Annenberg Inclusion Initiative
@Inclusionists
The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative is the leading think tank in the world studying diversity and inclusion in entertainment through original research and sponsored projects. Beyond research, the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative develops targeted, research-based solutions to tackle inequality. The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative works in three major areas:
RESEARCH: Uses data-driven and theory-based research to offer insight and evidence to industries on where diversity is needed and how to achieve it
ADVOCACY: Exists to foster inclusion and give a voice to disenfranchised or marginalized groups
ACTION: Offers simple actions for complex solutions to facilitate social change at the student, industry, and societal level
Contact us
You can reach out to us at aii@usc.edu.
Stacy L. Smith selected for Irvine Foundation Leadership Award
Stacy L. Smith has been selected for The James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards, which honor trailblazing leaders who are transforming California’s future. Smith is among seven recipients recognized by the foundation in 2025 for advancing innovative solutions to the state’s toughest challenges, informing policymakers and inspiring the next generation of leaders. A pioneer in entertainment equity, Smith’s groundbreaking research and initiatives like the Inclusion Rider, the 4% Challenge, and the Proof of Concept Accelerator are reshaping representation on- and off-screen as well as informing inclusion efforts for industry giants such as Netflix, Universal, Amazon, Adobe, and Spotify.
Stacy L. Smith is the foremost disrupter of inequality in the entertainment industry. She is the founder of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative (AII). Her groundbreaking research and solutions span film, TV, and digital platforms, the music business, and economic analyses investigating the relationship between inclusion and financial performance.
Introducing The Inclusion List
Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, in collaboration with the Adobe Foundation, have created The Inclusion List. The Inclusion List is a data-driven ranking to show who in the entertainment industry has taken inclusion seriously and been a driving force for industry change.
The Inclusion List: Film Edition ranks the most inclusive content across series and film using on screen and behind the camera indicators and the people responsible for creating the most inclusive content. The Inclusion List: Series Edition ranks the 100 most inclusive broadcast and cable and streaming series and the top 20 executive producers. The Inclusion List: Oscars Edition provides a 96-year historical analysis of gender and race/ethnicity at the Academy Awards. All the details are available at http://inclusionlist.org.
With this tool, we seek to inform, challenge, and congratulate the entertainment industry and point out where there is room to grow.
The Inclusion Rider: Legal language for ending Hollywood’s epidemic of invisibility
Across the 100 top-grossing films of 2016, 47 did not feature a single Black woman or girl speaking on screen, 66 movies were devoid of Asian female characters, and a full 72 films erased Latinas. Very few females from the LGBT community, native and indigenous females, Middle Eastern females, or female characters with disabilities are seen in our cinematic stories. More generally, the percentage of females on screen in film has not moved in decades. It’s time to change these statistics. The inclusion rider was created to do just that. The inclusion rider is an addendum to an actor/content creator’s contract that stipulates that stories and storytellers should look like the world we actually live in — not a small fraction of the talent pool. It does this while also protecting story sovereignty.
The purpose of the inclusion rider is to counter bias in interviewing/auditioning and hiring/casting in specific employment positions in the entertainment industry. The rider is a template and living document, not something to be cut and pasted into a contract. The details of its implementation are crucial to its success. The rider is a flexible and adaptable framework that actors/content creators should consider together with counsel prior to signing on to their next project. The inclusion rider does not provide for quotas. It simply stipulates consideration of the deep bench of talented professionals from historically underrepresented groups and strongly encourages hiring and casting of qualified individuals from under-represented backgrounds. We believe that this language is a necessary first step to eradicate inequality experienced for years on screen and behind the camera.
In the spirit of inclusion, Stacy L. Smith of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, Kalpana Kotagal of Cohen Milstein, and Fanshen Cox of Pearl Street Films are sharing the template and hope it will be an important tool in achieving change. Read more about the origin of the “inclusion rider” and use the link below to see the original language.
Studies
The annual report from Stacy L. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, Inclusion in the Director’s Chair, was released on January 1, 2025.
The study examines the gender and race/ethnicity of directors across 1,800 popular films from 2007 to 2024, revealing little change in the percentage of women and underrepresented directors hired to helm top-performing movies. The report also looks specifically at women of color working as directors.
The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released its first-ever study on Muslim representation, sponsored by the Ford Foundation and Pillars Fund.
The report investigated the prevalence and portrayals of Muslim characters across 200 top-grossing films released between 2017 and 2019 and 200 top international series from 2018-19. The research showed that Muslim characters were erased in popular movies, that portrayals lack intersectional inclusion, and that Muslims still face stereotyping on screen.
The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative examined the gender, race/ethnicity and age of characters in popular movies from 2007 to 2024. The results demonstrate where there has been change and where progress is still needed.
The Kids Are Not All Right: The Portrayal & Context of Mental Health Conditions of Children and Teens in 300 Popular Films
This research brief examines the prevalence and portrayal of mental health conditions among child and teen characters across 300 most popular films from 2016, 2019, and 2022. This is a secondary analysis of an earlier report, where we found that less than 2% of 12,915 speaking or named characters were shown with a mental health condition.
