At Pasadena Press Conference, National Hispanic Media Coalition, National Latino Media Council Blast Paramount Pictures

The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) and the National Latino Media Council (NLMC) are planning to launch a series of protest actions against the film company Paramount Pictures for not giving enough opportunities for Latino actors, writers, and directors.

In a press conference in Pasadena Tuesday, the NHMC and NLMC said they are asking the public to boycott Paramount Pictures and join their actions, including a social media campaign and demonstrations nationwide, until the film company signs a memorandum of understanding with the two media associations.

If they do sign, Paramount should detail how they plan to solve their “shameful numbers when it comes to Latino employment, in front of and behind the camera,” according to a NHMC statement.

“Latinos can no longer wait for the film companies to, as they say, bring us into their films ‘organically,’” Alex Nogales, President and CEO of the NHMC, said. “Latinos must be part and parcel of the film industry. The talent is there and as a community, we need the positive stories and sensitivity of our actors, writers, and directors to counter the anti-Latino rhetoric and actions of the Trump administration who has influenced a large portion of the population to look at us as the dregs of society.”

Paramount Pictures released a statement Tuesday in response to the NHMC and NLMC statements, a report in Deadline Hollywood said. The film company said they have met with NHMC in a good faith effort “to see how we could partner as we further drive Paramount’s culture of diversity, inclusion and belonging.”

“Under our new leadership team, we continue to make progress – including ensuring representation in front of and behind the camera in upcoming films – and welcome the opportunity to build and strengthen relationships with the Latino creative community further,” the statement said.

Former Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, who spoke at the NHMC-NLMC press conference, said only 2.7 percent of Latinos were in films in 2016, quoting a report from UCLA’s Bunche Center.

“The lack of representation of Latinos by the film studios is an embarrassment and a disservice to our community,” Molina said. “The unfair portrayal of our community paired with our current political climate is putting us at harm to how the world sees us. It’s time for Latinos to be included, time for people outside our community to see what makes the Latino community truly great.”

Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel and NLMC chair, said the “severe underrepresentation in media” of any significant community has real consequences, including politicians targeting the excluded community in their campaigns and rhetoric.

“The Latino community understands these consequences and will hold the media companies with the worst records of underrepresentation accountable for their complicity in the denial of civil rights to the Latino community, the nation’s largest minority group,” Saenz said.

Brenda Victoria Castillo, NHMC President and CEO-elect, said Latinos comprise more than 57 million people in the United States with a purchasing power of more than $1.5 trillion.

“Latinos purchase 24 percent of all tickets sold at the box office. That’s real power,” Castillo said. “Do not be compliant and accepting of the way the film studios discriminate against us Latinos. Resist the way Hollywood depicts us in negative stereotypes. Rise up, stay woke, and take action.”

During the press conference, Dr. Matt A. Barreto, co-founder and Managing Partner of Latino Decisions, presented a NHMC commissioned report, “Latinos, Movie Watching, and Views on Representation in Film,” which surveyed 423 adults in the U.S. who self-identified as Latino or Hispanic, with data collected from May 21 to 29.

The survey was intended to probe movie consumption patterns among Latinos in the last 12 months, in theater and at home, views on Latino representation in film, and their willingness to act in response to poor representation. The full results are available through NHMC’s website, www.nhmc.org.