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Viola Davis Determined to Go Above and Beyond on Diversity

Associated Press

   NEW YORK - When Viola Davis started her production company nearly a
   decade ago, she was determined to bring about change in Hollywood with
   a strategic mandate: Normalize people of color on screen.

   "We're not social statements. We're not mythical creatures all the time
   ... you can literally put pen to paper and write a great story that
   includes people of color, and it could actually sell," the Oscar winner
   said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
   Now, in the era of Time's Up and #MeToo, the call for diversity on all
   levels has been amplified. Some actors and directors have publicly
   called for 50-50 inclusion riders, contractual stipulations for the
   diversity of a film's cast and crew. But Davis says she doesn't need a
   piece of paper to do the right thing, and her projects don't try to
   replicate diversity simply based on statistics.

   "Maybe that's narcissistic of me, but I don't want to tell my daughter
   that because she's 12 percent of the population, she only deserves 12
   percent of the pie," Davis said.

   She calls her JuVee Productions a "walking metaphor" of inclusion,
   noting that she has people of color and members of the LGBTQ community
   on staff at every level.
   "Women are at the forefront of just about every project," she added.

   She started JuVee Productions with her husband, Julius Tennon, in 2011
   so she could have more of a voice in her own career, as well as provide
   more diversity on set. Before that, Davis says, she often felt left out
   of the conversation.

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