Black Publicists Talk Battling Restrictions, Championing Inclusivity in Hollywood: “We Can Tell a Variety of Stories”

BIPOC publicists, who struggle with being limited to Black projects — often as the only people of color in the room — are working to break down barriers: “A lot of folks like to put us in boxes.” Despite having more than 25 years of publicity and marketing experience, BazanPR founder Jackie Bazan still finds it challenging to encounter people in the entertainment industry who “understand that the color of my skin does not define my capability in this space.” Bazan’s firm has worked on Black Panther , Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq , Adam Shankman’s Hairspray and the upcoming Concrete Cowboy starring Idris Elba. But she recalls becoming a consultant for Lionsgate’s Midway , a war epic released in November whose cast was almost entirely white, only after months of “convincing why we were the best people for that job.” It was the first time the education division of the publicist’s company represented a title not targeted to African Americans. “It shouldn’t be, ‘Oh, Jackie’s good to do this campaign, because there’s Black people in [the movie].’ It should be, ‘However you need to target and reach this demographic, I am one […]

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