Hollywood’s hidden racism hinders Latinx films
MIAMI BEACH — While Hollywood is resolving its labor disputes, top Latino actors and comedians are struggling with the persistence of “masked racism” in the global entertainment capital. trillions of dollars in purchasing power of the Hispanic population is being ignored, at great cost.
Colombian John Leguizamo, who starred in “The Menu” and “Ice Age,” found that 41% of Latinx subscribers to streaming services can’t find enough content on the site to represent them. He cited a Nielsen survey from a year ago that reported that there were no.
He said studios that produce movies, TV shows and limited series are missing out on additional revenue because they “don’t have the Latin content” to meet viewer and subscriber demand.
“I love to see my culture. I love to see our music, our food, our history, our jokes,” Leguizamo said during a discussion at the L’ATTITUDES annual conference on September 29. Ta. “I long for it.”
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Earlier, researchers at Arizona State University and the think tank Latino Donor Collaborative found that the U.S. Latino population, as a whole, exceeds the GDP of every country except the U.S., China, Japan, and other countries. They published a study showing that Japan is an economic powerhouse. Germany. According to the annual LDC US Latino GDP Report, U.S. Hispanics have a gross domestic product of more than $3.2 trillion and purchasing power of more than $3.4 trillion.
Florida ranks fourth in the nation for Latino economic strength, behind California, Texas, and New York. According to the report, Latino workers make up nearly 30% of the workforce in the Sunshine State, and their $239 billion in gross domestic income accounts for just under 20% of the state’s gross domestic income.
Sol Trujillo, president of Latitude, said the goal was not to embarrass Hollywood executives and producers, or corporate America in general, but to make them understand that they “put a lot of money on the table.” He said that.
“We want to help them make more money,” Trujillo said.
He added that data shows Latinos are “superstreamers” of movies and shows, buying 25% to 30% of theatrical box office tickets.
“If you’re making money, wouldn’t you want to make more?” Trujillo said. “The conversation with them becomes, ‘You’re leaving money on the table.'”
And Florida?National policy will negatively impact film and television production, small and medium-sized businesses, industry group says
Hollywood is missing an opportunity, but industry groups said Florida is compounding its mistakes by retreating from industries that can provide the state with good-paying jobs and business.
“There’s a huge opportunity,” said John Lux, executive director of Film Florida, a nonprofit that promotes film, television and digital media production. “Just the audience that Florida has naturally in the Latin American market is a really untapped opportunity. We could be producing more Hispanic content to tell the story of Florida and that market.”
Film advocates say Florida, home to some 5.5 million Latinos, should lead the pack, especially among Florida stars like Andy Garcia, Sofia Vergara, Eva Mendes and Jennifer Lopez. claims. state.
Unfortunately, Lux said, Florida continues to pursue legislative measures that make the industry less competitive. The state Legislature has refused to reinstate film and television incentives that were phased out in 2016.
As a result, the state is losing “hundreds of millions of dollars” on “thousands of additional jobs” for resident cast and crew members, Lux said. These jobs are in the entertainment production industry, with an average annual salary of $98,863, according to state statistics.
To make matters worse, Florida is now one of only five states without a state film commission, with lawmakers voting to eliminate it, he said. Lux said such actions are a “PR disaster” that give the false impression that the state is not interested in film and television production, and that state government agencies, local governments, and other agencies filming in Florida He said that an important “conduit” between companies was taken away.
“Right now, our industry is trying to contain the situation as best we can,” he said of the aftermath of the Film Commission’s demise.
The entertainment industry dodged another bullet when an effort to strip the Entertainment Sales Tax Incentive Program, a point-of-sale tax credit used by small businesses, failed. But a lot of damage has been done, Lux said.
“The only people hurt by the state getting rid of the state film commission are us, the Floridians who work here in the state,” he said. “We don’t really understand the motivation behind harming Floridians and their ability to work, but that’s what’s happening.”
Palm Beach County records ‘record-breaking year’ as it focuses on small-scale production
Local county officials say the trick is to focus on TV shows, commercials and music videos, rather than blockbusters as a whole. As a result, the county has tallied and documented $238.7 million worth of production costs in 2022, said Michelle Hilary, who heads the Palm Beach County Film and Television Commission.
