Post Oscar Buzz

The Oscars are over, and I feel more hope than ever.  For the future of film…and ultimately, hopefully, humanity. It's a natural high and I'm enjoying the buzz.

It wasn’t the fact that there were so many great films pegged for awards that no matter who won, we had reason to celebrate.  It was that the films and, more importantly, those making them were manifesting a movement toward something greater; not only manifesting it in the work, but expressing it—loudly, boldly and eloquently—even in their acceptance speeches.

The message of the movement? We all must work together to make the world a better, more unified, more embracing place; for only in coming together can we hope to enjoy the universal strength, equality and love required to make all good dreams come true.

This is the goal to which we are headed…if these artists keep leading the way.  And if we listen to them and follow their lead.

So…I beg you…for the sake of us all…listen…

 "The greatest thing our industry does is to erase the lines in the sand and we should continue doing that even when the world tells us to make them deeper."
Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water

 "…we tried to take a step forward toward a world where all children can grow up seeing characters in movies that look and talk and live like they do. Marginalized people deserve to feel like they belong. Representation matters."
Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson, Coco

"I stopped writing this movie about 20 times because I thought it was impossible…I thought no one would ever make this movie. But…I knew if someone let me make this movie, that people would hear it and people would see it."
Jordan Peele, Get Out

"We all have stories to tell…I have two words to leave with you tonight...inclusion rider." *
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 



*An inclusion rider stipulates that the minor roles of a film reflect the demography of where the film takes place. Name actors who have leverage in negotiations can put this into their contracts and improve representation of women, minorities, LGBTQ individuals and people with disabilities in film.