Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/508104
SAGAFTRA.org | Spring 2015 | SAG-AFTRA 31 Top: SAG-AFTRA National Exectutive Director David White, left, interviews panelists, from left, David Oyelowo, Louis Gossett Jr. and Blair Underwood. Right: From left, moderator Franklin Leonard, Matt Jackson, Jeremy Kleiner and Charles King during the Black Book Value panel. "The difficult thing for us is that we are constantly feeling like we have to break new ground because the audience is being presented with something that is not the norm. But if there was a constant stream of roles and films and images and representation that was evocative of the world we actually live in, there wouldn't be a conversation about diversity every time a film like 12 Years a Slave or Selma comes along," Oyelowo said. His remarks reflect findings from a recent report that shed light into the ethnicity gap in film and television. The study, 2015 Hollywood Diversity Report: Flipping the Script, conducted by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA, found that in 2013, only 10.5 percent of lead actors in theatrical films were minorities. Furthermore, only 6.5 percent of lead actors in broadcast scripted programming belonged to a minority race. "SAG-AFTRA aims to push the industry to a point where performers of all ethnicities and backgrounds can compete equally for roles," White said. VALERIE MACON