Hollywood Producer Will Packer Says He Hires on Merit, But Best Are POC

TMZ

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.

Transcript

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.

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