Despite aggressive inclusion efforts by the voting group, visual effects’ lack of representation stems from early gender disparities, among other root causes.
“It’s still an issue, unfortunately,” says Bennett. “A lot of us have been making recommendations to the membership committee to get more women into the Academy to help move toward leveling the playing field. The issue is also getting more women into the top-tier roles.”
Some of the challenge has to do with the state of the industry, where visual effects firms are competing with such deep-pocketed companies as Apple, Google and Meta for creative, tech-savvy talent from underrepresented groups. Girls also are not as likely to be encouraged to pursue VFX careers, says Janet Lewin, senior vp and GM of Industrial Light & Magic, which is nominated this year for its visual effects work on.
“We could get more balance by allowing VFX producers into the [visual effects] branch,” says Bennett. “There are a lot more female producers than supervisors out there currently, and as we all know, they are equally as important as the VFX supervisors.” As the branch weighs these changes, visual effects companies are working on recruiting and mentoring a more diverse workforce. ILM has a program called the Jedi Academy, which trains talent from underrepresented groups, and Bennett is a proponent of a U.K.-based mentoring program called Prospela. Says Bennett, “It makes for much richer storytelling and creativity if we get this balance right.”
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