Gatekeeping Is Precisely Why Most Films Don’t Receive Diverse Reviews
Prove To Me You Are Worthy
Freelance writing as a Black writer or PoC writer is filled with stress. At best, we are ignored by major outlets except when Black History Month rolls around or another month that focuses on a non-white group. The consensus is “we will look like assholes if we don’t have one of them write something for us”. Albeit, we are hired to contribute. Our income is a game of “will I survive this month” because they only want one or two tokens, if that, same as on their staff.
Few outlets staff us and even fewer staff us in numbers. You’ll usually find one or two Black people or people of color and the rest are variants of white. Pay as a contributor is rarely good, and often you’ll wait 3–6 months—prayers up it’s only that—to receive compensation. As a freelancer you want to pitch the major outlets but also know it’s a minefield even at the best of times because you rarely know how much they pay before you pitch or how long you will wait to get paid. How was this okay prior to a pandemic? How is this still happening now in the middle of one?
