Casualties of the Streaming Wars: Ensuring Diverse Storytelling as PR Professionals
Source: Amazon Studios, “A League of Their Own”
I am always on the hunt for my new favorite television show. My current obsession is “A League of Their Own” on Amazon Prime, inspired by the 90s cult-classic film of the same name, but with a focus on period-accurate queer and BIPOC representation within the same themes of friendship and perseverance. I was instantly enthralled by the show’s creativity, honesty, diversity, and overall storytelling which is why, after first forcing all my loved ones to binge the series too, I turned to social media to find others who felt the same.
I learned that shortly after the show’s premiere, fans banded together on Twitter to commence a renewal campaign for the show’s second season, inspired and supported by one of the show's co-creators. This gave me a heavy dose of deja-vu as over the past few years many of my favorite shows have fallen prey to cancellation, especially those renowned for diverse representation. As Amazon’s promised season two announcement date has come and gone, I’m left wondering: can diverse storytelling survive the streaming wars?
When deciding my focus for My Big Idea project, my curiosities about this topic stood out. Not only are these issues affecting my current life as a consumer, but they are also extremely relevant as I enter the workforce due to my interest in entertainment PR. As a student, I’m being trained to focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as the center of my campaigns, but how can I highlight diversity if the content I’m promoting isn’t also using that framework? What can I, both as a future practitioner and television fan, do to ensure diverse storytelling despite the threat of cancellation?
Source: Netflix, “First Kill”
If canceled, “A League of Their Own” would join the ranks of “Queer as Folk” on Peacock, “First Kill” on Netflix, “Diary of a Future President” on Disney+, “The Gordita Chronicles” on HBOMax, and “One Day at a Time” on Netflix as one of many streaming series with meaningful diversity to be canceled despite fan support. Although fans know the societal and cultural benefits of cultivating diverse stories, it is also important to establish diverse storytelling’s positive business effects. According to UCLA’s “Hollywood Diversity Report 2022,” both social media engagement and ratings are positively impacted by diversity in-content (characters, actors and portrayals) and within creative teams (editors, writers, directors, producers and production staff). These forms of diversity help gain audience diversity since they reflect what current viewers want and invite new viewers in, procuring success among white and historically oppressed communities.
In order to set realistic goals, we must first establish our current status. In partnership with USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Netflix published their 2021 diversity audit based on 2018-2019 original live-action films and series. Looking at behind-the-scenes personnel and on-screen diverse and authentic gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and disability portrayals, Netflix has clearly improved its DEI work compared to previous years. Netflix’s gender diversity among creative teams has allowed them to achieve gender equality in prominent roles and its public commitment to centering strong, black leads is exemplified across its content. However, Netflix has forgotten a number of groups for which they must prioritize creating opportunities – including but not limited to people with disabilities, Middle Eastern/North African, Native/Indigenous, Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino/a, and LGBTQ+ people – in order to be truly successful, a lesson that can be applied industry-wide.
Beginning my research for this project, I found a Washington Post article that validated many of the first thoughts and ideas I had about the state of diverse content in the world of streaming. The article cited Professor Erin Hanna from the University of Oregon so I reached out to her to discuss her work more in-depth. Professor Hanna’s research background in television and film, specifically focusing on fan studies and the effects of media industry publicity, provides an academic perspective on this phenomenon that I can apply to real-world, public relations situations. The following audio clips are excerpts from my interview with her which feature some interesting takeaways.
The Current Problem: Streaming vs Cable Television
Although streaming is a new landscape to explore, we can learn a lot from examining parallels between it and the cable surge of the late 80s/early 90s. At that time, in order to attract advertisers, broadcasters focused on bringing in new, Black viewers but as soon as they hit a certain threshold, their new, diverse content resorted back to the status quo. It’s important to ask whether decisions are being made because of the short-term profitability of queer and BIPOC stories or if long-term, ethical and society-focused commitments are being made.
Behind the Cancellations
The decision to cancel or renew a series is based on business factors; however, diversity of voices is good for the world and companies would benefit from making decisions for reasons other than profit. This decision-making mindset also helps ensure that a company’s embrace of DEI within its culture is authentic rather than performative.
