I’d never seen anything like it.
THERE WAS A REASON. HOLLYWOOD IS EXTREMELY SEGREGATED. The whole idea of Black Hollywood, Latino Hollywood, Asian Hollywood—it’s very real. And it all stems from who is with you in the audition rooms as you are coming up. Because you are generally auditioning with people who look like you, over and over again, simply because of how roles are described. When it got down to the wire for the role of “Sassy Friend #1,” these were the people I saw. That’s how I got to know Zoe Saldana, Kerry Washington, Essence Atkins, Robinne Lee, Sanaa, and all the Reginas. Sassy Friend #1 was a black girl between x and y age, and that meant a very shallow casting pool. When it came time to cast a family, I would meet an array of actors who all looked like me. Sitting in those rooms for hours at a time, multiple times a week, you get to know people.
As you all start to rise, it’s the same people, who are now deemed the “it folk,” who you sit in better rooms with. And those people become your community; they know the struggle you went through, because they went through it, too. And the rooms pretty much stay that way, no matter how high you rise, because for the most part Hollywood doesn’t really subscribe to color-blind casting. What Lin-Manuel Miranda did with Hamilton is literally unheard of. We black actors meet in the room into which we are invited, but we are often barred from, to steal from Lin, the room where it happens. The spaces where deals get made and ideas get traded. Half the time you get picked to do something in Hollywood, it’s because someone cosigned for you. “Oh yeah, she’s talented, but more important, she’s cool,” someone with more pull than you will say. “I hung out with her this one time.”
But how do you hang when you’re not at the same parties? The biggest award show parties come with very rare invites, and the brown people you see there are the same brown people that have been starring in things forever. Unless you spend at least five grand a month on a power publicist to help land a spot, it’s not gonna just “happen.” Black actresses are rarely deemed the ingénues, or even the up-and-comers. So your work or even a spark of public interest isn’t a guarantee. But let’s say you make it into the room, whether through pay-to-play or luck. You’re in. You got the golden ticket.
So, let’s go in together. First off, the light is amazing, but you’re too wired from the red carpet to do anything but rush to find the closest drink. These red-carpet appearances are timed to the second, so that there won’t be a big collision of big stars. Performers are scheduled and served up like courses at a meal. If your entrance is set for eight thirty and your car gets there at eight? Circle the block, bitch, because someone more important than you has a better call time. And unfortunately, if you have a late call time, a lot of people will have left the party by the time you cross that threshold. That feeling though, when this wall of cameras fires at you and you hear the machine-gun rat-a-tat of clicks, is exhilarating. Your every move creates a new wave of shots.
Once inside, you’re just another beautiful person in this beautifully lit room full of writers, producers, directors, and studio heads. Yes, this is a great chance to network and get to know people, but if you are one of only a sprinkling of black folks in the room, how does that even happen? Just because you’re there doesn’t mean anyone’s gonna talk to you—trust me. No one has vouched for you in the way that Prince had. You feel like an interloper, and you go for the familiar. Because you know who is for sure going to talk with you? The other brown people.
Here’s the thing about the #OscarsSoWhite discussion. Hollywood films are so white because their art happens in a vacuum. It is made by white filmmakers, with white actors, for imagined white audiences. No one even thinks of remedying the issue through communal partying. Inviting one black actor to the party isn’t enough—sorry, folks. We all know you can create even better art by truly being inclusive, but you’re never going to get inclusive in your work if you