Hollywood Diversity Report 2020: A Q&A with Dr. Ana-Christina Ramón

There’s lots of talk about diversity in Hollywood right now. And we want to believe it’s working, that Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian femmes are finally getting the TV deals that pipe their stories into our living rooms. But is it all talk?

We DMed Dr. Ana-Christina Ramón, Director of Research and Civic Engagement at UCLA’s Division of Social Sciences to find out. Along with professor Darnell Hunt, Dr. Ramón co-authors the center’s reports on diversity in Hollywood, including their recently released 2020 findings. We took our Twitter relationship to the next level (email) and what follows is a dressed-up version of our “conversation.”

CRISTINA ESCOBAR: Hi! Thanks for emailing with me. I’ve followed you on Twitter for a long time and am always so grateful for your insight. You bring this super important, data-driven perspective to the conversation on diversity in Hollywood and you do it as a Latina. So my first question for you is: can you share what’s the most important takeaway from this year’s report?

DR. ANA-CHRISTINA RAMÓN: Thank you. In terms of the 2020 report in film and television, we found that although the percentage of people of color in front of the camera has increased, the numbers behind the camera are relatively stagnant. Most importantly, we find that…