Hollywood film producer Dan Lin 鈥� known for movies such as Disney鈥檚 live action 鈥淎laddin鈥� and 鈥淭he Two Popes鈥� 鈥� is launching a nonprofit with more than $1 million from the Ford and MacArthur foundations as well as several other philanthropies. His goal is to help more people of color create and produce film, television, digital, and audio projects.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no shortage of talented, diverse creators, artists, and entrepreneurs,鈥� said Lin, founder and CEO of the film and television company Rideback. 鈥淭he only scarcity is opportunity, the funding and the risk-taking that鈥檚 always existed at the center of this Hollywood content machine. We鈥檙e really determined to break through these restricted access points, enlarge the funnel, and activate more creatives of color.鈥�
Just three in 10 film directors are Black, Latino, Asian-American, multiracial, or Native American. And only a third of film writers are people of color, according to a recent study by the University of California at Los Angeles.
Rideback Rise, the company鈥檚 nonprofit arm, which hopes to raise $2 million in total this year, will oversee a fellowship program for writers, directors, podcast creators, and other artists of color selected each year who want to launch a project.
Each fellow will receive a $50,000 stipend plus access to a fund that will allow creators to obtain material to adapt for their projects, such as books that could become screenplays and support to market their projects to potential buyers. Lin says it鈥檚 important to help creators use content from existing materials because some financial backers of film and other projects believe that content by diverse artists and for diverse audiences might not generate significant profits.
While developing their projects, fellows will receive coaching and mentoring from filmmakers and other professionals in the entertainment industry through Rideback, while also collaborating with other fellows. Fellows can then bring their projects to either Rideback or another production company with the nonprofit鈥檚 support.
Once projects are completed and become commercially viable, Rise will receive royalties ranging from 2% to 10% on each project, depending on its budget and format. Lin hopes that, over time, those fees will eventually help make Rideback Rise a self-sustaining organization.
鈥淎 typical film can take three to five years,鈥� Lin said. 鈥淎 TV show could take a similar amount of time. Why we went to the nonprofit space (was) that we really need that funding for the runway to build this organization.鈥�
The Ford Foundation, which gave $600,000 to Rideback Rise, made the grant in large part because it wants to help ensure mid career creators can get greater opportunities and because of Rideback Rise鈥檚 Intellectual Property Fund, which allows participants to obtain rights to use certain content for their projects.
鈥淲e saw this as an opportunity to not only support these creators but to support a pretty novel approach to how to lift POC content more broadly in the Hollywood industry,鈥� said Chi-hui Yang, a senior program officer at Ford Foundation who oversees grants for filmmaking.
For the MacArthur Foundation, the grant to the new nonprofit moves the organization in a new direction from largely supporting only nonfiction media.
鈥淔or us to make a direct grant to something like Rideback Rise, this is a little bit of a departure for us and one of the first of its kind,鈥� said Kathy Im, who oversees the foundation鈥檚 journalism and media program. The grant maker, which contributed $200,000 to Rideback Rise, may use this as a pilot to evaluate whether it wants to support similar efforts in the future.
鈥淲e have come to realize and recognize that all forms of popular culture, including mainstream fiction films and scripted television shows, in addition to journalism and documentary films, which is our sweet spot, have a huge educational value and social impact,鈥� Im said.
Other grant makers include the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, Zelnick Belzberg Charitable Trust, and UTA Foundation, the charitable arm of the United Talent Agency in Beverly Hills. Rideback also plans to donate $100,000 to the nonprofit in the next few weeks, after having contributed $50,000 to Rideback Rise earlier.
People of color remain underrepresented among film directors and writers, according to an annual report on diversity in Hollywood from UCLA.
鈥淧eople in positions of authority in Hollywood, because of the fast-paced nature of production and so forth, tend to feel more comfortable hiring people that they鈥檝e worked with before, who they鈥檙e familiar with, who kind of thought like them and could crank out projects at a pace that the industry demanded,鈥� said Darnell Hunt, dean of social sciences at UCLA and co-author of the Hollywood diversity report. 鈥淪o you had this self-perpetuating machine whereby the door revolved opportunities for the same people over and over again. Typically, those people were white males.鈥�
Rideback Rise hopes to select its first five fellows by this fall and has plans to gradually increase the number each year. By its fifth year of operation, Rideback Rise wants to have a total of 25 fellows.
The nonprofit will also reach a greater number of creators through the Rise Circle, a group of more than 500 writers, filmmakers, and other people working in entertainment who will have access to career-building and networking events. The nonprofit held its first event in October, inviting the comedian Hasan Minhaj to give advice to Circle members. The nonprofit plans to host a two-night event soon focused on emerging and established comedians of color.
鈥淲e鈥檒l do inspiring talks, but we also want to have more kind of tactical, practical training,鈥� Lin said. He said it was important for people to be 鈥渁ble to ask questions that you may think are dumb questions, but they鈥檙e basic questions that you just don鈥檛 get educated on because Hollywood does not have a set training system the way some other industries do.鈥�
Comedian Karan Menon attended last year鈥檚 event with Minhaj, where he made connections that ultimately landed him an internship at Rideback Rise. He also met someone who helps him do research for his sketch comedy videos online and other comedians to join his stand-up shows.
鈥淧eople after the event were really into getting each others鈥� numbers and talking because there鈥檚 only so much you can do on your own when you try to make it as a comedian or a creator,鈥� he said.
Hunt, the UCLA dean, said he sees value in philanthropic dollars funding programs that help aspiring creators of color but that more needs to be done by the entertainment industry to improve diversity.
鈥淎ttention needs to be paid to the industry itself and the way it鈥檚 structured and the types of opportunities that it鈥檚 making available for that new rich pipeline that鈥檚 being developed,鈥� he said.
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This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Kay Dervishi is a staff writer at the Chronicle. Email: [email protected] The AP and the Chronicle receive support from the Lilly Endowment for coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. The AP and the Chronicle are solely responsible for all content. For all of AP鈥檚 philanthropy coverage, visit .
Kay Dervishi Of The Chronicle Of Philanthropy, The Associated Press
