The tools for diversity onscreen have never been more accessible to studios than now, thanks in part to the Academy’s inclusion standards. The rules were implemented for the 96th Oscars this year to encourage more diverse productions: Best Picture contenders now have to meet certain qualifications for staffing to compete. And as studies have shown, and even Geena Davis recently told IndieWire at the Bentonville Film Festival, more diverse movies simply make more money. Look at the recent success of “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” at the box office.
On the latest episode of “Screen Talk,” IndieWire sat down with Lorenza Muñoz, the CEO and founder of Artemis Muse Productions, a full-service consultancy that expands on her prior work as the head of member relations and awards at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and as a senior executive at Amazon MGM Studios. In our wide-ranging conversation, we caught up on how those inclusion standards are impacting the current state of Hollywood. Muñoz also discusses the key demographics still not being tapped into by studios — as well as the studios and streamers who are implementing diversity well. Muñoz also looks back at the Academy’s #OscarsSoWhite-era efforts to bolster diversity within its membership, and how that has impacted the awards and the movies getting made.
“Screen Talk” hosts Anne Thompson and Ryan Lattanzio also debate this week’s splashiest new release: Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” the sequel to the 2015 original about the complex whirl of emotions inside a child’s head. Anne adores this sequel, while Ryan is more reserved about its basic approach to storytelling — and one that foretells Pixar’s push toward more general interest narratives than personal auteur-driven projects like “Luca” and “Turning Red.” In his review posted earlier this week, IndieWire’s chief film critic David Ehrlich argued that “Inside Out 2” shows Pixar heading in the wrong direction. Anne disagrees.
Watch the full episode above or listen to it below.
Screen Talk is produced by Azwan Badruzaman and available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and hosted by Megaphone. Browse previous episodes here, subscribe here, and be sure to let us know if you’d like to hear the hosts address specific issues in upcoming editions of Screen Talk
