Award Honors HBO’s Consistent Commitment to and Leadership in the Hiring of Women and Ethnic Minorities in DGA Categories Home Box Office, Inc., will be the recipient of the Directors Guild of America’s Diversity Award for 2000, DGA President Jack Shea and Awards Committee Chairperson Howard Storm announced today. The award honors HBO’s consistent commitment to and leadership in the hiring of women and ethnic minorities in DGA categories. The DGA Diversity Award was inaugurated in 1997, when it was presented to Bruce Paltrow and the team of John Wells and Christopher Chulack, and was given last year to Steven Bochco. Jeff Bewkes, CEO of HBO, will accept the award at the 52nd Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, March 11, 2000.
"HBO has long been a trailblazer when it comes to hiring DGA women and ethnic minorities," said DGA President Shea. " Its commitment to diversity has been almost unparalleled, from its movies for television to its original series to its independent productions. HBO’s record belies the too-often heard claim that the women and minority talent pools are spread too thin, and its dedication to constantly expanding the number of women and minorities behind the camera is an example that every network and studio should follow."
Among the HBO programs since 1991 that have utilized the talents of DGA women and ethnic minorities are:
HBO Films: The Corner, Winchell, The Rat Pack, Earthly Possessions, The Jack Bull, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, Gia, Weapons of Mass Distraction, Dead Silence, The Late Shift, Soul of the Game, The Cherokee Kid, Crime of the Century, Indictment: The McMartin Story, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, A Private Matter, Swallows Come Back.
HBO NYC: A Lesson Before Dying, First Time Felon, Subway Stories, Path to Paradise, If These Walls Could Talk, Mi Vida Loca, State of Emergency, Strapped, Women & Men, Criminal Justice, Prison Stories: Women on the Inside.
HBO Documentary Programming: Painted Girls, 4 Little Girls, Hookers at the Point: America Undercover, I Am A Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School, Skinheads USA: Soldiers of the Race War: America Undercover, She’s Nobody’s Baby: The History of American Women in the 20th Century.
HBO Original Programming: Paul Rodriguez ‘Round Midnight Special', John Leguizamo’s Freak, Sex and the City, The Sopranos, Oz, Chris Rock Show, D.O.A., HBO Comedy Hour: Drew Carey, USCAF ’97 Best of the Fest shows, George Carlin: 40 Years of Comedy, From the Earth to the Moon, Not Necessarily the Elections, Grand Avenue, America’s Dream—Long Black Song, America’s Dream—The Boy Who Painted Christ Black, America’s Dream—The Reunion, Cosmic Slop, Laurel Avenue, Dream On.
HBO Family Programming: Trevor, Rosie O’Donnell’s Kids are Punny, Someone Had to Be Benny, How Do You Spell God?
HBO Independent Productions: Martin.
"HBO is very proud to be honored, but the real credit rests with the extraordinary talent who have contributed to our work over the years," said Bewkes. "We have always believed that to create the most interesting and diverse stories, you need an interesting and diverse workplace. This is true not only in our building, but in front of and behind the camera as well."
Nominations for the DGA Diversity Award were submitted by DGA members, studio, network and company executives and agents. Those nominated were asked to provide a summary of their achievements in the hiring of DGA women and ethnic minorities to the DGA’s Diversity Awards Selection Committee appointed by DGA President Shea, which then selected the honoree.
The 52nd Annual DGA Awards will be held on Saturday, March 11, 2000, at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
