By Robert Goldrich

LOS ANGELES --

Actor, producer and director Eva Longoria, founder of UnbeliEVAble Entertainment, cited a quote–”Never about us without us”–after hearing a story from fellow panelist Charles D. King, founder of production company Macro, during a session that helped kick off the Producers Guild of America’s Produced By Conference this weekend on the FOX Studio lot in Century City. 

Longoria and King were together on stage as featured speakers at a Saturday morning (6/11) discussion about diversity and inclusion. King recalled being advised as a 19-year-old student at Vanderbilt to consider a career as an entertainment attorney. Immediately he thought of the hit TV series L.A. Law in which Blair Underwood portrayed the only Black lawyer at a prestigious firm. Underwood’s character was charismatic and intelligent, said King, which made the prospective career suggested to him seem all the more viable. King went on to Howard University School of Law, noting that he ran across other lawyers of color who became successful and had been impacted early on by the character whom Underwood portrayed.

King related that seeing it on TV made being it seem possible. He added that Flamin’ Hot, director Longoria’s forthcoming movie about Mexican American entrepreneur Richard Montanez (a janitor at Frito Lay who went on to create Flamin’ Hot Cheetos), will similarly inspire members of the Latinx community to believe in their business ideas, dreams and prospects.

Longoria and King–whose UnbeliEVAble and Macro companies have regularly collaborated on projects–both observed that stories in film and TV that reflect the excellence of the underrepresented can have a real-life positive effect that isn’t yielded by the same old marginalized narratives.

Moderated by Rebecca Sun, sr. editor, diversity & inclusion at The Hollywood Reporter, the Produced By Conference conversation featuring Longoria and King touched upon various aspects of giving voice to underrepresented communities, including the importance of dovetailing with the right partners–be they individuals or studios. On the latter score, Longoria noted that every note she got on Flamin’ Hot from Searchlight exec Taylor Friedman “elevated the project.” That’s because Friedman and Searchlight were attuned to the spirit of the film and Longoria’s vision for it.

Similarly producer King found Warner Bros. Pictures to be a supportive collaborator on director/producer/co-writer Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah, which went on to earn six Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture, and winner of two–for Best Supporting Actor (Daniel Kaluuya) and Original Song (“Fight for You).

Despite heightened awareness of the need for diversity and inclusion, the employment numbers suggest that Black, Brown, women, LGBTQ+ and other minority talent are still getting short shrift in the entertainment industry. One of the myths is that there’s a shortage of talented people from these varied groups. Longoria observed that the talent is there, noting that frequently those artisans are held back by lack of marquee experience. She cited as an example cinematographer Federico Cantini whom she brought on board for Flamin’ Hot. The concern from the powers that be was that Cantini had never done a movie of this size before. But Longoria went to bat for him, knowing that the DP was more than up to the task. It behooves people to support capable talent, getting others to take that so-called leap of faith, Longoria affirmed.

In fact, Longoria herself needed the support of others to get the directorial gig on Flamin’ Hot, including having the film’s producer DeVon Franklin as an advocate.

Overall, more minority-owned companies are launching to help advance diversity and inclusion. King welcomes these players entering the field, not viewing them as competition but rather offering the potential for like-minded shops–such as UnbeliEVAble and Macro have–to build coalitions that can bring worthwhile content to fruition.

Viola Davis, Julius Tennon
Oscar-winning (Fences) actor Viola Davis and her husband and partner in JuVee Productions, Julius Tennon, were also featured at a Produced By Conference session on Saturday moderated by actor Yvette Nicole Brown. Davis is CEO and Tennon serves as president of JuVee.

Thanks to her 11-year-old daughter, Davis finds herself connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and enjoys it. But the actor-producer warned that there’s a danger to escapist tentpole fare becoming the norm–making “Mr. Potato Head”-type characters prevalent and in the process destroying the art form, which is and should be centered on the human condition, seeing ourselves, messes and all. “We forget who these people are really until a movie comes along and blows our mind,” she said.

Tennon and Davis noted that JuVee was created in 2011 to advance that art form, bringing “prestige projects” to the market where humanity can be, noted Davis, “seen fully,” particularly for marginalized groups standing on the sidelines. Tennon said the company’s orientation is to get away from tropes and to portray people and characters as they are–and to do so with kindness and compassion not only for the audience but also the artists assembled to tell a story.

JuVee’s slate of projects includes: The Woman King, a feature directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood; a narrative film about the Reels brothers directed by Carl Franklin as well as a Reels brothers documentary from Oscar-nominated (I Am Not Your Negro) documentarian Raoul Peck; a TV project about Bruce’s Beach in association with Plan B (Bruce’s Beach was a beach property resort in Southern California seized unjustly from its Black owners nearly a century ago and is now being returned to that family’s descendants); a Discovery streaming series Hungry For Answers; and Iago: The Green Eyed Monster for Verizon, currently nominated for a Tribeca X Award in the Immersive branded entertainment space. Green Eyed Monster is a musical prequel to a futuristic take on Shakespeare’s “Othello” exploring the psychology and origin story of the notorious villain Iago reimagined as a woman.

Dan Lin, Chris Miller
At the outset of a Produced By session featuring producer Dan Lin and writer-director-producer Chris Miller, the latter presented the former with the Producers Guild’s inaugural Vance Van Petten Award, named after the PGA’s former national executive director. The honor recognizes the entrepreneurial spirit of a producer.

Miller said that Lin’s entrepreneurial spirit came to the fore on The Lego Movie (directed by Miller and his partner, Phil Lord). When the approved budget came up short and couldn’t accommodate the live-action end sequence that Miller and Lord envisioned, Lin raised much needed capital by pre-selling the film’s basement set to Legoland for exhibition.

During their Saturday afternoon on-stage conversation, Miller asked Lin if theatrical movies are well on the road back to their pre-COVID pandemic audience level given the recent box office success of Top Gun: Maverick and this weekend’s expected strong performance of Jurassic World: Dominion.

Lin assessed that the theatrical feature market will prove robust but not “as robust as it was pre-COVID.” Features that are spectacular events like Top Gun: Maverick and Jurassic World: Dominion will still draw audiences to theaters but many middle-tier titles will not as families find it easier to stay home for streamer viewing. At the same time, viable theatrical exhibition is not limited to blockbusters, continued Lin, citing as an example Everything Everywhere All At Once, an indie film so original that people are turning out to theaters for the experience.

Miller then plugged a movie slated for early 2023 release that he and Lord are producing–Cocaine Bear–as perhaps being so unique that people will hopefully feel compelled to go to their local theaters. The premise, based on a true story, involves a bear who discovers and ingests bags of cocaine, and then goes on a rampage. Miller said the film in terms of tone and vibe “doesn’t feel like anything else that’s been out there before,” which could justify it as an experience people will leave their homes to see.

Miller and Lord won a Best Animated Feature Film Oscar in 2018 for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

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