Member-only story
DIVERSITY SOUNDS SO GOOD
by Duc Nguyen
While diversity inclusion is a well-used buzzword in the broadcasting world with stories like Maria Taylor and Rachel Nichols debacle at ESPN, it is a more complex or should I say tricky topic to understand and even tougher to digest.
Diversity inclusion is required but is it followed?
I have an experience I’d like to share which exemplifies that inclusion is easily said but harder in application. I will let the readers determine where the problem lies once they finished this piece. But for me, I’m still struggling to cross the diversity thresholds as a person of color because I’m not being valued for my views. Rather, I’m getting a bone here and there just because a bone needs to be thrown.
In 2018, the producers of ITVS (Independent Television Service) funded film The People vs. Agent Orange approached me for a collaboration because the project they applied for funding got rejected. The reason was all the producers are Caucasian and the film is about a Vietnamese woman. The folks at ITVS suggested that they bring a person of color, mainly Vietnamese, onboard as a “Key Creative Personnel.” At that time, the project was named “Madame Tran’s Last Battle.” The logline was “One woman fights the corporate giants that made Agent Orange.” The story follows Tran To Nga, a Vietnamese…
