UCLA’s new report on diversity in Hollywood describes a pattern of two steps forward, one step back, but notes that, however slow, there has been some positive progress over the past five years.

“The industry appears to have finally embraced the idea that America’s increasingly diverse audiences demand film and television content populated with characters whose experiences resonate with their own, who look like them, and with whom they can relate,” according the study, titled “Five Years of Progress and Missed Opportunities.”

But when it comes to what that actually looks like both in front of and behind the camera, the needles has moved ever so slightly over the past half decade—and this may actually be hurting Hollywood’s bottom line, the report says.

“There is still a long way to go before women or people of color reach proportionate representation among the actors in film and television, but at least the trend lines for both groups point in the right direction,” it reads.

The report is the fifth in an annual series breaking down diversity in the entertainment industry. Authors analyzed 200 films from 2016, and 1,251 television series across broadcast, cable and digital platforms from the 2015-16 season.

On the television front, the results show that although people of color make up 40 percent of the U.S. population, they continue to remain underrepresented across the board.

That demographic makes up just 18.7 percent of broadcast scripted leads; 20.2 percent of cable scripted leads; 26.6 percent of broadcast reality and other leads; 20.9 percent of cable reality and other leads; and 12.9 percent of digital leads.

Women, meanwhile, made gains in all areas except for broadcast scripted show leads, cable scripted show creators, and broadcast scripted show creators. Yet they remain underrepresented, making up only 35.7 percent of broadcast scripted leads, 44.8 percent of cable scripted leads, and 18.8 percent of broadcast reality and other leads.

The report points out that films and TV shows with diverse casts tend to register the highest in the global box office and viewer ratings. It highlights high-grossing films like 2017 Academy Award winner Moonlight, and comes on the heels of Disney-Marvel’s recent record-breaking box office hit Black Panther.

More recent projects that were not included in the study, such as Coco, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Get Out, Master of None and This is Us point to the possibility of future strides.

Because a diverse cast also means more money, the report says, and not embracing that is a missed financial opportunity that leaves potential revenue on the table.

For example, “Hollywood continues to produce a plurality of films and television show with casts that are 10 percent minority or less, despite the fact that these projects are collectively among the poorest performers,” report says.

And when it comes to women, “Hollywood’s enduring failure to correct the gender disparities chronicles in this report series has locked many women out of influential roles and entrenched a patriarchal occupational culture within the entertainment industry.

But, all of that this is slowly changing thanks to movements such as #OscarsSoWhite, #Me Too and #Time’s Up, which offer “both symbolic and concrete solutions,” to gaps in gender and minority representation in the entertainment industry.

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