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Issa Rae is a Hollywood success story. Her web series The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl<\/em> launched her career in the early 2010s, leading to her HBO series Insecure<\/em> and now her production company Hoorae Media.<\/p>\n Through all her projects, Rae has been praised for her authentic portrayal of Black women\u2019s lives\u2014but at a recent panel, Rae said that the entertainment industry is no longer interested in celebrating diversity.<\/p>\n While speaking at TheWrap<\/a>\u2019s Creators x Hollywood Summit last Wednesday, April 8, Rae pointed out a troubling trend she\u2019s seeing on the production side of Hollywood.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m seeing it. Just blatantly. People aren\u2019t investing like they were before,\u201d she said. \u201c[DEI] has changed meanings and has become a bad word.\u201d<\/p>\n Rae added that creators and executives are \u201ctiptoeing\u201d around the topic, with some executives of color even telling her they \u201ccan\u2019t cosign you\u201d for fear of losing their own positions.<\/p>\n \u201cEven after so much progress, we\u2019re kind of back to limited representation and having to stake claim of our stories,\u201d she explained. \u201cWe\u2019re back where we started, in a way, but wiser.\u201d<\/p>\n How, then, can POC-centered projects\u2014the kind that put Rae on the map\u2014continue to get made? Rae said it\u2019s all about framing.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to be smarter about how you package and market [projects]. You tell them, \u2018It\u2019s not a show about a Black woman, it\u2019s a show about class,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cAs icky as that might feel, it gets the show sold.\u201d<\/p>\n From the beginning of her career, Rae has been dedicated to thoughtful representation, particularly for Black women.<\/p>\n \u201cI started Awkward Black Girl<\/em> because there was a dearth of representation in the industry, and it felt like this was my opportunity to put an archetype into the space that didn\u2019t exist at the time,\u201d Rae said at the panel.<\/p>\n Sometimes, that meant turning down career opportunities, like being approached to adapt Awkward Black Girl<\/em> into a TV series. \u201cThey talked about recasting everyone, including me, with celebrities, so that was an easy no thank you,\u201d Rae joked.<\/p>\n In making the transition from YouTube to HBO, Rae said she learned to approach executives with a clear vision, rather than let them dictate what they want from her.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2014\u2018What can I do for you?\u2019\u2014was the wrong mindset to adopt,\u201d she said. \u201cI should have been like, \u2018I have these things for you that I specifically want to do, and I know what I want to say.\u2019 It took me a while to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n Since Insecure<\/em> concluded in 2021, Rae has appeared as an actor in films including Barbie <\/em>and American Fiction<\/em> and TV shows like Black Mirror<\/em>. Her latest venture under Hoorae Media is a micro-drama called Screen Time<\/em>, premiering for free on TikTok and its new Pine Drama app. It\u2019s the first of several micro-series Rae is developing for TikTok as part of a new partnership, as she revealed last week in a statement.<\/p>\n At TheWrap\u2019s panel, Rae emphasized that despite shifting industry standards, Hoorae Media hasn\u2019t strayed from its mission of telling inclusive stories, \u201cand it never will,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Rae\u2019s comments went viral on social media, prompting the internet to take a closer look at the state of POC-centered productions in Hollywood. <\/p>\n Many users drew connections to the currently screening rom-com You, Me & Tuscany<\/em>, starring Halle Bailey and Reg\u00e9-Jean Page. Filmmaker Nina Lee went viral last month<\/a> for encouraging audiences to support the Black-led film, saying multiple studio executives had told her they wouldn\u2019t commit to her projects until seeing how You, Me & Tuscany <\/em>performed at the box office. <\/p>\n Some posters argued that Rae simply said the quiet part out loud, and that America\u2019s cultural shift to conservatism has already been bleeding into Hollywood for quite some time.<\/p>\nShifting tides in the film industry<\/h2>\n
From Awkward Black Girl<\/em> to Screen Time<\/em><\/h2>\n
Rising pressure on Black-led projects<\/h2>\n