Written by: KAY DERVISI of Charity Chronicles
Chronicle of Charity
Hollywood filmmaker Dan Lin — best known for films such as Disney’s live-action “Aladdin” and “The Two Popes” — will fund more than $1 million in non-profit funding through the Ford and MacArthur Foundation and several other charities. for-profit organization. His goal is to help more people of color create and produce projects for film, television, digital and audio.
“There is no shortage of talented and diverse creators, artists and entrepreneurs,” said Lin, founder and CEO of film and television company Rideback. “The only scarcity is opportunity, funding, and risk-taking, which are at the heart of Hollywood’s content machine. We’re really determined to break through these constrained access points, expand the funnel, and activate more color ideas.”
Only three in 10 film directors are black, Latino, Asian American, multiracial or Native American. According to a recent UCLA study, only one-third of film writers are people of color.
Rideback Rise, the nonprofit arm of the company that hopes to raise a total of $2 million this year, will oversee a fellowship program that provides grants to writers, directors, podcast creators and other artists of color selected each year who want to start projects.
Each fellow will receive a stipend of $50,000, plus access to a fund that will allow creators to obtain material to adapt to their projects, such as books that can become screenplays, and support marketing their projects to potential buyers . Helping creators use content from existing materials is important, Lin said, because some financial backers of films and other projects believe that content from different artists and different audiences may not generate significant profits.
While developing the program, fellows will receive mentorship and mentorship from filmmakers and other professionals in the entertainment industry through Rideback, while also collaborating with other fellows. Fellows can then take their projects to Rideback or another production company with the support of the nonprofit.
Once a project is complete and commercially viable, Rise will receive a royalty of 2% to 10% per project, depending on its budget and format. Lin hopes that, over time, these fees will eventually help make Rideback Rise a self-sustaining organization.
“A typical movie might take three to five years,” Lin said. “Television shows can take a similar amount of time. Why do we go to the nonprofit space (yes) we really need to fund the runway to build this organization.”
The Ford Foundation awarded $600,000 to Rideback Rise, in large part because it wants to help ensure more opportunities for mid-career creators, and because of Rideback Rise’s Intellectual Property Fund Allows participants to obtain rights to use certain content in their projects.
“We see this as an opportunity to support not only these creators, but a very novel approach to elevate POC content more broadly in the Hollywood industry,” said Chi-hui, senior program officer at the Ford Foundation, who oversaw the grant. Yang says it’s used in filmmaking.
For the MacArthur Foundation, the grant to the new nonprofit moves the organization in a new direction, from primarily supporting nonfiction media.
“For us to directly fund a project like Rideback Rise, it’s a bit of a departure for us and the first of its kind,” said Kathy Im, who runs the foundation’s news and media program. Grant providers that donated $200,000 to Rideback Rise may use it as a pilot to assess whether they want to support similar efforts in the future.
“We’ve recognized and recognized all forms of popular culture, including mainstream fiction films and scripted TV shows, in addition to news and documentaries, which are our best bets, with enormous educational value and societal impact,” Lim said.
Other funders include the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, the Zelnick Belzberg Charitable Trust and the UTA Foundation, the charitable arm of United Talent in Beverly Hills. Rideback also plans to donate $100,000 to nonprofits over the next few weeks, having previously donated $50,000 to Rideback Rise.
People of color remain underrepresented among film directors and writers, according to UCLA’s annual report on diversity in Hollywood.
“Due to the fast pace of production etc., people in authority positions in Hollywood tend to prefer to hire people they’ve worked with before, people they know well, people who like them and can work on projects at the pace the industry demands,” UCLA said Darnell Hunter, chair of the social sciences department and co-author of the Hollywood Diversity Report. “So you have this self-perpetuating machine, this door of opportunity that revolves around the same people over and over. Usually, those people are white males.”
Rideback Rise hopes to elect the top five members by this fall and plans to gradually increase the number each year. By its fifth year of operation, Rideback Rise hopes to have a total of 25 fellows.
The nonprofit will also reach more creators through Rise Circle, a group of more than 500 writers, filmmakers and others who work in entertainment who will have opportunities to participate in career building and networking events.
The nonprofit held its first event in October, inviting comedian Hasan Minhaj to advise Circle members. The nonprofit plans to soon host a two-night event focusing on emerging and established comedians of color.
“We will have inspiring talks, but we also want to do more tactical, practical training,” Lim said. It’s important, he said, to allow people “to be able to ask questions that you might think are stupid, but they’re fundamental questions that you’re not educated on, because Hollywood doesn’t have a fixed training system like some of the others. Industry has.”
Comedian Karan Menon attended Minhaj’s event last year, where he made connections that eventually landed him an internship at Rideback Rise. He also met someone who helped him research his sketch comedy videos online, and other comedians to join his talk show.
“People after the event really enjoy getting each other’s numbers and talking, because when you’re trying to be a comedian or a creator, there’s a lot you can do on your own,” he said.
UCLA Dean Hunter said he sees value in philanthropic funding programs that help aspiring creators of color, but the entertainment industry needs to do more to improve diversity.
“There needs to be a focus on the industry itself and the way it is structured and the type of opportunities it offers for the new rich pipeline being developed,” he said.
