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Some reallyyyyy hot takes about Black women in Hollywood this weekend. So many reallyyyyy smart people taking the time to contribute to the conversations in meaningful ways, but there are also a lot of people are contradicting themselves or speaking without nuance/context.
1. Y’all can’t give Shonda credit for every single thing she’s only EP’d, but then get mad when people do the same with other (Black women) creators who are also NWEPs on projects. Especially when most people have a very limited understanding of how shit gets made in Hollywood.
2. We can’t only give credit when we love the thing or hate the thing that person EP’d. I’ve seen this A LOT and I understand it less and less. The truth is: So much of the brilliance — or trash! — is shared between creator, director, showrunner, EPs, production co., studio &…
2a. … to an extent, the writers’ room. Film and television are not only collaborative mediums, but they’re also collective mediums. The whole is a summation of its parts. IDC what anyone says — there is no singular vision or authorship in Hollywood. There never has been.
3. We must implicate production companies and studios more when it makes sense to do so. (It usually does, lol.) They are the gatekeepers. Their power, feedback, and complicity/enabling is often (but not always!) a significant reason why the thing becomes what it is.
This is a nice segue for…
4. Studio overall deals, especially during the flash of institutional white guilt that happened last year and for people with significant influence/platforms, are usually worth millions of dollars paid out over X amount of time.
4. Studio overall deals, especially during the flash of institutional white guilt that happened last year and for people with significant influence/platforms, are usually worth millions of dollars paid out over X amount of time.
5. In general, people get paid a guap to write/produce TV & film projects. Especially compared to most people in the world earn to survive/live. Many people don’t understand how much money folks make in this industry — including the wiiiiiide income gaps and disparities.
6. Writing, directing, and producing stories about marginalized people does not inherently make you an activist. Similarly, just because you tweet, donate, march, and center & interrogate struggle/trauma in your work, it does not make you an activist.
6a. This is why I love the term “cultural worker.” What many of us actually do is labor — sometimes strategically and sometimes not — to produce creative work that sustains/pushes/shifts/shapes/reimagines culture & power systems.
That is important. It is not inherently activism.
That is important. It is not inherently activism.
7. People can and should be allowed to be many things. Give people the space for their humanity. None of us survive in this world without being messy and making certain compromises. Some of y’all’s politics lack empathy and self-reflection. It shows. Damn.
7a. People can and should be held accountable for how their work impacts and is received by others, especially when their careers have made Blackness/Black struggle a commodity.
(Most of us have, by the way. Whether we intended to or not. We create in a capitalist system.
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(Most of us have, by the way. Whether we intended to or not. We create in a capitalist system.
Lastly… Many things can be true at once. To live responsibly and responsively in this world, I truly believe, is mostly to be in deeply uncomfortable conflict with oneself and with the world around you for all your days.
This thread brought to you by my insomnia. It probably makes very little sense. I said what I said anyways.
