CBS orders all reality shows to cast 50% people of color...

CBS announced a new diversity pledge Monday that will have a visible impact on its staple of reality shows: All future casts will contain at least 50 percent Black, indigenous and people of color. That means hits like Survivor, Big Brother, and Love Island will be far more diverse starting with the 2021-2022 season.

"The reality TV genre is an area that’s especially underrepresented, and needs to be more inclusive across development, casting, production and all phases of storytelling," said George Cheeks, president and chief executive officer for the CBS Entertainment Group. "As we strive to improve all of these creative aspects, the commitments announced today are important first steps in sourcing new voices to create content and further expanding the diversity in our unscripted programming, as well as on our network."

The move follows several Survivor contestants speaking out about the lack of diversity in the long-running show's cast.

Since then, the network has announced a series of changes both behind the scenes and in front of the camera, with this reality TV casting goal as the latest move. Over the summer, for example, CBS announced it will allocate a minimum of 25 percent of its future script development budgets to projects created or co-created by Black, indigenous and people of color (a goal that will also now apply to unscripted shows), and also set a target for its writers’ rooms to be staffed with a minimum of 40 percent of same (a goal which increases to 50 percent in 2022).

https://ew.com/tv/cbs-reality-series-casting-representation/