Latinos account for 19 percent of the US population but are responsible for 24 percent of box-office ticket sales and make up 24 percent of streaming subscribers. Yet, senior partner Lucy Pérez and coauthors find that Latinos are underrepresented in the entertainment industry, where they hold less than 5 percent of leading on-screen, off-screen, and executive leadership roles. This lack of representation in jobs that determine hiring for other production roles contributes to the low number of opportunities available for aspiring Latino talent: the likelihood of a Latino producer, writer, or lead signing on to a project is an average of 15-fold higher if the director or showrunner is Latino.
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A 2-panel interactive, each with 6 squares made of circles representing 100%, compares the percentage of Latinos in above-the-line roles in US theatrical and episodic series, based on the ethnicity of the director or showrunner, 2013–22. The first panel shows Latino representation in producer, writer, or lead/colead roles doesn’t exceed 4% with a White director or showrunner. The second panel shows Latino representation in these roles doesn’t fall below 26% with a Latino director or showrunner.
Latino representation for producers under a White director was ~2%, writer less than 1%, and lead/colead was ~3%. Under a White showrunner, representation of Latino producers was ~3%, writer was ~1%, and lead/colead ~ 4%.
Latino representation for producers under a Latino director was 26%, writer 78%, and lead/colead 40%. Latino producer representation under a Latino showrunner was 36%, writer 51%, and lead/colead 36%.
Footnote: Above-the-line talent includes main producers (top 3 for film, top 2 for TV), director for film, top 2 showrunners for TV, main writers (top writer for film, top 3 for TV), lead and colead for film, and top 10 actors for TV. These roles typically have higher influence on the creative direction of content.
Source: Nielsen; Variety Insight.
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To read the article, see “Latinos in Hollywood: Amplifying voices, expanding horizons,” March 7, 2024.