Stacy L. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released the findings from their newest study exploring mental health representation in storytelling. In partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), the report is the third in the series by the Initiative and examines 100 top-grossing films from 2022. An over time comparison of the results from prior years — 2016 and 2019 — provides a rich understanding of the current landscape of mental health in entertainment. The prevalence of common mental health conditions depicted, such as anxiety/PTSD, addiction, mood disorders, suicide were analyzed, as well as the demographic breakdown of characters with mental health conditions. Additionally, the report covers how these characters and conditions are portrayed, including ways in which they may be positively or negatively presented in popular films.
This research brief examines the 100 most popular movies of 2023 for portrayals related to pregnancy, miscarriage, infertility, contraception, abortion, menstruation, and overall reproductive health. Across the 100 top-grossing films of 2023, 42% of movies showcased one or more reproductive portrayals while 58% did not. Most films featured only one portrayal related to reproductive health.
The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released a new study on the participation of women in the animation industry, in partnership with Women in Animation. The study evaluated females on screen, behind the camera above and below the line across film and TV, and in the executive ranks at major animation companies.
In addition, a qualitative investigation examined the reasons that limit women's access and opportunity in the industry. The study results were unveiled at the third annual Women in Animation World Summit, held in partnership with Les Femmes s’Animant (LFA), at the Annecy International Animation Festival and Mifa 2019.
The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has released a new report in partnership with TIME’S UP Entertainment, titled “Critic’s Choice 2.” It is the second from Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative to investigate inclusion among film reviewers and examines access and opportunity for film critics. The report uses reviews of the 300 top-grossing films from 2015-2017 posted on the site Rotten Tomatoes to assess gender and race/ethnicity of critics, finding that reviewers are overwhelmingly white and male.
The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s annual report examines the gender and race/ethnicity of artists, songwriters, and producers across the year’s top songs, according to the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Charts. The study also looks at Grammy nominations in key categories. The latest report covers 2012 to 2024, including the Grammy nominees for the 2025 award show.
Stacy L. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, in partnership with Believe and TuneCore, examine executive diversity across the music industry. This report updates the Initiative’s 2021 study, analyzing gender and racial/ethnic representation among executives at 106 music companies and across over 2,000 executives in the music industry.
The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative conducted this study in partnership with the Media Neuroscience Lab (MNL), University of California, Santa Barbara, and the study was sponsored by Snap. The analysis is a multi-year, first-of-its-kind representation audit of English-language partnered content on Snapchat (content from traditional and digital native media partners). The team used a combination of computational methods and human assessors to understand how well gender, race/ethnicity, LGBTQ+, and disability were represented in Snapchat content.
The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative partnered with Netflix to evaluate film and series content on screen and behind the scenes from 2018 to 2023. The study examines gender, race/ethnicity, LGBTQ+ and characters with disabilities in Netflix content.
Stacy L. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative examined 126 top-grossing films from 2021 and 2022 and found no significant relationship between the identity of the protagonist and box office success. What does matter? How strongly a film receives support in terms of budget, marketing costs, and distribution.
Stacy L. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released their first-ever comprehensive study, sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company, analyzing the depiction of five significant health conditions and diseases — obesity, cancer, dementia, atopic dermatitis, and diabetes — in 200 top films and TV shows. The findings reveal a significant underrepresentation and stereotypical portrayal of these common conditions, which affect millions.
Stacy Smith: The data behind Hollywood's sexism
In October 2016, Stacy L. Smith, the Founder and Director of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, delivered a powerful TED Talk on the prevalence and portrayal of female characters in film. Most importantly, she shared her data-driven solutions to the problem. Watch now!
Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED
Research Areas and Reports
AII Team
PARTNERS
Research and advocacy at this level involves multiple stakeholders. The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative is grateful to our existing sponsors and partners, including The David & Lura Lovell Foundation, Mari and Manuel Alba, Bonnie Arnold, Ann Erickson and Richard Pellett, Beth Friedman, Suzanne Lerner, Valley Fund for the Advancement of Women and Girls at the Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona and Ann Lovell, the Women’s Foundation of Colorado and Barbara Bridges. Support is also provided by The Tides Foundation on the recommendation of Ms. Julie Parker Benello. Interested in supporting the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative? Please contact us for more information or click here to donate.
Annenberg Inclusion Initiative Media Mentions
Time's Up Turns a Page: Brie Larson, Tessa Thompson and USC's Stacy Smith on a "Very Simple Formula to Create Change"
Inclusion strategies have sprung up aplenty, but how to really move the needle?
Study shows ongoing “inclusion crisis” in film industry
The newest study from AII examines inequality in the film industry
APNewsBreak: Study Says Films Exclude Women, Hispanics
Women, Hispanics and people with disabilities are among the most underrepresented groups
Study Finds 80 Percent of Female Directors Made Only One Movie in 10 Years
AII reports that just 8.1 percent of Hollywood’s helmers over the past decade were black or Asian
Lights, Camera, Taking Action
On many fronts, women are fighting for better opportunity in Hollywood
AII News
