For example, the “Disney Look” dress code for Disney Parks Cast Members has become more inclusive, allowing for visible tattoos, new hairstyles, and other forms of personal expression.
Now, Disney is further committing to diversity with the creation of Onyx Collective, a new division that will focus specifically on projects by “creators of color”.
Forbes shared details about the new Onyx Collective content label:
Tara Duncan, a leading executive at the Walt Disney Company,already successfully running the company’s cable platform, Freeform, will now expand her portfolio to launch Disney’s new brand.
Dana Walden, Chairman of Entertainment Walt Disney Television, announced that Onyx Collective will feature the work of “creators of color and other underrepresented creators.” She added that Onyx Collective will largely distribute its content on Hulu, one of Disney’s two domestic streaming platforms.
Earlier this year, it was announced that Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek would chair two diversity councils — one focusing on general inclusivity at the company and another focused on diversity within the companies content. It is possible that Onyx Collective was borne of the latter.
At this time, details about specific creators who will be associated with Onyx Collective are limited. However, Forbes’s report did confirm:
Onyx Collective already has many high profile producing partnerships underway, including but not limited to: Oprah Winfrey, Questlove and Ryan Coogler.
Coogler already has experience with Disney-owned Marvel Studios and is currently directing Black Panther 2 and the upcoming Disney+ Wakanda series. Marvel announced the show in February with a Tweet that read:
Writer-director-producer Ryan Coogler and Proximity Media will develop a #BlackPanther spinoff series based in the Kingdom of Wakanda for@DisneyPlus!
What do you think about Onyx Collective? Do you hope more popular Hollywood entertainers like Ryan Coogler get involved?