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It's actually a little more personal than that.
We (the founders of SHOWRUNNER the tech company) are indie creators ourselves. A bit ago we were looking for a showrunner for one of our projects. We wanted to find someone from Latin America, a bilingual writer who could authentically lead a show of ours.
We knew there are plenty of people out there who fit that bill, but every way we turned, the path was blocked by Hollywood power brokers who had their own "private lists" of showrunners they were willing to share in exchange for money or control. We finally got a friend to pull a list from their agency's archives. The result: 4 Latino showrunners. All male.
We believe that many stories can be told by great writers and who don't share every identity aspect with the stories' lead characters. And yet often it's very helpful to have your projects run by folks who've lived similar experiences to your characters. And at the very least, if we're going to be thoughtful about being inclusive in Hollywood in general, we ought to be able to consider more than 4 Latin-American showrunners in our candidate pool.
ALL THAT'S TO SAY
We think we can make Hollywood just a little better, a little more thoughtful, and a little more inclusive by sharing, recognizing, and celebrating the showrunners who do the amazing behind-the-scenes work on the TV series we love. Showrunners of all identities and backgrounds—minoritized and not—ought to be looked up to by budding creators who want to be in their shoes one day.
That's what the SHOWRUNNER DB is about.
