollywood life.

If you are feeling the vibe, please comment and let me know what workshops or sessions you are interested in. I’m thinking of offering a “Hollywood 101” on how to break in and navigate the entertainment industry, a session pitching yourself and your story, how to break into television directing and the prep process for directors. I am happy to also lead sessions on feminist filmmaking and other craft convos. Let me know what you are looking for to help you keep moving forward.

Thanks for joining us on this new journey of #TheRemix.