Will Packer, a big-time Hollywood producer, is weighing in on Trump’s crackdown on anti-DEI initiatives -- telling us what really matters when it comes to hiring his team.
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00:00How do you think that this, you know, movement happening to abandon DEI, you know, in corporations,
00:10you know, will affect the film industry?
00:13You know, Hollywood, for better or for worse, is a reactive industry, not as proactive as
00:20I would like.
00:21So there will be some reaction to that pendulum swing, but at the end of the day, you have
00:26folks like myself and others who, we didn't need DEI policies, we didn't need permission
00:32from the federal government anywhere else.
00:33I've been hiring people of color, I've been hiring women, I've been hiring people from
00:37diverse backgrounds for a long time, that's how I got to 10 number ones.
00:41I hire them because they make me better, because it gives me a leg up on my peers who don't
00:46choose to hire the most qualified, diverse people.
00:50So I'm proud of that.
00:51So do you think that, like, in Hollywood, I know there's the major players, you know,
00:58they're reacting.
00:59You see, I mean, you see in Costco, those major players, so I wouldn't imagine these
01:03major studios, but you're saying that the producers like yourself, who are making black
01:10films, or making films about people of color.
01:14Yeah, just making films that have subject matter, it's always been on us.
01:18We have never, folks that make it a priority to hire people from diverse backgrounds and
01:24hire people from marginalized communities, we never did it because we got some incentive
01:28to do it.
01:29We did it because it was the right thing to do and the best thing to do, because it made
01:31us better.
01:32I'm always hiring the best people.
01:33I don't hire people because of, you know, what they look like, but I don't not hire
01:37people because they happen to be diverse, and happen to be people of color.
01:41I always have the best people on my staffs and on my teams and on my crews, and I'm very
01:45proud of that.
01:46I'm proud of my team to do that, and it doesn't matter who's in the White House, I'm going
01:49to do that.
01:50I think, is your hope that that's kind of the consensus thought, you know, among the
01:56black producers?
01:57Absolutely.
01:58I am all about self-determination and self-actualization, and so I'm going to continue to do what I
02:01do, I'm very proud of it, and other folks will as well, and by the way, big media companies
02:06and Hollywood studios and white producers will continue to do that as well, because
02:09at the end of the day, the bottom line is money, the main color is green, and so you
02:13want to be successful.
02:14You want to go hire people who are the best, period.
02:17So what DEI has tried to do is to equal a playing field where you have people who did
02:22not hire the best people because they didn't look like folks that people knew.
02:26They didn't look like their buddies, they didn't look like people that were in their
02:29fraternities, so I'm here to try to fight against that.
02:33And you think those folks will kind of gravitate back to their old practices?
02:37I don't know what will happen, we'll see.
02:39I mean, like I said, Hollywood, unfortunately, can be very reactive sometimes, so there'll
02:44be a reaction to some of this political pendulum swing right now, but at the end of the day,
02:49the cream rises to the top, and the best will be the best, and I'm going to continue to
02:53hire the best, and I'm glad I'm in a position to be able to do that.
02:56You're better than me.