“And now I’d like to get some perspective,” McDormand announced after earning her Oscar for best actress in the cutting drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, while placing her statuette on the floor with a little tap to its head. “Because I’ve got some things to say.”
In what appeared to be a call to arms, beginning (as one does) with Meryl Streep, McDormand asked that all the female nominees in every category, from cinematographers and writers to actors and directors, stand and join her in recognizing the strength of women in Hollywood: “Look around, ladies and gentlemen,” she said. “Because we all have stories to tell and projects we need financed. Don’t talk to us about it at the parties tonight; invite us into your office in a couple of days—or you can come to ours, whatever suits you best—and we’ll tell you all about them. I have two words to leave you with tonight, ladies and gentlemen: inclusion rider.”
Though her speech was empowering by all accounts, McDormand’s final words set Twitter ablaze with questions—what exactly is an inclusion rider?
As it turns out, it’s kind of a game changer. Proposed by University of Southern California professor Stacy Smith, who discussed the concept at length for the first time during a TED Talk in 2016, the inclusion rider is essentially an equity clause in a contract stipulating that the cast and crew of a film should accurately reflect the demography of the film’s location. Essentially, if A-list actors choose to add inclusion riders to their contracts on a regular basis going forward, Hollywood’s historically notorious diversity issues could theoretically be much improved.
An example, according to Smith, could necessitate that the casting be 50 percent female, 40 percent underrepresented ethnic groups, 20 percent people with disabilities, and 5 percent LGBT people, to guarantee that “the world on-screen looks like the world around us.”
Following the ceremony, backstage McDormand revealed that the option to use an inclusion rider has long existed, though she had only discovered it last week: “The fact that I just learned that after 35 years in the film business—we aren’t going back.”
Among her fellow actors, McDormand is already seeing support from many who will join her in their commitment to use inclusion riders for projects going forward—the list includes such talents as Brie Larson and Elizabeth Banks, as well as British screenwriter Jack Thorne.
Now that the door has been opened, it’s a promising new day for Hollywood. As Whitney Cummings chimed in on Twitter: “We should support this for a billion reasons, but if you can’t find a reason to, here’s one: It will make movies better.”
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