The POW! [Power Our World] Media Accelerator has a twofold mission:
1) to develop and showcase media with a message that can make a difference in our world;
2) to make it easier for great voices that have been ignored to find ways to get admitted by the gatekeepers of the Hollywood kingdom.
MISSION
POW! [Power Our World] Media Accelerator
We can all be inspired by stories of talent that has broken through the gates to broaden opportunity. Each breakthrough enables new voices to be heard in the Hollywood kingdom and in the world. Changes have begun:
• 2020 – Dede Gardner (Plan B Productions) won a Lifetime Achievement Award because “For nearly two decades, Plan B has been at the forefront of bringing unique and compelling stories that inspire, motivate and connect to diverse audiences,” Producers Guild of America Presidents Gail Berman and Lucy Fisher said in a statement. “[Plan B’s] devotion to tackling some of America’s most timely topics with a fresh perspective and distinct voice in their storytelling is vital to raising the bar of the art and craft of filmmaking.”
• 2020 – PARASITE (from Korea) was the first foreign language film to win Best Picture at the Oscars.
• 2019 – Netflix went from zero films by women in 2013 to 20% in 2019, ahead of the industry standard.
• 2015 – Oprah Winfrey became the first African American woman to be nominated for Best Picture for SELMA. And, although the Director of SELMA, Ava DuVernay, did not win, John Legend won an Oscar for his song GLORY in that film.
The Harvard Business Review article “How Ava DuVernay is Finding Blue Oceans in Hollywood” noted that a person of relatively low status — someone who lacks a pedigree or credentials, is too old or too young, is female, or is a person of color — is unlikely get any of the same support, not because their idea was weighed and deemed unworthy, but because it came from a person who was deemed relatively powerless, and therefore unworthy of being heard. [Ava DuVernay] stopped seeking access and permission from the kingmakers and tried a different approach: She built a new boat.
POW! [Power Our World] Media Accelerator aims to bring the advantages that Accelerators have offered for technology innovation to media innovation, working with talent from a diversity of nationalities, ages and genders.
Power Our World
