Director Ava Duvernay (Selma, A Wrinkle in Time, When They See Us) is putting her money, experience and status in the industry where her mouth is, launching ARRAY Crew, a database platform that offers productions in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, New Orleans, Miami, Washington DC and Chicago (with more to come!) access to qualified but underrepresented below-the-line crew members for hiring searches. The project was put together by Duvernay along with former Chairman of Warner Bros. Television Peter Roth.
The 45 below-the-line categories covered by Array Crew range from editors to Covid-19 safety supervisors, cinematographers, accountants, art directors, drivers, production assistants and much, much, more, allowing crew members of different age, gender, race, disability, language and more to load up a profile for potential employers. Backed by a number of studios, streamers and production houses, the platform launched on Thursday, February 19, going live with over 3,000 profiles already loaded up and with plans for an app version of Array Crew to follow sometime in the next few months.
Some of those involved with helping to make ARRAY Crew a reality include WarnerMedia, Netflix, Walt Disney Studios, Hulu, Amazon Studios, Apple TV+, Fox Entertainment, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, Paramount Pictures, A24 and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Production houses include JJ Abrams’s Bad Robot, Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland, and John Wells Productions.
Some of the other categories offered for crew include grips, lighting directors, production designers, costume designers, sound technicians, production accountants, hairstylists, VFX designers, foley artists, ADR mixers, animal trainers, food stylists, choreographers, scenic painters, toolmen, fabric buyers, stitchers, ADR editors, graphic designers and SFX makeup. One only needs a single credit to qualify for entry into the database.
Deadline has an exclusive interview with DuVernay talking more about the initiative, but here is a taste:
“ARRAY Crew is a database to make people who work in the industry known at their current position. What we’re saying is that in this town, it’s so much about who you know, but what happens if you don’t know anyone? So what ARRAY Crew wants to be is who you know, right?
We are making you aware of qualified candidates who may be women or women identified, people of color from across the spectrum, people who may be disabled, people who are underrepresented in our crews. With solid and unprecedented support from all the major studios and the streamers, we’re inviting those candidates to have a space where they can be known to the people who hire.”
You can learn more and register to join as a crew member at ARRAYCrew.com.
