Increased Representation of Women and Asian-Americans in Netflix Productions; Maz Jobrani: Much Work Still to Be Done

A research study shows that the streaming network 'Netflix' has increased the presence of women and Asian-Americans in leading roles in its productions, but Latinx individuals, disabled persons, and women of color still lag behind. According to Reuters, this research was jointly conducted by Netflix and the University of Southern California (USC). In this regard, Maz Jobrani, a prominent Iranian-American comedian and actor, told Voice of America: 'It is good to see the increase of roles for people from diverse communities in Netflix and Hollywood.' He added, 'I think there is still a lot of work to be done to break some old stereotypes, but it seems we are moving in the right direction. I eagerly await the day when I see an Iranian family in a comedy series on American television.' According to Reuters, while many efforts have been made in recent years to create more diversity in Hollywood, there are still complaints about the lack of progress behind the scenes and in front of the camera. To examine existing shortcomings, Netflix collaborated with USC and Dr. Stacy L. Smith, a media expert, to analyze the network's products from 2018 to 2021 in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, and the presence of LGBTQ+ individuals and disabled artists. The results of this research, published on Thursday, show that opportunities for women and Asian-Americans in leading roles, directing, and other key creative areas have increased. However, the findings also revealed that Netflix still lags in the representation of characters with disabilities, gender-balanced storytelling in series, creating roles for women and girls of color, and providing opportunities for female writers. According to the study, despite 27% of the U.S. population having some form of disability, only 1.1% of Netflix films and series reflect this issue. The research also highlights the lack of progress for Latinx actors in Netflix films, who make up only 5.8% of roles, while they represent about 12% of the U.S. population. Additionally, 17.1% of roles in films were for African-Americans and 9.4% for Asians. Overall, conditions for Asian-American actors have significantly improved, with them appearing in 41.5% of Netflix series in leading or supporting roles in 2021, up from just 4% in 2018. The participation of women and girls in Netflix productions has also increased, reaching 55% in films and series in 2021. Robin Wright, an actress from the series 'House of Cards,' noted that one of the important factors in this field is the increased presence of diverse communities in investment, production, executive management, and public relations to present their diverse works to Hollywood. According to Maz Jobrani, Iranian-Americans have made significant efforts in recent years to increase their presence on the scene and have pitched various ideas to studios and networks, most of which have not materialized. He added that he has sold several screenplays to different studios, but networks have not taken action to produce them. This Iranian-American actor refers to a pilot filming of a series based on the novel 'Funny in Farsi' by Firoozeh Dumas, which was conducted in 2009. The script for this work was written by Nasrin Dibayi and Jeffrey Hodes, featuring several Iranian-American artists, but ABC showed no interest in producing this comedy series. Given the increasing popularity of streaming networks like Netflix, Amazon, Apple, and even social media platforms like YouTube, it is likely that more opportunities will arise for Iranian-Americans and other communities to tell their stories more easily.