As major players in Hollywood walk back on earlier commitments to DEI, Eva Longoria says she hasn’t given up on her push for greater diversity, equity and inclusion across the entertainment industry.
“This kind of pendulum swing of DEI programs being cut back means a lot of directors and writers from those programs will suffer, because they give opportunity where opportunity is not usually there,” Longoria said during a conversation at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“It’s much harder for women to break through in Hollywood, and it’s much harder for people of color to break through, because I don’t think there’s a studio exec in a tower going, ‘I don’t want to hire people of color.’ They just hire people with the most experience,” Longoria added.
So the Hollywood star-turned-director-producer called for stepped up efforts to build up resumes for people from under-represented communities, including Latina women, that don’t always get a leg up to realize their goals.
Referencing times when she looks to direct or produce a project, Longoria insisted where possible she looks at the “potential of someone” rather than just their screen credits. “A lot of talented people, they just don’t have the same resume,” Longoria said.
That’s why her namesake Eva Longoria Foundation focuses on supporting women, Latina women in particular, to help build up their resumes. And in her own filmmaking, Longoria urged going against stereotypes of diverse communities to develop and produce meaningful work that resonates widely.
“Telling the stories in marginalized communities is not always easy. This region (the Middle East) knows that. And the filmmakers that are represented here, you see the stories that are at this film festival, they should be applauded,” Longoria said.
The Red Sea Film Festival continues to Dec. 14.
