Issa Rae covers the current issue of Time Magazine, and the cover story is all about the racial wealth gap, and for Issa, it’s about Hollywood’s declines in employing Black creators and greenlighting shows written by, produced by and starring Black talent. Issa is one of the biggest Black creators working in Hollywood today – Time lists all of her companies and I was shocked to see how much she has going on (per Time): “Rae’s growing portfolio includes a production company (Hoorae), an indie music label (Raedio), a management company (Color Creative), a marketing agency (Fête), a prosecco line (Viarae), a hair-care brand (Sienna Naturals), and a stake in the U.S. SailGP Team.” AND she also owns an independent coffee shop in Inglewood. She’s not only a major creator, she’s a major employer, she is her own economy. Some highlights from Time:
Witnessing Hollywood backsliding on pledges to increase representation and diversity post-strikes. “I’ve never seen Hollywood this scared and clueless, and at the mercy of Wall Street.”
She doesn’t want to just create, she has to create successful projects: “I recognize that I have to do well economically to be able to make change. That’s frustrating, that’s ugly. But I recognize that money moves things faster—and so much of what I do is with the intention to help make those moves.”
Post-strike, so many projects disappeared: “But there was the frustration of, ‘Oh, my gosh, this project that I’ve been working on for five years just disappeared,’” she says. Rap Sh!t would not have been greenlit by WarnerMedia today, as all executives seem to want, she says, is safe, “universal” stories. Its cancellation is just one example of what Rae sees as a larger withering of promises Hollywood executives made in 2020 toward increasing diversity and representation, both on- and off-screen. “There is a bitterness of just like, who suffers from you guys pulling back? People of color always do,” she says.
On the current leaders of Hollywood. “I’m sorry, but there aren’t a lot of smart executives anymore. And a lot of them have aged out and are holding on to their positions and refusing to let young blood get in.” In prior eras, Rae says, the money-making suits mostly stayed away from creative choices. “Now these conglomerate leaders are also making the decisions about Hollywood. Y’all aren’t creative people. Stick to the money. The people that are taking chances are on platforms like TikTok: that’s what’s getting the eyeballs of the youth. So you’re killing your own industry.”
Questioning the feasibility of “smaller, quieter projects.” “When you have all of these streaming services that are competing with each other, it means they’re also moving the goalposts of what success looks like and what their brand is. It’s all mush. I know what my brand identity is and what I want to make. But if that doesn’t align with who’s paying me to make stuff, then that’s complex. We are malleable, but only to an extent.”
She doesn’t want her own blockbuster franchise. “I’m just excited to create and see what I can do in this space where everything is asking for those big, IP-driven things…I know what drives me and I know what brought me in—and I remember when they were telling me that they didn’t want to make my types of stories. So I’m still optimistic in that way.”
“Where everything is asking for those big, IP-driven things” – the thing is, Rae would likely never even step one foot in those meetings because the IPs aren’t there for Black women. No one is saying “let’s make the Black Barbie movie” or “we need to cast Issa as Wonder Woman.” That being said, I hope that she continues to dip her toe in those larger projects – she was wonderful in Barbie, and I hope she made lifelong allies in Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie. Robbie was similar to Rae when Margot created her production company, LuckyChap – the idea was to create more movies by and for women, and do it smaller. Then Margot asked to pitch for Mattel executives and the rest is history.
As for what Rae says about how the executives are scared, dumb and old… yeah, I believe that. We saw that play out during the SAG strike too – executives were truly saying the dumbest sh-t ever, and we saw Hollywood management slowly realize that they can’t actually treat their creators like garbage 24-7. She’s right about TikTok as well – executives are so far behind.
Cover courtesy of Time, additional photos courtesy of Avalon Red.