We don’t often flat-out recommend articles for other sites here at That Park Place. We do happily send people to other sites for references and we love to link to Twitter accounts, Facebook posts, Instagram, etc. We want to build up other sites that cover the things we cover. We’re not out to rule the theme park and entertainment news niche all by ourselves — that would be doomed anyway. But linking to another site just for the sake of having our readers go there is usually not something we do.
An exception needs to be made for an opinion piece on Bari Weiss’ substack. It is one of those rare articles outside of the trades that has all of Hollywood talking. There, writers Peter Kiefer and Peter Savodnik are taking on a topic that must have hit a nerve. It’s a trending article in various circles around the web. Whether you agree with the opinions presented or disagree with opinions therein, it’s important to hear expertise and nuance surrounding Hollywood and why it has made certain narrative decisions as a collective body despite those decisions having potentially harmed its bottom line. We think it’s important to know what various people with various beliefs are saying.
Here is just one excerpt:
“Meanwhile, CBS mandated that writers’ rooms be at least 40 percent black, indigenous and people of color (or BIPOC) for the 2021-2022 broadcast season and 50 percent for the 2022-2023 season. ABC Entertainment issued a detailed series of “inclusion standards.” (“I guarantee you every studio has something like that,” a longtime writer and director said.)
To help producers meet the new standards, the filmmaker Ava DuVernay—who was recently added to Forbes’ list of “The Most Powerful Women in Entertainment” along with Oprah Winfrey and Taylor Swift—last year created ARRAY Crew, a database of women, people of color, and others from underrepresented groups who work on day-to-day production: line producers, camera operators, art directors, sound mixers and so on. The Hollywood Reporter declared that ARRAY Crew has “fundamentally changed how Hollywood productions will be staffed going forward.”
It’s a long read. But we recommend it… again, whether you agree or disagree. That Park Place doesn’t take a position or endorsement on any of the major statements in the piece, but we also believe in helping readers find things that will make us all think at a deep level.
Best regards.
