“Go, woke, go broke,” they said…
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Here’s a simple truth; for the overwhelming majority of the entertainment industry’s history, no racial demographic has ever been more catered to than white people, because white people have always needed to see themselves on the screen. Because of this truth, film and TV studio executives have historically underestimated the profitability of Black-led projects. They have simply never been confident that movies and shows with directors of color and/or predominately POC casts could do the numbers white-led projects do. And it’s for that reason that Hollywood gatekeepers are costing themselves billions in revenue every year due to racial inequality, according to a series of studies—one of which we reported on in 2021—published by the consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that McKinsey & Company once again totaled up the potential financial revenue that Hollywood could stand to gain if it adopted more culturally inclusive business solutions.
McKinsey reports that Hollywood could earn $10 billion per year by closing the Black inequity gap, $12 billion to $18 billion from properly valuing Latino professionals and consumers, and $2 billion to $4.4 billion from better getting into the Asian and Pacific Islander market.
That number adds up to $30 billion a year.
The latter figure is calculated based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data that Asian Americans earn on average 30 percent more than non-Asian Americans but spend 35 percent less on media. Meanwhile, McKinsey’s own survey of API consumers found that nearly half would spend more money (49 percent) and time (47 percent) on film and television with more authentic representation. Put plainly; Asian Americans have a lot of money, and they would spend more of it on media if it better reflected them.
Do y’all remember when movies and shows like Everything Everywhere All at Once, Parasite, Beef and Squid Game were sweeping awards shows and the racist and caucasity-infused “Go woke, go broke” collective was whining about “wokeness” infiltrating the Academy because they just couldn’t conceive of the possibility that non-white creatives were more deserving of the recognition? Well, Hollywood is now suffering financially from that same attitude, and maybe it’s time these executives understand for their own good that whiteness is not a prerequisite for popularity, let alone artistic quality.
I mean, we’re talking about up to $30 billion annually. That’s what it’s costing Hollywood to be racist AF. Is it really worth it?