Powering Inclusive Content
CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR DIVERSE CREATORS
Across our company and within our brands, we are committed to creating opportunities for diverse talent on camera and behind the scenes.
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Content for Change Academy
The Content for Change Academy is a talent program that aims to remove barriers to entry for new storytellers, build equity, and invest in the industry’s next generation of leaders from nontraditional pathways, including individuals from community colleges and certification programs, who are historically marginalized from entry into the entertainment industry.
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CBS Performers With Disabilities
A casting database and customized programs providing career guidance, acting workshops and open calls for people with disabilities.
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Nick Writing Program
The Nick Writing Program gives participants exposure to seasoned writers and executives.
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Nick Artist Program
The Nick Artist Program allows diverse aspiring artists to develop their skills.
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Showcase
Paramount’s Comedy Showcase started in 2005 and is a highly anticipated annual hybrid comedy show with live performances and original, creative writing. Casting agents, showrunners and other entertainment executives attend the annual event.
OUR INCLUSIVE CONTENT LEGACY
We are passionate about creating content and experiences that connect with and celebrate our audiences in more than 180 countries. This commitment has shaped a long history and rich tradition of influential entertainment brands.
BET remains the nation's leading multiplatform provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs programming for the Black audience. With hit franchises like the “BET Awards,” buzz-worthy shows from Tyler Perry, and a commitment to socially conscious programming—the network serves +125 million households. BET+, the preeminent streaming service for Black audiences, launched in 2019. BET Studios, a studio venture that offers equity ownership for Black content creators, launched in September 2021.
CBS is making positive inroads in expanding culturally relevant programming while advancing inclusion both in front of and behind the camera. While the work to make greater progress continues, shows like “The Equalizer,” “The Neighborhood,” NCIS: Hawaiʻi,” “Ghosts,” “CSI: Vegas,” “Bob 💗Abishola,” “S.W.A.T.,” “FBI,” “Survivor,” “Love Island,” “Tough As Nails” and “Big Brother” are among the series and specials that are helping the network meet its bold inclusion goals set in 2020.
CBS News launched its multifaceted Race and Culture Unit in 2020 to work closely with the executive producers of all platforms to help shape coverage and ensure that the division’s reporting reflects diverse perspectives. CBS Village, a cross-platform franchise led by the Race and Culture Unit, was launched the same year to showcase the organization’s inclusive, original reporting and cover issues that affect traditionally underrepresented communities across platforms.
As a world leader in sports broadcasting, CBS Sports has long upheld the idea that sports are a beacon of multiculturalism and diversity, and that every game holds the ability to advance inclusion through shared experiences and content. That idea has been fully supported with programming that has featured the Black Lives Matter movement, Asian and Asian-American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Month, Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Native American Heritage Month, as well as content highlighting LGBTQ+ and women’s issues
The studio is committed to furthering the progress of inclusive storytelling and diverse representation in front of and behind the camera throughout all of its productions, including series like “The Good Fight,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” and “Ghosts.” Its partnership with creators like Tarana J. Burke, Ilana Pena, and Larry Teng supports BIPOC storytellers by bringing diverse content to various platforms. It’s also partnered with Sheila Ducksworth, who was appointed president of the new CBS/NAACP production venture.
With its global reach and history as a definer of culture, the brands within the MTV Entertainment Group advance diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice through cutting-edge content and campaigns. Programming under the MTV Entertainment banner includes pioneering shows like “The Real World” and Emmy Award winning “RuPaul’s Drag Race” that have advanced inclusion on a global scale.The division is well known for its social campaigns, including those centered on voting, mental health and anti-racism.
From day one, Nickelodeon has been at the forefront of creating content that depicts the full spectrum of diversity in childrens' lives and the world they live in. The brand has a proven track record of consciously defying the conventional wisdom of what kinds of characters and stories should be showcased on TV for a kid and family audience. The Nickelodeon portfolio represents diversity in all forms across all programs, in shows like the iconic “Dora the Explorer,” a global phenomenon that has crossed social, racial and language boundaries, and has a following of millions of children around the world.
Since its launch in 2014 (as CBS All Access), Paramount+ has been home to diverse representation and inclusive storytelling, placing women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community at the forefront of its original series, with shows like “The Good Fight,” “Star: Trek: Discovery,” “The Twilight Zone” and “Why Women Kill.”
Paramount Pictures has launched a partnership with Culture•House, a Black-, Brown- and women-owned production company and cultural consultancy, to ensure Paramount Pictures continues on a path of visionary leadership in inclusive storytelling and remains at the forefront of cultural competency across the spectrum of our creative collaborators. Paramount Pictures joined CBS in signing on to the Ruderman Family Foundation Disability Pledge to audition actors with disabilities for studio productions at Paramount Pictures.
SHOWTIME has consistently told stories about diverse communities for more than two decades. Beginning with groundbreaking and beloved series like “Soul Food,” “Queer as Folk” and “The L Word®,” the brand’s dedication to inclusive content continues today with late-night talk show “Desus & Mero®,” Lena Waithe’s “The Chi,” “The L Word®: Generation Q,” and “Work in Progress.” Following the success of the groundbreaking “Desus & Mero®,” SHOWTIME is continuing to redefine the late-night landscape with “Ziwe,” a no-holds-barred variety sketch series that challenges America’s discomfort with race, politics, and other cultural issues.
ADVANCING INCLUSIVE CONTENT GLOBALLY
Paramount International Networks & Streaming launched its “No Diversity, No Commission” content policy across the company’s international properties, effective October 2020. The policy, which started at ViacomCBS Networks U.K. in July 2020, is designed to promote and increase diversity in content and production. Among other changes, the policy requires production companies to meet prescribed diversity and inclusion guidelines prior to getting a final sign-off from Paramount International Networks & Streaming. The policy also includes “New Faces, New Voices,” a search for diverse contributors that aims to boost on-screen representation, and the “Promotion Opportunity Project,” created to identify and support the promotion of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) production talent in the UK.
Previously, Channel 5 commissioned shows under the Diverse Indie Initiative, which it co-founded with The TV Collective in 2019 with the intent to partner with the most culturally diverse production companies to create mainstream programs for the channel. At BET UK, a $1m (£714k) commissioning budget was created to invest in new UK originals addressing themes and topical issues relevant to young, Black British audiences.
In October 2021, Paramount International Studios (PIS) launched PIS Social Impact. The new studio division will develop groundbreaking social impact-driven content addressing climate, equity, and health for the Paramount portfolio of brands, including Paramount+, as well as for third-party partners. PIS Social Impact is part of Content for Change and will also champion diverse creators and content focused on underrepresented communities. PIS Social Impact commissioned “Protest & Progress” from world-renowned, history-making photographer and social activist, Misan Harriman. The studio is also launching an inclusive writers’ room focused on scripted ideas powered by a diverse group of creatives, with a strong presence of participants from LGBTQ+ communities led by actor, writer and director Thishiwe Ziqubu. Earlier in May, 2021, Paramount International Networks & Streaming launched Narrativas Negras, a writing room of Black writers dedicated to ”developing representative and inclusive content.” The writing team is based in Brazil and led by Marton Olympio.
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Talent Investment
We aim to create a culture where all employees feel they belong, know they are valued, and do their best work.
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Partner Collaboration
We work with organizations around the world that share our commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging.
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Careers
We need diverse, passionate people who want to leave a positive mark on culture. Join us and help create the future of media.