Can Inclusion Riders Change Hollywood?
Frances McDormand’s Oscar speech encouraging diverse hiring in the film industry has sparked a mini-trend.
“I have two words to leave you with tonight,” Frances McDormand told the audience at last week’s Academy Awards as she accepted her Best Actress trophy, her arms outstretched as if she were a conductor. “Inclusion rider.” She issued the phrase like a decree, likely prompting viewers at home to Google the term: It’s, essentially, a contract stipulation that requires certain kinds of diversity in a film’s cast and crew, such as racial and gender balance. It’s not a foreign concept within Hollywood, but McDormand’s speech has inspired new
