I’m a bit of a nut for these ‘artist being an artist conversations’ like these from a number of outlets Variety, Vanity Fair, SAG-AFTRA . . . the one embedded above comes courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter and is excellent on a couple of fronts I’d like to highlight: Diversity, Age & Ownership.

The diversity is pretty obvious, each artist on the panel is representative of a different form or facet of media, oh and they come from different races, genders, and backgrounds.

Their age is also interesting as they are all at an age where they are young and the fruit they will bear can potentially be better than their current offerings, but are young enough to have paid dues, honed their abilities, have a legitimate POV, and it still feel a bit crazy that they are flourishing.

The ownership is perhaps close second to diversity in its importance to the revelatory nature of this piece. Each artist, including moderator Jon Favreau maintain at least 2 of these titles on their exemplary, mainstream accessible (if not in thought but definitely distribution) projects: writer, producer, director, star, creator. That coupled with the diversity on the panel is what should hit you hard, that is real breakthrough in the industry.

Ultimately the idea is that it doesn’t matter, only the story, creativity and proficiency should matter.  Is the product great? Then its a go. However for so long that wasn’t the sole criteria. With this piece, other than the times where it is specifically stated, you wouldn’t know the racial background of the artists, simply that they are great at what they do and have the platform to show it, with artistry and authenticity to who they are and the world around them.