In 2021, a diverse variety of directors will make up 63% of productions at FX Networks with only 37% of productions being directed by white males, according to Deadline.
What’s Happening:
- John Landgraf, Chairman of FX Networks and FX Productions, revealed at the Edinburgh International TV Festival the network’s diversity strategy, which will see 63% of productions at the network be directed by a diverse group of individuals, where the other 37% are directed by white males.
- Five years ago, white men made up 85% of the directors at the network. Landgraf was reportedly “ashamed” of this number, later saying the figures were an “indictment” of the entire industry.
- Landgraf said that he and his team had plans to improve this, including offering to pay for whatever would be needed, but it wasn’t, with Landgraf saying that FX “increased the quality of our episodes. The quality of work we got from this new crop of directors was actually superior.”
- This endeavor was also driven by diversity and a gender balance across its slate including Atlanta, Better Things, Mrs America, Pose and Snowfall.
- According to Landgraf, the network had been looking for directors who worked traditional projects like dramas and comedies but then turned to other areas, like theater, where they found a fantastic calibre of directors that “were hiding in plain sight.”
- On top of revealing that statistics of the network’s directors, Landgraf also revealed that white men now only make up 32% of the series regulars on the network.
- Landgraf added that the network still needs to improve, adding to the diversity of not just directors, but the entire crew. Everyone from casting and showrunners, to directors of photography, including the network’s executive team.
What They’re Saying:
- John Landgraf, Chairman of FX Networks and FX Productions: “We have real work to do [on the executive level]. We need deciders. I want the culture of FX to be a vanguard organization. I want it to represent a microcosm of the country. We genuinely want our productions to look like the population of the United States.We haven’t solved the problem but we’ve begun the process to solve the problem. It’s time for this industry to change.”