Ol’Otis
The Picasso of the Ghetto
Is Brad Pitt the wokest white man in Hollywood?
And there is. There’s an outfit run by three rich white folks that has proven it. In three years, Plan B, the production company run by Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, has gone from an eclectic studio offering up an array of really white, if mostly decent films (Running with Scissors, The Time Traveler’s Wife, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Kick-Ass) to a company that has produced a slate of profitable, award-winning marquee properties by and about people of color.
This is not to diminish the efforts of Lee Daniels, Will Packer, Oprah Winfrey, Reggie Hudlin, Nate Moore, Lee and other black Hollywood power brokers, but their labor and money alone is not enough to effect the sort of change that would move the needle on years-long stagnating diversity numbers. Otherwise, the revolution would already be here. It is to say this, however: White Hollywood, get it together. There’s no excuse for this.
The big studios thrive on exhaustively duplicating successful ideas, which explains the glut of vampire and werewolf-themed properties following the mania over Twilight. It explains the ubiquity of zombies, and the existence of the Divergent franchise following the runaway numbers of the Hunger Games movies. It’s the reason we now have two massive competing cinematic universes based on comic book series.
Not only does Plan B consistently put forth films by and about people of color, it hasn’t lost its shirt in the process. It picks winners, it makes money, and judging from its future projects, it’s going to keep doing it. Maybe the Big Six should be copying it.
And there is. There’s an outfit run by three rich white folks that has proven it. In three years, Plan B, the production company run by Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, has gone from an eclectic studio offering up an array of really white, if mostly decent films (Running with Scissors, The Time Traveler’s Wife, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Kick-Ass) to a company that has produced a slate of profitable, award-winning marquee properties by and about people of color.
This is not to diminish the efforts of Lee Daniels, Will Packer, Oprah Winfrey, Reggie Hudlin, Nate Moore, Lee and other black Hollywood power brokers, but their labor and money alone is not enough to effect the sort of change that would move the needle on years-long stagnating diversity numbers. Otherwise, the revolution would already be here. It is to say this, however: White Hollywood, get it together. There’s no excuse for this.
The big studios thrive on exhaustively duplicating successful ideas, which explains the glut of vampire and werewolf-themed properties following the mania over Twilight. It explains the ubiquity of zombies, and the existence of the Divergent franchise following the runaway numbers of the Hunger Games movies. It’s the reason we now have two massive competing cinematic universes based on comic book series.
Not only does Plan B consistently put forth films by and about people of color, it hasn’t lost its shirt in the process. It picks winners, it makes money, and judging from its future projects, it’s going to keep doing it. Maybe the Big Six should be copying it.
again???
where's the diversity?
At the thought of a Cac being "woke". Woke to what? His own privilege that allows him to ride the "diversity pays" wave all the way to the bank?
