Writing Tip: Go With Diverse Casts

The most successful movies appeal to diverse audiences.

This week Hollywood agency CAA released a study which confirms something people without blinders have recognized for years: Movies with diverse casts do well at the box office. From the Los Angeles Times:

While women, people of color, LGBTQ folk and other historically marginalized communities in Hollywood continue to insist “diversity pays,” the box office success of films with diverse casts such as “Hidden Figures” ($230.1 million worldwide) and “Get Out” ($251.2 million worldwide) is inevitably deemed a “surprise.”

A new study and database crafted by Creative Artists Agency, however, is aiming to take some of the surprise out of box office performance, noting that across every budget level a film with a diverse cast outperforms a release not so diversified.

Wants numbers? Check this out.

The impetus for the talent agency’s Motion Picture Diversity Index came following the release of the Motion Picture Assn. of America’s Theatrical Market Statistics report, which found that non-white moviegoers made up 49% of tickets sold in 2016, and 45% in 2015. Because the numbers outpace the 38% of the U.S. population who are non-white, CAA became interested in the audience makeup of the top-grossing films of the year. With additional data from comScore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak and Gracenote’s Studio System, the goal was to determine the correlative factors of diverse casting, diverse audiences and box office success.

CAA examined 413 theatrical films released from January 2014 through December 2016, detailing cast ethnicity for the top 10 billed actors per movie, a total of 2,800 people. They found that for the top 10 grossing movies in 2016, 47% of the opening weekend audience (and 45% in 2015) were people of color. Moreover, seven of the 10 highest-grossing movies from 2016 (and four from 2015’s top 10) delivered opening weekend audiences that were more than 50% non-white.

From there, the study notes that at every budget level, a film with a cast that is at least 30% non-white — CAA’s definition of a “truly diverse” film — outperforms a release that is not truly diverse in opening weekend box office. And on the audience side of things, the average opening weekend for a film that has a “truly diverse” audience, pegged at 38% to 70% non-white, is $31 million versus $12 million for films with non-diverse audiences.

The numbers suggest a more diverse cast brings a more diverse audience, which brings in more money.

After years of ‘urban’ movies outperforming opening weekend projections, it’s clear that Hollywood’s conventional wisdom, which has led to a vast majority of movies to star white actors, is simply wrongheaded.

This is not new info. In 2014, I did an interview with Darnell Hunt, professor of sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles and director of the university’s Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American studies. He is responsible for the annual Hollywood Diversity Report. His take:

We found that films and TV shows that are more diverse in terms of their cast, particularly those that are from 30 to 40 percent diverse… do the best in terms of box office, and they do the best in terms of ratings.

Takeaway: As a screenwriter, we should be mindful of the casting choices we make in terms of our story’s characters. Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, don’t default to white males. Thing different ethnicity, genders, sexual orientation.

Moreover why not look for story concepts set in non-white, non-male subcultures. Hell, even Pixar has jumped on the bandwagon with their upcoming movie Coco:

For the rest of the Los Angeles Times article, go here.