The overarching theme of the recently aired 90th Academy Awards was diversity in the industry, with several winners and presenters using their time on stage to shed light on the issue, with some even offering solutions.
The latter was witnessed when Best Actress winner Frances McDormand urged other filmmakers and actors to implement an inclusion rider.
Seen as the first step to ensuring that diversity is forcefully and rightfully executed, inclusion riders may be the way to go, and Michael B. Jordan, another of Hollywood’s leading forces, is leading by example.
While the term remains widely unknown to those outside of the walls of Hollywood, an “inclusion rider,” according to NPR, is a request or a demand that is added to contracts to ensure that certain levels of diversity are actively put into effect within the project’s cast and crew.
While she mentioned the term at the end of her Oscars acceptance speech, McDormand admitted to reporters backstage that she recently learned about it, herself.
“I just found out about this last week,” she said in the Oscars press room. “And so, the fact that I just learned that after 35 years of being in the film business — we’re not going back.”
One of the youngest and most currently prolific figures in the business, Michael B. Jordan, is ensuring that the message is not lost as he recently took to social media to announce that all films through his company, Outlier Society Productions, will adopt an inclusion rider.
“In support of the women & men who are leading this fight, I will be adopting the Inclusion Rider for all projects produced by my company,” he captioned his Instagram post. “I’ve been privileged to work with powerful [women] and persons of color throughout my career and its Outlier’s mission to continue to create for talented individuals going forward.”
We couldn’t be prouder to see Jordan do his part in changing the landscape of Hollywood.
