Hollywood producer's new nonprofit to boost diverse creators

Hollywood film producer Dan Lin — known for movies such as Disney’s live action “Aladdin” and “The Two Popes” — is launching a nonprofit with more than $1 million from the Ford and MacArthur foundations as well as several other philanthropies. His goal is to help more people of color create and produce film, television, digital, and audio projects.

“There’s no shortage of talented, diverse creators, artists, and entrepreneurs,” said Lin, founder and CEO of the film and television company Rideback. “The only scarcity is opportunity, the funding and the risk-taking that’s always existed at the center of this Hollywood content machine. We’re really determined to break through these restricted access points, enlarge the funnel, and activate more creatives of color.”

Just three in 10 film directors are Black, Latino, Asian-American, multiracial, or Native American. And only a third of film writers are people of color, according to a recent study by the University of California at Los Angeles.

Rideback Rise, the company’s nonprofit arm, which hopes to raise $2 million in total this year, will oversee a fellowship program for writers, directors, podcast creators, and other artists of color selected each year who want to launch a project.

Each fellow will receive a $50,000 stipend plus access to a fund that will allow creators to obtain material to adapt for their projects, such as books that could become screenplays and support to market their projects to potential buyers. Lin says it’s important to help creators use content from existing materials because some financial backers of film and other projects believe that content by diverse artists and for diverse audiences might not generate significant profits.

While developing their projects, fellows will receive coaching...