“Palm Beach County had record numbers in 2022,” said Hilary, the county’s film commissioner. “We’ve really built an industry for small projects here in Palm Beach County.”
These projects include episodes of Bravo TV’s “Real Housewives of Miami,” Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” hosted by Guy Fieri, and TLC’s chiropractic program “Crack Addicts.” I was there. The committee’s role is to promote the county to producers, help them find production sites, and guide them through procedures such as obtaining permits.
That said, Hilary added that counties and states would benefit from reinstating incentive programs, since Florida is one of 11 states that lacks them.
“There’s no question, I’d rather have an incentive,” she said.
Hillary said Florida is often “not even in the first conversation” when it comes to large-scale, profitable film production, and that the state’s film industry, which includes 150 production companies in Palm Beach County, In this field, he said, “We are working in the red.” .
“This is a business,” she said. “We have a great tax environment here, but we also have great year-round weather. If you can go to Georgia and get a huge rebate or cash rebate of up to 20% on production in that state, you have a competitive advantage. It’s difficult to do that.”
Leguizamo: Hollywood’s ‘wisdom’ is actually ‘racism in disguise’
But Latinos in Florida and the United States face even greater challenges nationally in seeking financial and creative support from film industry executives.
Despite a string of stratospheric hits, Leguizamo said audiences, including Hispanic audiences, generally expect Latino productions to feature white actors in traditional social roles. He said that he is facing an inhibiting factor, the belief that this is the case.
“Executives used to say, ‘We don’t need to get Latinos. We have Latinos,’ and ‘Latinos want to see white people, not Latinos,'” Leguizamo said. “All this nonsense, all this Hollywood wisdom, is just racism in a mask.”
He believes it’s worth taking a hard look in this case, as track record should lower barriers and skepticism. He recalled that when he studied acting at New York University, white actors were typically cast for roles such as doctors and lawyers, while for Latinos it was drug dealers and assassins.
Trujillo, whose organization, the Latino Donor Initiative, conducted a study on the impact of entertainment media on public views, found that the stereotypes fostered by movies changed half the population’s “perceptions of the human condition.” It was found that this was the cause.
“When you see Latinos in movies bringing in drugs or being involved with cartels or doing things like that, you know that’s part of the brand’s problem. I understand,” Trujillo said. “The Latin American brand developed because of Hollywood, where 90% of the depictions were done in a negative context.”
Trujillo and Leguizamo said there are many more positive, successful and groundbreaking examples.
Leguizamo cited Disney’s animated film “Encanto,” about a family living in the Colombian mountains, which grossed $256 million. Another Disney animated film in 2017, Coco, made nearly $1 billion.
A mainstream production starring a Latinx star, HBO’s The Last of Us starring Pedro Pascal is a series that has reportedly grossed $1 billion since 2020. The Netflix series “Wednesday” is a spin-off of “The Addams Family” starring Jenna Ortega. has surpassed 1.02 billion hours of total viewing time in its first three weeks since its debut, as more than 150 million households streamed the show.
“What we’re saying is, ‘Where are the other Latin stories and opportunities that will come after that?'” Leguizamo asked. “Where can I find more information?”
His own experiences, from movies to Broadway one-man shows, reflect that challenge.
“Every time I’ve been promoted, I’ve had to convince all the investors that there’s value in Latinx talent and content, and they still don’t understand that,” he said.
But ultimately, Leguizamo said, if streaming numbers increase, box office revenues recover and money continues to flow in, Hollywood will turn around and studios will hire more Latino executives.
“We Latins do better when metrics and math are involved,” he said. “When we are swayed by management’s preferences and opinions, that’s when we lose, and that’s when we have to trust management to make the right decisions. Hollywood is running away from fear. Always running away from fear.” Because of this, they make cowardly decisions.”
Antonio Fins is the politics and business editor for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. Please contact us at afins@pbpost.com. Please support our journalism. Subscribe now.
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