Amazon Studios to Dictate Storytelling in its Inclusion Standards

Now that Big Tech has decided to join Hollywood in creating content, they appear to have embraced their opportunity to help build a new utopia. They have done with this enthusiasm, broadcasting their efforts to overhaul every aspect of cinema from writing to production to casting to thematic content. Where once propagandastic efforts had to be hidden from the view of the public, now it is worn as a bad of honor.

Big tech is even more powerful than Hollywood, and maybe more powerful than any government in the world. If Jeff Bezos at Amazon wants movies at Amazon to reflect a specific ideology he can do that and, as the richest man in the world, the profit motive is not his main concern. He seeks instead, like Mark Zuckerberg, like Bill Gates, and like Jack Dorsey to be emperors of a kind, helping to cultivate our modern utopia.

Amazon has released its new inclusion standards and policies. The press has been mostly quiet about it, because who would dare speak up? What can they say about it? Nothing. It’s their choice. Profit is not a concern so they can tell people what kinds of products they want to make. It’s all in the name of good, right?

It’s one thing to encourage inclusive hirings behind the camera, but once they start getting into storytelling and the formation of characters, content, and theme to promote a specific ideology then we are no longer looking at art. We are looking at full-blown, unapologetic propaganda.

The problem is that once you announce your intentions, people will see nothing but that in your eventual product. Most audiences today, old and young, can see a “woke” message. coming from a mile away. The more a film lectures them the less likely they are to want to watch it.

Obviously, propaganda is nothing new. It has been threaded through most of the mainstream Hollywood films for decades. But what has changed now, I think, is that the left is no longer the side that pushes back against it.  This is looking more and more like a kind of list of demands being met or else the company will be called out and shamed on social media. The new doctrine of the new left is a kind of Marxist ideology where inequality cannot and will not be tolerated. Satire, humor, subversive content all seems to be disposable in the Brave New World that we are cultivating.

The problem, of course, is that it might have worked during COVID, during Trump perhaps. But it isn’t going to be something the public has any appetite for in any major way. Film Twitter might be down with it, at least temporarily, but we come to art because we have a need for it. We aren’t coming to art to go to school on how to think, or how we should live our lives. Thus, I expect this will have a negative effect on the films Amazon releases during this era of strident ideology.

We’ll be able to tag this era very easily by the films made right now. They will all have the same kind of messaging. The same kind of casting. And, despite their desire for “Authenticity”, it will be anything but. It can’t be authentic if it’s contrived to serve a specific ideology or meet a list of demands. No kind of art could survive this. Not visual art, not playwriting, not fiction, and not cinema.

When it comes to Big Tech like Amazon or Netflix or Apple getting in on the movie business game, or the Oscar game, the market no longer decides. It doesn’t matter how many people pay to see these films. The public has no say. They don’t care if no one watches them because making them helps their brand. It’s like McDonald’s offering up vegan options or salads. It helps their brand to make healthy foods because they are making their money another way. In this era, brand and image is everything.

It is my hope, however, that art can find a way.  If not in my lifetime, hopefully in the next.

Here are a few quotes from Amazon’s Inclusion playbook and Inclusion Policy – imagine being the people hired to monitor the films to make sure they meet all of these criteria. Better yet, imagine movies like The Exorcist, Blue Velvet, Chinatown, Do the Right Thing, Bull Durham, Casablanca, The Player being made under these rules:

Developing Stories and Characters:
We encourage pitches, scripts, and stories from storytellers of all backgrounds, including those from underrepresented communities. Consistent with our Content Guidelines, Amazon Originals should reflect the wide diversity of our customers and recognize the dignity of all people by avoiding demeaning stereotypes and harmful tropes. For this reason, characterizations based on race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, disability (including mental health), body size or image, age, gender, gender identity, and gender expression should be made with care, and in each case will be subject to an enhanced review.

Stereotyping

We discourage stories that solely depict harmful or negative stereotypes, slurs, and dehumanizing language related to identity as well as narratives that link identity factors to jobs, religious beliefs, social class, or behavior.

Historical Depictions

Content that features out-of-date historical stereotypes, language and iconography must avoid gratuitous use of such portrayals.

Cultural Authenticity

When series regulars or lead characters portray people from underrepresented communities (women; underrepresented racial/ethnic groups; sexual orientation; gender identity; people with disabilities), we expect creative teams to make a concerted effort to hire above-the-line staff (directors, writers, producers and/or creators) who represent the identity groups depicted on screen. We will aim for 30% of the above-the-line staff to meet this goal in 2021. This aspirational goal will increase to 50% by 2024.

On the occasion when this is not possible, producers must indicate how they will identify and hire outside consultants/vendors, approved by Amazon, to provide culturally relevant expertise.

Delivery of Plans

Prior to principal photography, Amazon Studios and partners will work together to deliver their plans for how they plan to achieve the Inclusion Policy.

Report on Expectation Achievement

Amazon Studios will provide a report template for each company to indicate whether the expectations were met. This report must be submitted within one month of completion of principal photography and will include:

i. Gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and disability data on production-specific, above-the-line talent (Directors, Writers, Producers, Creators, credited actors) as well as below-the-line positions (department heads and seconds.)
ii. A full description of the film and episodic content that’s been created (i.e., storyline), and percentage or number of characters identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender, including non-binary, and those with a disability.
iii. The number and list of diverse suppliers hired for the production (including women-owned and minority-owned businesses).