If you know Hamilton, you know where we took our inspiration for the title of this week’s episode of Show Your Work. We are not, however, talking about Hamilton. We are talking about rooms – the rooms where Hollywood decisions are made, the rooms where plans are laid, the rooms where we work.
These are the rooms Frances McDormand referred to in her Oscar acceptance speech. Invite us to your meetings, she implored the audience, and don’t just talk to us at the parties, we want to be in your offices, we want you to come to our offices, let’s get together in a room and start getting creative. In the room is where they can start discussing the Inclusion Rider. Unless, you know, they – meaning the status quo, those who hold the power – don’t want to talk about Inclusion Riders.
Not even 48 hours after the Oscars, already there seemed to be some resistance to the Inclusion Rider. The Hollywood Reporter wondered whether or not it was an “elusive goal”, citing concerns from studios who may be worried about discrimination lawsuits. So it seems like the excuses are coming. Are they valid though? Duana and I discuss the viability of the Inclusion Rider and how it actually helps EVERYONE.
Also in The Hollywood Reporter, an interview with Ava DuVernay which should be called Work Porn, by Ava DuVernay. This is the story of how Ava, who was once a publicist, transferred those skills into directing. What did she learn on sets before she even decided to become a director? How did that experience turn her into a leader? What are the mistakes she made that she used to become an even more effective leader? And, on the subject of the “room” where it happens, what rooms has she been in, and what are the rooms she finds herself in now? Spoiler alert – sometimes it’s not a room, sometimes it’s a parking lot. And she’s in the lot with Ryan Coogler.
Finally, Duana, Kathleen, and I were all in one room together working on our Oscars coverage last Sunday night/Monday morning. We’ve received emails and tweets asking about our work process that night, the biggest night of the year on this website. So we get into how we assign and collaborate and share and edit and fight and write. I’ve attached to this post what our writing wall looks like. This photo was taken before we made a couple of additions. It looks pretty tidy…but what you’re not seeing is the mess of snacks and power cables and chargers and general accumulated sh-t that goes into producing 14,000 words in 12 hours. This is the War Room where it happens. Thank you so much for asking!
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