Fans as Publicists: Their Responsibilities and Power Imbalances
Promoting a series is vital to avoid cancellation, but creators and business executives can’t rely on the fan’s labor to do so because of the power imbalances between media conglomerates and everyday viewers. Instead, fans may find their efforts more successful if they refocus on social justice issues because, hopefully, if our culture shifts to one that fully embraces diversity, our media will reflect that.
What Publicity Can Do for Series
Luckily, cancellation no longer means the end of that particular story as other networks and platforms have revived popular shows due to avid fan support gaining additional news coverage. By engaging on socials and garnering media attention, fans can assist PR practitioners in introducing new audiences to shows, but, as a whole, the way that publicity works and is actually most successful occurs behind the curtain.
Overall, my research into this topic has not given me concrete answers. Although we can hypothesize based on prior media phenomena, no one knows where streaming will go from here; however, just being able to formulate these questions and think critically about DEI is preparing me to enter the industry. As practitioners, we must prioritize diverse storytelling by communicating openly with business leaders about why it’s important in and of itself and its anticipated positive results, despite possible short-term financial impacts on their bottom line. In an era where critical consumers will boycott unethical companies, we can always go further in pursuing ethical goals and advocating for all groups equally (which will go hand in hand with long-term business success). When interacting with fans, we have learned that forging a community within a fanbase is beneficial, but we must be wary of placing too much pressure on fans to ensure a show’s renewal because their heightened sense of involvement and power will worsen post-cancellation backlash. Although I look forward to my future career in public relations, I am first and foremost a fan, so I most look forward to implementing Professor Hanna’s advice to refocus my energy on social issues so that, in the end, I can do my part in ensuring that diverse storytelling perseveres.
Source: Netflix, “One Day at a Time”
Sources
Andrews, Travis M. 2022. “Streaming TV is having an existential crisis, and viewers can tell.” The Washington Post, September 7, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/09/07/streaming-tv-changes-crisis/.
Bacci, Francesco. 2022. “What happened to queer TV this year? We got canceled more often than J.K. Rowling.” LGBTQ Nation, September 17, 2022. https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/happened-queer-tv-year-got-canceled-often-j-k-rowling/.
Guerrero, Jean. 2022. “Column: Stop erasing Latinos from the screen. We were finally seeing progress.” Los Angeles Times, August 6, 2022. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-08-06/batgirl-gordita-chronicles-canceled-warner-bros-discovery-latino-representation.
Hanna, Erin. Interviewed by author. Audio recording via Zoom. Syracuse, October 21, 2022.
Li, Cathy, Hesham Zafar, Kristen Hines, Nicole Kozlak, Jacqueline Liang, and Matthew Quinlan. 2021. “Reflecting Society: The State of Diverse Representation in Media and Entertainment.” Geneva, Switzerland: World Economic Forum. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_State_of_Diverse_Representation_in_Media_and_Entertainment_2021.pdf.
Ramón, Ana-Christina, Michael Tran, and Darnell Hunt. 2022. “Hollywood Diversity Report 2022: A New, Post-Pandemic Normal?” Los Angeles, California: UCLA Entertainment & Media Research Initiative. https://socialsciences.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/UCLA-Hollywood-Diversity-Report-2022-Television-10-27-2022.pdf.
Robledo, Jordan. 2022. “Peacock's Queer as Folk reboot cancelled after one season.” Gay Times, September, 2022. https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/television/peacocks-queer-as-folk-reboot-cancelled-after-one-season/.
Sperling, Nicole. 2022. “Netflix's Stumble Could Be a Warning Sign for Streaming Industry.” The New York Times, April 20, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/20/business/media/netflix-streaming-subscription-model.html.
USC Annenberg Communication and Marketing Staff. 2021. “Annenberg Inclusion Initiative releases study of representation in Netflix original productions.” USC Annenberg, February 26, 2021. https://annenberg.usc.edu/news/research-and-impact/annenberg-inclusion-initiative-releases-study-representation-netflix.
Variety Staff. 2022. “First Kill Creator Blames Netflix Marketing for Show Being Canceled.” Variety, 2022. https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/first-kill-creator-netflix-marketing-show-canceled-1235333413/.
Watson, Imogen. 2021. “Are These The Most Ingenious Examples Of TV Show Marketing Ever?” The Drum, April 29, 2021. https://www.thedrum.com/news/2021/04/29/are-these-the-most-ingenious-examples-tv-show-marketing-ever.
