Professional Documents
Culture Documents
October 2013
Hollywood Diversity Brief: Spotlight on Cable Television
Acknowledgements
This brief was authored by Dr. Darnell Hunt and edited by Dr. Ana-Christina Ramon.
Amberia Allen, Jonathan Collins, Marcia Fuentes, Dr. Zachary Price, and Terrell Winder
contributed to data collection and to other background research for the brief. Financial
support was provided by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at
UCLA (The Hollywood Advancement Project), Sony Pictures Entertainment, and the
Walter Kaitz Foundation.
Photos by Shutterstock
1 Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies
This brief is the first in a series of studies by Data for this brief were compiled from a
the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African variety of sources industry stakeholders rely
American Studies at UCLA to explore the upon for day-to-day updates on industry
relationships between diversity and the developments.3 These sources include The
bottom-line in the Hollywood entertainment Studio System, Variety Insight, the Internet
industry. The Bunche Center’s larger Movie Database (IMDb), and Nielsen. (See
Hollywood Advancement Project, from Table 1 on page 9 for a complete list of
which this brief stems, has three primary networks included in this study.)
goals: 1) to generate comprehensive
research analyses of the inclusion of diverse
groups in film and television, including lead
roles, writing, directing, producing, and
talent representation; 2) to identify and
disseminate best practices for increasing the
pipeline of underrepresented groups into the
Hollywood entertainment industry; and 3) to
consider the broader implications of diverse
industry access and media images for society
as a whole.
The Data
The “Hollywood Diversity Brief: Spotlight
on Cable Television” examines 1,076
television shows (including 844 cable and
219 broadcast shows) that aired during the
2011-12 season.1 These shows were The Televisual Landscape
distributed across 61 cable and six broadcast The past few decades have witnessed
networks. Variables considered in the dramatic changes in the nature of television.
analyses for this brief include the following: What was once the province of just three
show genres major broadcast networks has morphed into
a complex landscape of multiple broadcast
racial status of lead cast members
networks, scores of cable networks, and
gender of lead cast members
nascent Internet content providers. Against
show creator racial status this backdrop, the following headlines
show creator gender compare cable television to broadcast
writer diversity television during the 2011-12 season in terms
of overall audience share and genres.
Nielsen ratings2
Hollywood Diversity Brief: Spotlight on Cable Television 2
percentage range for this category, of course, Figure 14 reveals that during the 2011-12
encompasses the overall minority share of season median household ratings were
the U.S. population in 2010, 36.3 percent. lowest among cable television shows with
Examples of shows in this category include: writing staffs that were 10 percent minority
A.N.T. Farm (Disney), The Closer (TNT), or less (0.45 rating points). These 58 cable
and Falling Skies (TNT). By contrast, shows represented nearly two thirds of the
ratings were lowest among shows with casts shows in the ratings analysis. By contrast,
that were 10 percent minority or less (0.39 ratings peaked among shows with writing
ratings points), a category that included the staffs that were from 11 percent to 20 percent
largest number of cable shows in the analysis minority (0.85 rating points) and from 41
(52 shows). Figure 13 shows that the percent to 50 percent minority (0.81 rating
importance of diversity to the bottom-line points). Among the eight cable shows in
was just as pronounced in broadcast these latter two categories are the following:
television during the 2011-12 season. That In Plain Sight (USA), Common Law (USA),
is, median household ratings peaked among and Southland (TNT).
broadcast television shows that were from 41
7 Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies
Conclusion
Figure 15 shows that the relationship This Hollywood Diversity Brief has
between writing staff diversity and ratings documented an apparent disconnect
was dissimilar for broadcast television. That between the industry’s professed focus on
is, the broadcast shows with the least diverse the bottom-line and actual television staffing
staffs did not post the lowest ratings during practices. That is, while the cable television
the 2011-12 season. But it should be noted shows enjoying the highest ratings during
that the broadcast shows with the highest the 2011-12 season tended to reflect the
ratings (5.66 rating points) had writing staffs nation’s racial and ethnic diversity in terms
that were significantly more diverse — from of their casts and writing staffs, minorities
21 percent to 30 percent minority — than were nonetheless woefully underrepresented
those of most broadcast shows. on both fronts across most television shows.
This disconnect does not bode well for the
future of the industry. More than a third of
the U.S. population is currently minority,
and the population continues to diversify at a
dizzying rate. Indeed, for the first time, the
Hollywood Diversity Brief: Spotlight on Cable Television 8