Matt Damon used the return of Project Greenlight to demonstrate exactly why we need diversity in Hollywood; he just didn’t realize it.

Update: Matt Damon has apologized for his remarks

On the Project Greenlight premiere, producer Effie Brown (producer of Dear White People and numerous other films), drew attention to the fact that the only black character in the screenplay to be directed by one of the Project Greenlight hopefuls was a prostitute. Brown hoped the panel would take into account how the directors might treat this character, indicating that a non-male and non-white director would be most appropriate. Damon quickly interrupted her to explain why that wasn’t, in fact, an issue.

“When we’re talking about diversity, you do it in the casting of the film, not in the casting of the show,” Damon said, seemingly displaying a fairly blatant belief that diversity is only about visibility on camera, and not about providing opportunities behind it. You can watch the full clip below:

Project Greenlight is a documentary series from executive producers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The show returned this week for a fourth season, after a decade off our screens. The aim of the show is to provide opportunities for up-and-coming directors who might otherwise find it difficult to break into Hollywood.

Before the premiere (and the controversy), Damon told ET why the series was so important to him:

“For us, in particular, when we came on the scene with Good Will Hunting all those years ago, we kind of did it in a non-traditional way, and so a lot of people asked us, ‘How the hell did that happen?’ So it always felt like there was some other way to launch some careers and we always felt it was kind of incumbent on us to do that.”

It’s an admirable goal, which is why it was so disheartening to hear Damon totally dismiss the benefit of his own privilege in achieving his success. Of course Good Will Hunting was a remarkable debut script, but are we so sure that Damon and Affleck would have had such success if they were not both white males?

Yes, Damon is right to note that it is difficult to break into any large industry. Yet report after report has shown that Hollywood, as with the rest of society, is set up to benefit those who are white, and those who are male. Damon benefits from this system, and his comments on Project Greenlight indicate that doesn’t seem inclined to make any changes to it.

Diversity in Hollywood: It is bigger than Matt Damon and ‘Project Greenlight’

The question is not whether or not Damon truly believes that diversity is only about screen time. However, it is worth noting that as an executive producer on Project Greenlight, Damon could have cut the segment from the premiere had he decided he didn’t want it to air, so make of that what you will. I am less interesting in vilifying Damon, deserving though everyone’s favorite Bourne star (sorry Jeremy Renner) is after such remarks. Instead, let’s use this opportunity to have the conversation about diversity offscreen that we should have been having anyway.

Too often the conversation about diversity is entirely focused on those who appear in films or on television. In our eagerness to celebrate or condemn these casting choices, we too often forget (this writer included) about all of those working behind the camera. Because they don’t appear in trailers, or do cute segments with Jimmy Fallon, they don’t hold our attention. The cameras they wield somehow render them invisible, and we let them stay that way.

Diversity in Hollywood: The Academy Awards

As Project Greenlight is the search for the next big director, let’s take a look at the kinds of directors we are currently seeing in Hollywood, beginning with the pinnacle of achievement: The Academy Awards. As Brown was explicitly discussing diversity of gender and race, I will keep that as the focus, but these findings of course extend to all marginalized groups, including those of different ages, gender identities, sexualities, physical and mental abilities, and more.

The big winners at the Oscars are white male directors. Kathryn Bigelow remains the only woman to have be named Best Director, having received the award in 2009 for The Hurt Locker. No female directors have even received a nomination for the award since her win. Ang Lee similarly retains the (regrettable) distinction of being the only Asian director to have taken home the award, although he has done so twice, first in 2005 for Brokeback Mountain, and again in 2012 for Life of Pi.

Alfonso Cuarón was the first Latin American to win Best Director. He won in 2013 for Gravity, and was followed in 2014 by Alejandro González Iñárritu for Birdman. No black director has won the Academy Award, with only three black nominees in the history of the Oscars: John Singleton (Boyz n the Hood, 1991), Lee Daniels (Precious, 2009) and Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, 2013).

Similar results can be observed in the Golden Globes, and the Baftas. It is encouraging that from Lee’s win in 2005, we have seen a huge increase in recognition for directors from marginalized groups. However, this increase is partly only remarkable because it follows a period of zero recognition. It’s also worth noting that of a field of five nominees, we are lucky to get one who isn’t a white male — even if that one has gone on to be the winner in recent years. But awards are only one measure of success; what about the moneymakers?

Diversity in Hollywood: The box-office successes

The ten top-grossing films in the United Stated in 2014 were, in order, American Sniper (dir. Clint Eastwood), The Hunger Hames: Mockingjay – Part 1 (dir. Francis Lawrence), Guardians of the Galaxy (dir. James Gunn), Captain America: The Winter Solider (dir. Anthony Russo and Joe Russo), The LEGO Movie (dir. Phil Lord and Chris Miller), The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (dir. Peter Jackson), Transformers: Age of Extinction (dir. Michael Bay), Maleficent (dir. Robert Stromberg), X-Men: Days of Future Past (dir. Bryan Singer), and Big Hero 6 (dir. Don Hall and Chris Williams).

