CBS Commits 25 Percent of Development Budget to 'Black, Indigenous, and People of Color'

CBS has now committed to using 25 percent of its production budget to produce TV projects dedicated to “BIPOC” topics — an acronym for “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color” — and will increase the number of minorities in creative roles.

The network has promised to flood its production companies with new minority hires, to produce minority shows, and movies, according to The Wrap. And not only will CBS dedicate 25 percent of its script-writing budget to what some assume will be woke programming, the media giant said 40 percent of its writers’ rooms on all programs will be populated by non-white writers. The network further promised that half the writing staff of every show would be required to be minorities by 2023.

CBS added that six series would reach that threshold for the coming 2021-2022 season.

“While steady progress has been made in recent years both in front of and behind the camera, change needs to happen faster, especially with creators and leadership roles on the shows,” said George Cheeks, President and Chief Executive Officer for the CBS Entertainment Group. “As a network with ambitions to be a unifier and an agent of change at this important time, these new initiatives will help accelerate efforts to broaden our storytelling and make CBS programming even more diverse and inclusive.”

Some of the series that meet the minimum 40 percent minority staffing include, SWAT, All Rise, Bob Hearts Abishola, Clarice, and the upcoming Queen Latifah series, The Equalizer.

In 2018, CBS hired a law firm to review its productions to determine if the network was sensitive enough to “cultural issues.” But despite the moves to get woke, former CBS News employee Whitney Davis wrote an op-ed for Variety accusing the network of “having a white problem.”

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