How to fix Hollywood's diversity problem

If the Academy, the studios, and entertainment journalists do a few simple things, Hollywood's diversity problem can be fixed. It won't even take very long.

All of the nominated best actors and actresses are white.
(Image credit: Victoria Will/Vianney Le Caer/Scott Gries/ Rich Fury/Invision/AP, Matt Carr/Mark Sagliocco/Tim P. Whitby/John Sciulli/Getty Images)

In any other year, this would be the time when critics and analysts would be tripping over themselves to predict the frontrunners for this year's Academy Awards. But this year, the focus hasn't moved to the films that made the cut. It has stayed on the films that didn't. Each of this year's eight best picture nominees centers on a white protagonist. All 20 of the acting nominees are white.

Even the movies that did offer something different earned nods in categories that favored the white people involved in making them. Creed — a film written by, directed by, and starring black men — earned its sole Oscar nomination for white supporting actor Sylvester Stallone. Straight Outta Compton seemed like a possible best picture contender, but it too walked away with one nomination — for its white team of screenwriters.

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John Gilpatrick is a freelance film critic and former member of the Men's Health magazine digital team. He is a member of the Online Film Critics Society. You can read his reviews and more at JohnLikesMovies.com.