Hollywood power players are getting in bed with groups eager to turn an ideologically lopsided industry into a near monolith.
A pair of veteran actors are trying to bring balance to an industry as ideologically rigid as a CNN chyron.
Nick Searcy and Antonio Sabato, Jr. are both working with new production companies to tell stories existing studios might avoid. Think faith-friendly, pro-American tales, or at the very least yarns that speak to the country’s rich past.
They face an uphill battle on a number of fronts, though each deserves credit for seeing a cultural chasm and attempting to fill it.
Meanwhile, big players in Hollywood are forming partnerships with groups that will further push left an already ideologically imbalanced industry.
The upcoming film “The Way I See It” charts the remarkable career of Chief White House photographer Pete Souza, who served that function during both the Reagan and Obama years.
Today, Souza is a fiery critic of President Donald Trump, part of the motivation behind the new documentary … from MSNBC Films.
MSNBC Films is currently working with a number of high-profile partners including Focus Features and Blumhouse Productions, measures sure to boost its industry profile.
The production shingle has been active since 2009, but to date it hasn’t released a film quite like “The Way I See It,” let alone one debuting weeks before a major national election.
That’s no accident, of course. Consider the similarly timed Showtimes series “The Comey Rule,” debuting on the pay channel over two nights starting Sept. 27. The miniseries stars Brendan Gleeson and President Trump and Jeff Daniels as the disgraced former FBI Director.
The project’s creator, Billy Ray, all but demanded Showtime drop the miniseries prior to Election Day. The channel eventually complied.
Those projects may soon be dwarfed in both size and ideology by a massive merger announced last month. Lionsgate is partnering with Oprah Winfrey, Pulitzer Prize®-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times to develop content tied to the 1619 Project.
For the uninitiated, that’s the deeply flawed endeavor meant to recast the American experiment as inherently racist. Historians have teed off on its many inaccuracies, and Hannah-Jones herself has admitted the 1619 Project is more “origin story” than history.
Oh.
The plans include feature films, TV shows and related content “for a global audience,” the press release on the deal notes. Winfrey, the billionaire who recently said America operates under a “caste system” benefiting white Americans, is on hand to “provide stewardship and guidance.”
It’s hardly the only project tied to The New York Times. Axios reports a number of new developments including a rebranded documentary series, now dubbed “The New York Times Presents” airing on both FX and Hulu.
The company’s media division debuted its premier feature documentaries at Sundance earlier this year with an expanded movie division promising more “in-house” content.
That’s in addition to 10 scripted TV shows currently in development.
It’s worth noting the Gray Lady’s content is increasingly biased, with voices drifting to the center, let alone the right, getting drummed out the newspaper. Just ask former contributor Bari Weiss.
Let’s not forget the Obamas’ aggressive measures on the pop culture front. The former First Couple’s Higher Ground production group just delivered “Becoming,” a mash note to Michelle Obama, and the duo are just warming up in the cultural space, what with her new Spotify podcast.
Their initial documentaries, “American Factory” and “Crip Camp” haven’t been as ideological as some might expect. They still have a better grasp of pop culture than most political couples, and have a massive war chest thanks to their Netflix deal to do as they please.
Yet none of this may truly measure up to the woke winds blowing through the industry in the wake of the George Floyd riots.
The industry remains understandably guilty for its poor representation over the years. To right that wrong, Hollywood power players are leaning in, hard, hoping to address America’s “systemic racism” in as many projects as possible.
It’s why the aforementioned projects happened in the first place. It also explains the upcoming “League of Our Own” reboot, promised to emphasize the racial and gender woes of the era – 1950s America.
Over at the Mouse House, Disney inked a deal with far-left activist and occasional athlete Colin Kaepernick to produce new content.
The partnership will focus on telling scripted and unscripted stories that explore race, social injustice and the quest for equity. It also will provide a platform to showcase the work of minority directors and producers.
The company also approved a “Wonder Years” reboot featuring a black family.
And, of course, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is leveraging its global brand to push diversity as much as super heroics moving forward.
So much of Hollywood today is either woke, progressive or a heady combination of the two. Just peek at late-night television, a nightly infomercial for the Democratic Party.
We might actually look back at 2020 as being a simpler time when some TV shows and movies hit screens without an overt agenda.
More from Christian Toto: Reporters Ignored Richard Gere Slamming U.S. Studios For China Appeasement