Quotes About Representation

When I came back to Canada after my graduate studies, I founded the first organization in Canada focused on political under-representation and trying to change that, and to support a whole new generation of public policy leaders from marginalized groups.

I was the first black director on 'Dallas.' I drove my car into the studio lot and the guard asked me who I was delivering to.

If a studio sees that a female can bring in audiences, then they're going to make movies with that person.

Hollywood studio executives don't recognize the value of female performers as much as male performers.

The reality is that there are so few roles out there for women and for women of color, and I'm a character actor, this I know. And I'm getting to see more of the roles that are out there, but there aren't many. And zilch have been studio movies. Zilch.

We're told that independent film lovers... folks that are used to watching art house films, won't come out and see a film with black people in it - I've been told that in rooms, big rooms, studio rooms, and I know that's not true.

People in big studios are like, 'People want to see other people who are skinny and happy and amazing.' But I think, nowadays, they are realising that what sells is real people from all different backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures and size. People want to see themselves represented on screen, and it's a real cool thing for everyone.

There's no doubt that the patriarchy that we live in also controls the movie industry. The heads of the studios are men, and it's reflected in the scripts they buy and the work that gets made.

Studios will tell you that they can't turn a profit on female-driven entertainment. Which is like the Gap saying no one is buying clothes anymore. No. No one is buying your clothes.

I don't understand why there aren't more powerful female directors. I don't have the answers, but I hope that things may start to shift and that studios will employ more women to handle strong and interesting material.

The studios aren't lining up to make films about black protagonists, black people being autonomous and independent.

The film industry is driven by male narrative. Heads of studios are often men, teeming with male executives everywhere you look, and so the narratives we have the screenwriters usually for male leads. Women tend to be second string: the girlfriend of, the secretary who becomes.

I'd like to see more female heads of studios because what's also being crucially lost is the female perspective: 50% of the population are not having their stories told.

I have felt that there's a lot of receptiveness to female stories now. I think some of it has a little bit - a lot of it is economically driven and driven by, just, kind of studios wanting to check that box because now they know they have a woman problem that they need to solve.

'Milk' had to be a financial success, following the success of 'Brokeback Mountain.' It had to make money so studios would develop other LGBT projects.

It seems like studios and networks only greenlight stuff that has familiarity to them. If you can be like, 'Oh, it's 'Workaholics,' but it's Asian girls,' they're like, 'Yeah, we've got it. We know exactly what the show is. It's greenlit.'

I have four relatively small children, and around fourth grade, they start doing big projects on Native Americas: everything is Native Americans in elementary school. Do you know how many Native American dresses I've sewn, on and on; it's a full yearlong study. And then never again. As journalists, we never even cover Native Americans.

Having spent half my time at university studying English literature, I know from experience that reading lists often contain more white men than Jacob Rees-Mogg's last birthday party.

I've done lots of songs for film soundtracks and things like that - stuff I'm not ashamed of, but that doesn't represent my legacy with the Pretenders.

How can people in other countries who are trying to grasp our plan of democracy avoid stumbling over our logic when we deny the first steps in democracy to our women?

If a kid is reading a book about someone who looks like them but doesn't talk like them, we stunt their growth by dissing them.

Being described as a stupid bureaucrat with no link to representative democracy is difficult to take.

I was always playing very stupid people, or the fat mate of the main girl.

The object of the Gay Games is not competition, but to promote gay and lesbian life styles.