Netflix invests in the next gen of female filmmakers

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March 4, 2021

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Shalanda Young could end up as Neera Tanden’s replacement nominee, 32-year-old twin sisters make an IPO splash, and Netflix has a new initiative to support female directors. Have a fabulous Thursday!

– Stream on. The Broadsheet is on the record as skeptical of corporate marketing around International Women’s Day. We are not here for your silly PR stunts. But initiatives that put real money behind efforts to support women? That’s a different story.

So it was with great interest that I read Emma’s exclusive reporting this morning on a new effort by Netflix. In connection with IWD, the $25 billion- streaming giant is committing $5 million to training and mentorship programs for female filmmakers, part of a broader five-year, $100 million commitment to diversity in entertainment.

In the film industry, women continue to be underrepresented behind the camera. Over 13 years ending in 2019, women directed 4.8% of 1,300 popular movies. A study by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative that Netflix commissioned found that the company hired female directors for 23% of its films in 2018 and 2019—significantly better than the industry as a whole, but still far from equal.

The new initiative is not necessarily meant to groom future Netflix directors, but Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s head of global TV, told Emma that she hopes more support for women industry-wide will benefit several studios and streamers, Netflix included.

“This isn’t uniquely for us,” Bajaria says. “It’s for the industry as a whole to have much more dynamic, interesting, multi-dimensional representation of women. … We hope that maybe they’d be employed on Netflix shows, but also that they just have careers and tell their stories wherever this takes them.”

You can read more about the initiative—including some of the first programs to receive Netflix’s funding—here.

Claire Zillman
claire.zillman@fortune.com
@clairezillman

The Broadsheet, Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women, is coauthored by Kristen Bellstrom, Emma Hinchliffe, and Claire Zillman. Today’s edition was curated by Emma Hinchliffe.

In 2021 business leaders have the opportunity to help solve an array of critical social issues, including the need to address gun violence and change our national conversation around gun safety. Join a Fortune event next week for an interactive conversation featuring Valerie Jarrett and former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords about how the business community can partner with key stakeholders to help keep customers, employees, and communities safe.

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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- Up next. Now that Neera Tanden has withdrawn her nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget, new candidates for the cabinet role are starting to emerge. A leading contender is Shalanda Young, former staff director for the House Appropriations Committee, who was already President Biden's nominee for deputy director of the OMB. Politico

- Playing, not just to win. Coly Inc. made the strongest market debut of any Japanese initial public offering so far this year. The company, founded by 32-year-old twin sisters Anna and Mizuki Nakajima, makes mobile games targeted toward women. Instead of playing to win, the appeal is the games' story, characters, and fantasy worlds; the genre of game is called otome, which is Japanese for "maiden." Each sister's stake in the business was worth $141.5 million on Tuesday. Bloomberg

- Disaster prep. The new secretary of energy, Jennifer Granholm, weighed in on the storms that crippled Texas's power grid in her first official engagement since her confirmation. "There will be events like this that occur with greater frequency," she said. "And we have to think of the resilience of the grid, even if you live in warm places." Fortune

- Sturgeon and Scotland. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon testified for eight hours before the Scottish Parliament yesterday, defending herself against allegations that she plotted against her predecessor or broke rules during a botched internal investigation of sexual harassment claims made against him. The situation threatens to derail Sturgeon's career, and even the fight for Scottish independence, of which she has been a leader. New York Times

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: FanDuel Group hired Ticketmaster global COO Amy Howe as president. Courtney Kissler, former Nike VP of global technology, joins Zulily as CTO and SVP of technology. Optiv hired T-Mobile's Heather Allen Strbiak as chief human resources officer. Identiv, Inc. hired Leigh Dow as VP of marketing. Kelly Breslin Wright joins the board of revenue intelligence platform Gong.

CONTENT FROM PWC

What’s keeping companies from doing better?

Sixty-eight percent of leaders believe their business serves the greater good, but only 15% of the wider public agrees. We need to act to help close the gap. We recently surveyed US business leaders, employees and the public to understand what fosters and inhibits trust. These findings shaped actionable steps to help companies fight for social justice and take action, Now.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

- Palace intrigue. Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry's big Oprah interview is set to air on Sunday, and ahead of that special, British newspaper The Times reported that Meghan had been accused of "bullying" behavior in a human resources complaint in 2018. (There aren't any details about what the alleged behavior in question was.) Buckingham Palace—which very rarely makes statements in response to press reports—said it would investigate the claims. Meghan's spokesperson called the story "a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation." One anonymous friend of Meghan's said, "Find me a woman of color in a senior position who has not been accused of being too angry, too scary, too whatever in the workplace." Washington Post

- Returns bring returns. A partnership with Amazon allowing customers to make returns to the ecommerce giant at Kohl's stores brought 2 million new customers to the retailer, Kohl's CEO Michelle Gass said this week. The disclosure came as Kohl's battles with a group of activist investors. Fortune

- Staying far, far away. How did Kelly Marie Tran make it through racist and sexist online bullying after she starred in a new Star Wars movie? She pretty much left social media and started saying no to a lot of requests. Ahead of the release of the animated film Raya and the Last Dragon, she's slowly stepping back into the spotlight. The Hollywood Reporter

ON MY RADAR

No one in the Philippines would air a documentary about press freedom. So Frontline is doing it itself Washington Post

Black women are in the midst of a burnout epidemic Elle

Lorraine O'Grady: Just watch me The Cut