FX Chairman John Landgraf on the New Dynamics of Diversity

Landgrafamp8217s candor was as always almost startling in its openness and directness amp8220I39ve been at FX for 16 years and have overseen the brand for 15 and truthfully I39m not proud of the fact that it took me so long to take concerted actionamp8221 he said amp8220But we are now making meaningful strides and learning quickly how to create equal access to opportunities and moving with urgency towards achieving a workforce that fairly reflects our country as a wholeamp8220I believe that talent intellect ambition and imagination are equally distributed in the human populationamp8221 he continued amp8220They are neither concentrated nor lacking in any race or gender so when FX was radically overindexing in one race and one gender we were by definition overlooking a great deal of the very best talent Since we began sourcing talent without bias from everywhere in our population our brand and shows have gotten measurably better It39s as simple as that When you39re in the talent business diversity is good businessamp8220It39s heartening to finally see our industry fully commit to meaningful measurable and permanent changeamp8221 he added amp8220Every entertainment company is undertaking a thorough examination of how they can become more inclusive diverse and antiracist internally and in the shows they produceamp8220Our understanding has grown that racial equity and gender parity are separate though related issuesamp8221 Landgraf continued noting that in this very atypical year people of color will direct 16 of FX series episodesamp160 If all goes according to plan that number will increase to 45 in 2021amp8220We39re dealing with a complex process designed to give every individual an equally fair shot at these opportunitiesamp8221 he further explained amp8220We have radically expanded our efforts to find and recruit talented storytellers from every segment of our society including those who were overlooked in the past So 42 of our writers across all our shows in 2020 and 43 in 2021 are people of color Women make up 42 of our writing staffs in 2020 and that number is forecast to be 41 in 2021 In 2021 38 of FX series regular actors are slated to be people of color The gender split in both 2020 and 2021 among series regulars between men and women will be 5050amp8220We39re also working hard to develop a deeper roster of shows created run and executive produced by women and people of color We39ve made headway with shows like Pose Mrs America Better Things Atlanta Snowfall Cake What We Do in the Shadows Mayans A Teacher Y the Last Man and American Crime Story Impeachment but the truth is we still have plenty of work to do Just last weekend we began production on Reservation Dogs a halfhour comedy cocreated by awardwinning filmmakers Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi and directed by Sterling which is based on Sterling39s life growing up in Oklahoma Sterling is a member of the Seminole Nation and the entire writing staff is Native Americanamp8221Landgraf also spoke about the other great challenge of 2020 the Covid19 pandemic amp8220After a great deal of work and collaboration with our partners weamp8217re finding safe ways of returning to workamp8221 he said amp8220We39re taking extraordinary measures to ensure everyone39s safety on our productions The health and safety of our talent and crews is our No 1 priorityamp8220We returned to production on A Teacher in August in Los Angelesamp8221 he continued amp8220We safely completed four days of pickups with about 80 cast and crew members We had shot nine of the 11 episodes of Fargo prior to the Covid19 shut down I39m happy to say that we were able to return safely to filming in Chicago and yesterday was our final day of production We39re in production on Season 2 of Breeders in the UK and ramping up a big slate of returning shows that are in various states of preproduction including Pose Snowfall Mayans American Horror Story Mr InBetween and Dave Other shows returning to production in the first half of 2021 include Atlanta Better Things and What We Do in the Shadowsamp160 New shows either completing or beginning production this fall include the drama series The Old Man Y The Last Man and American Crime Story Impeachmentamp8221Challenges aside FX has enjoyed increased success in 2020 via the launch of FX on Hulu which Landgraf referred to as amp8220the biggest initiative in our historyamp8221 The new platform he said has amp8220exceeded our best expectationsamp8221 and amp8220has created greater awareness and buzz as well as increased viewership for our shows because of Hulu39s fantastic platform and it39s 35 12 million subscribers For example Dave is approaching 8 million viewers per episode making it our most watched FX comedy series ever The audience for What We Do in the Shadows has grown 54 from Season 1 to Season 2 We have no doubt that we39ll see similar results with other returning shows We39ve also been able to add to our stable by making new shows exclusively for FX on Huluamp8221Asked if he was concerned that the established FX Networks brand which includes FX FXX and FXM might be compromised or otherwise be lost amid the success of FX on Hulu Landgraf replied amp8220The way I think about it is that essentially there really was no such thing as a television brand There were only television locations Every TV brand really refers or referred to a location ABC NBC CBS HBO FX and AMC were all locations We39ve always given credit to HBO for starting out as a location and as a subscription brand but then thinking beyond the notion of its call letters WarnerMedia elected to name their streaming platform HBO Max so essentially they took the legacy location and the brand that came from it and they turned it into a new locationamp8220Now we have something different which is we have the idea of brands and locations as conceivably being separate things or say two different kinds of brands A brand that you buy like Amazon Prime or Netflix or Hulu or Disney and then a brand that resides inside that product like Pixar or Marvel or Star Wars or National Geographicamp8220Of course many of us still have our locations which were the original source of our brands It39s going to be interesting to see how this evolves because you do have certain platforms where there is no difference between the platform and the brand Netflix is a classic example of that as there is no sub brand on Netflix It is the program and the channel brand Obviously that39s working really well for themamp8220What I don39t know is over time will consumers become comfortable with or figure out the notion that platforms and brands can either be the same thing ie Amazon or Netflix or they can be separate things meaning a platform can be one thing and a brand can be something that resides on a platform I can tell you that the Disney Company has made a decision to structure their platforms that wayamp8220This is a confusing time for consumersamp8221 Landgraf concluded amp8220For one thing there39s probably too many brands too many channels too many locations But I have some optimism that this will work out okay in the long runamp8221Click the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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FX Chairman John Landgraf on the New Dynamics of Diversity

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Ed Martin

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FX Chairman John Landgraf on the New Dynamics of Diversity

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