That’s ten films directed by 13 male directors, 12 of whom (as far as I can tell) can be considered white (The LEGO Movie director Phil Lord is the son of a Cuban refugee). No other people of color, and no women.

I would like to hope that such a dire picture was not representative of all of Hollywood, however when considering the bigger picture for diversity of directors, it unfortunately doesn’t look any better.

On page 2: How Matt Damon’s ‘Project Greenlight’ comments are representative of a much bigger problem in Hollywood

Diversity in Hollywood: It is bigger than Matt Damon and ‘Project Greenlight’

Diversity in Hollywood: The bigger picture

The Hollywood Diversity Report released earlier this year gives us the broader picture, taking into account the 200 top theatrical releases in the United States in 2013 and 2014.

In the report we saw that while minorities (non-whites) comprised nearly 40% of the population of the United States in 2013, they were underrepresented as film directors at 2 to 1 compared with white directors. Women directors were even worse off, with female directors underrepresented 8 to 1 compared with their male peers.

The Inequality in 700 Popular Films report, also released earlier this year, was even more damning. Of the 700 top-grossing films analysed between 2007 and 2014, only 5.8% of directors were Black (45 directors of 779), and only 2.4% were Asian (19 directors, only one of whom was female), as you can see below. Women directors helmed only 2 films of the entire 100 top-grossing films in 2014, and of the total 700 films considered, there were only 24 unique female directors.

Graphics by Patricia Lapadula via Inequality in 700 Popular Films

The same results are seen in television. The recently released Directors Guild of America Diversity Report showed that 69% of scripted television episodes were directed by white males. If you were from a minority background or a woman, it was immediately harder; if you were both, it was practically impossible.

The Directors Guild of America also found in their five-year analysis that when it came to first-time directors on scripted television series, only 13% came from marginalized ethnic/racial backgrounds, and only 18% were women.

These last statistics are perhaps the most pertinent to the situation at hand with Matt Damon and Project Greenlight. Yes, Hollywood is a tough industry to crack, but your best chance is clearly as a white male.

Damon shouldn’t be using the unique platform of Project Greenlight to provide further opportunities for these directors at the expense of directors from marginalised groups. A show like Project Greenlight is exactly the place for ensuring we finally start seeing greater diversity behind the camera, as well as in front of it. Not only is it far more likely for you to win an award, or be asked to helm a huge franchise you are a white male, it is also patently easier to get started.

And in dismissing the role of diversity as being about visibility only, Damon ironically is actually refusing to recognize the power of visibility. Project Greenlight is essentially a reality TV show; whether or not we would like to admit it, the directors chosen to participate in the show are as much characters for the audience as those in the screenplay Damon and Brown were debating over. Damon’s flippant comments appear to indicate that he at least recognizes diversity of casting to be important, so how about casting a member of a marginalized group in the role of “Director”?

Unfortunately, Brown’s comments went ignored, and we got another white, male director. Here’s the whole Project Greenlight cast together, see if you notice a pattern:

Diversity and “merit”: The big excuse

Damon’s comments only make plain the frustrating truth that we already knew, that Hollywood isn’t all that interested in diversity. This intention to maintain the status quo is often excused on the basis of “merit,” and not having “diversity for the sake of diversity.” The argument for “merit”-based decisions has been bandied around since Damon’s unfortunate comments, not least because Damon himself argued later, “It seems like you would undermine what the competition is supposed to be about, which is about giving somebody this job based entirely on merit.”.

Damon, like the majority of others who throw around this justification when issues of diversity come up, is speaking from a place of privilege. He can afford to be judged on “merit,” because the system is already set up in his favor.

However — if we indulge this justification — as Effie Brown rightly points out, why doesn’t this idea of “merit” (which is literally defined as “character or conduct deserving reward, honor, or esteem”) take into account a director’s ability to understand the characters they are working with. Surely, if the director’s role is to help convey the story to the audience in the best manner possible, this is just as important — if not more important — than their degree of technical skill. Doesn’t greater insight into a character make someone more deserving of the chance to tell that character’s story?

This is not about the “merit” of various directors. The award tallies, the opportunities to direct big blockbusters, and the analysis of Hollywood all show that it is simply more difficult if you are a director from a marginalized group.

Let’s consider female directors specifically. It’s hardly surprising that only Bigelow has taken home the Oscar, when there is such a small pool of women directors to draw from. Studios simply aren’t hiring them at the rate men are hired; a report from the Sundance Institute showed that of the 1,300 top-grossing films from 2002 to 2014, the ratio of male to female directors was approximately 23 to 1.

This is not due to a lack of worthy directors; the same report put the ratio of directors at the Sundance Film Festival during the same period at 3 to 1, yet found that films directed by women were more likely “to be distributed by Independent companies with fewer financial
resources and lower industry clout.”

Evidently both Hollywood, and we as a society, simply value the work of women directors less — and the same applies to directors from all marginalized groups. It is for this very reason that Matt Damon and Project Greenlight should have done better, as should Hollywood, and as should we, by continuing this important conversation.

And next time, let’s all hope that Damon listens when Brown speaks.