You might find it interesting to know that the publishing world is suffering from the same idiocy.

In fact, I don't know if you knew about the great cover controversy. Publishers are taking books with protagonists of color and putting Caucasians on the covers.

It's turning into a HUGE fight. Only sometimes do the authors win.

Liar Liar, by Justine Larbalestier http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2009/07/23/aint-that-a-shame/

Magic Under Glass, by Jaclyn Dolamore
http://kbgbabbles.blogspot.com/2010/02/white-washing-cover-update-magic-under.html

Silver Phoenix, by Cindy Pon: http://bookshop.dreamwidth.org/1007281.html?thread=37065137

I don't understand it, honestly. My husband keeps claiming it's like the publishing folks are trying to slit their own throats.

I almost have to agree.

Ruthanne, thanks for that info. Had no idea about publishing industry.

Both my current specs are filled with ethnicity, partly because of the stories, partly because funding now comes from international sources that have interests outside the North American market.

How many times does Tyler Perry have to win a weekend before Hollywood takes notice?

I think it's smart for studios to consider all races in their movies because people in China most likely would like to see a Chinese actor/actress in the movies Hollywood releases. People in India would like to see an Indian actor/actress in the movies Hollywood releases. People in Russia would like to see a Russian actor/actress in the movies Hollywood releases.

I believe it's exactly because of the international market that Hollywood is staying white for now. Remember how the black couple was taken off the UK poster for "Couple's Retreat" and (I can't remember exactly which film it was) another black character was digitally turned white for the European release of a mainstream film?

America isn't the only place in the world with race issues, and in other places, ethnicity/culture/race are put through an even finer lens. For instance, we see "Asian" but in Asia, the differences are much more subtle. So, if you put a major Chinese character in your film, you might be turning off the Japanese, but putting a Japanese one in your film could leave the Korean audience cold. The same can be said for mid-eastern countries and their ethnic and religious quagmires. Other parts of the globe have been dealing with their own racial stereotypes for as long as we have, and in ways that we don't fully understand. Hollywood sticks with white because white seems safe.

Just to illustrate, as well as Tyler Perry does in America - in large part because the African-American audience is one of the most reliable when it comes to spending money on entertainment - the international figures I pulled for his movie suck. Here's the tally for last year's Why Did I Get Married, Too? The other Perry movies I looked up were not significantly different.

Domestic: $60,095,852 99.0%
+ Foreign: $578,120 1.0%

@Annika: You make a really interesting point. But it's quite specific: Tyler Perry has a niche audience, a reliable one and a big enough one to sustain the movies he makes on a budget, but niche nonetheless, and as you point out, limited considerably out the U.S..

What I was thinking about when I read the original article was a movie like Inception. That movie had white Americans for the core target audience, but also Ken Watanabe (Asian), Dileep Rao (Middle Eastern), and Tom Hardy (U.K.). Was Nolan thinking about multiculturalism when he penned the script to maximize the movie's play internationally? I have no idea. But whatever his instinct was, it was a smart one. The movie did $532,956,569 foreign accounting for 64.6% of total revenues. How much of that derived from Japanese audiences wanting to see Watanabe or English audiences enjoying Hardy in his role as Eames, again I have no idea. But it certainly didn't hurt.

Moreover it just makes for a more interesting movie, different characters, different backgrounds, different accents.

I'd like to add emphasis to the "cultural" part. I went to a late afternoon matinee on the opening day of Fast and Furious 5, and the audience was 65%-35% Latino to the rest of us, with lots of families enjoying the film together. When the action or scene or story content hit a culturally resonate note -- wow! Talk about interactive, vocal, electric ENGAGEMENT...it literally crackled during the already way-cool experience.

My take-away as a writer was this: we need to go beyond just painting in a multi-hued cast and make sure the choices we make in our story beats, scenes and settings are authentically grounded in the cultural touchstones for those characters...and for the audience. The extra research and effort is gonna be worth it, 'cuz if you can create that kind of visceral connection with the audience, you're script is GOLDEN.

And yes. That's WAY easier said that done...;-)

@John: This is a fantastic point:

"My take-away as a writer was this: we need to go beyond just painting in a multi-hued cast and make sure the choices we make in our story beats, scenes and settings are authentically grounded in the cultural touchstones for those characters...and for the audience. The extra research and effort is gonna be worth it, 'cuz if you can create that kind of visceral connection with the audience, you're script is GOLDEN."

I doing some analysis the last few days for something on the script for the movie Winter's Bone which is a movie with a very specific subculture -- rural Ozarks in Missouri/Arkansas. And achieving that sense of authenticity or verisimilitude is one of the aspects of the story that really elevate it.

So here is another case -- along with the whole 'save the cat / whack the cat' post -- where we can start outside the story with some sort of thing we want to lay onto it ala multiculturalism but in order for it to work, it must arise from within the story universe and those characters. Good writing achieves that. Bad writing does not.

I think Television has come farther then movies and literature when it comes to diversity. I don't know why that is though. Would love to hear a TV writer's point of view. Even if a show doesn't last too long, there have been some interesting cast choices in recent years.

Also, I didn't see Fast Five, but I think it was about the thrill of the cars as well as the diverse cast. Everybody loves fast cars. Producers might think certain genres work better with a 'not so white' cast. That is sad though because a good character can originate from anywhere in a fictional world.

It takes these studios a long time to learn what the audience likes. They are still very skittish when it comes to this stuff.

The replies here are just downright silly and somewhat disturbing to be honest... no offense Scott... I'm not shooting the messenger.

If writing has become a quota on ethnicity and gender... I will stop today... because I thought it was about the story...

PERIOD!

When I write... it's a man or a woman speaks. Done.

"It's a White Summer Again" Really?

I'm courious what the reaction would have been if the article would have been entitled "Hollywood Won't Learn: It's a Black Winter Again"

Probably nothing... and that's just sad.

It's a bullshit story by a bullshit "writer" that has nothing better to do than "bean count" when he or she or it or they should worry about other things... like writing a real story.

But I guess it doesn't matter because drones will read on and keep the jackass in business.

Don't get me wrong... I do understand. If the story requires some specific backdrop of ethnicity or cultural affilation... then write on... it's justified.

But this touchy-feely check list of "I must make sure to add this person or that" is pretty sad...

And the writing will show it... and suffer.

Let the "bean counters" count the beans and I will continute to write from the heart... and not by a check list.

Dismounting soapbox...

@Courtney: I consider myself pretty much not a PC guy, especially when it comes to writing. As I have said elsewhere, "Story trumps all." So fundamentally you and I are having an agreement on that point.

Apart from raising the issue because it's an interesting one re the state of moviemaking, if a writer can make their script more marketable by thinking more broadly about the gender, race, and/or sexual orientation of characters in their stories, actually making that an early part of their story and character development process, then why not? A writer has to make those choices anyhow. Why not consider alternatives to white heterosexual guys? If it's organic to your process as a writer, what's the downside to at least exploring those options?

Again I'm not trying to appease the PC patrol. I'm just looking for ways to help writers make their scripts (1) more interesting and (2) more marketable.

The writers and casting directors of Thor definitely got the memo: Heimdall, the Norse god who guards the rainbow bridge connecting Asgard to Earth is being played by Idris Elba. Maybe this is an example of multicultural casting that doesn't exactly grow organically from the milieu of the story, but is instead forced on it?