Boxoffice Pro - Winter 2020

Hispanic Heritage Month should play
an integral part in our communities, our
country, and, frankly, in our industry.
What’s exciting to see is the dialogue
starting to take place in our country
relating to diversity and inclusion and the
impact that it has, not only economically,
but what it means for our country. We
represent almost 60 million people in the
United States. We are 18 percent of the
population and growing rapidly; there’s a
general feeling that we could be as much
as 30 percent of the population within
the next 10 years. That’s a significant
number of the workforce, leadership,
and consumerism of our future. In our
industry, we’ve been able to recognize
that already, knowing one out of four
customers that comes through our door
happens to be Hispanic or Latino. This
month is a great way for our country to
learn about the culture, the background,
and also the potential economic impact
that we represent today and will continue
to represent in the future.
In terms of frequent moviegoers—
those that go to the movies most often
throughout the year—Latin American
moviegoers are over-indexed in terms
of their share of the general population.
Right now, we represent around 18
percent of the general U.S. population,
and Latin American audiences represent
26 percent of frequent moviegoers. That’s
more than any other ethnic group, by
quite some distance.
When I think about diversity and
inclusion, there’s been an incredibly
positive movement that’s taking place
in our industry relating to women being
recognized, behind the camera and
in front of the camera. It’s also great
that we’re now starting to see much
more representation from the African
American and Black communities,
which is a tremendous and necessary
improvement. They are also a huge part
of the moviegoing population. But we still
lack improvements that are necessary to
see more Hispanic actors, directors, and
producers. We over-index because we play
a product that’s family-oriented, which
relates to the consumer base. As you relate
to consumers, I think it’s important that
we also see ourselves, that our kids are
able to see themselves on the screen. And
by the way, that also applies to leadership
positions within the film studios, and,
frankly, within exhibition itself.
“If you take a broader look
and say, how many Hispanics
sit on boards of directors
at public companies in the
United States, that number
gets really small. It’s less
than 2 percent.”
I think that was the beauty of a movie
like Black Panther. Kids could sit there
and say, “That hero looks like me.” It’s a
great way to not only create inspiration but
also drive aspiration in our communities
to chase leadership positions, acting
positions, political positions, board of
directors’ positions. These are areas that,
unfortunately, diverse communities
continue to lag in. The state of California is
taking some interesting steps to correct that,
but it shouldn’t be government driven. It
should be done because it’s the right thing
to do, to recognize the consumer base, and
recognize where consumer growth is going.
In exhibition, we’ve seen more
representation because of the growth
of Latin American circuits in the U.S.,
which has introduced Latin American
executives through that expansion.
We have Hispanic executives among
some of the leading vendors that
service the exhibition industry. At the
studio level, however, it is alarming
that we don’t have that same
presence. What is there left to do so
we can see more of that diversity in
other sectors of the industry—namely
in production and distribution—
that can hopefully influence more
programming for Latin American
audiences?
I would start by saying that even in
exhibition, as you noted, we have been
very fortunate to have some very effective
leaders and companies that are owned by
Hispanics. But most of them started outside
the United States. Even within exhibition,
an industry that generated over $11 billion
in 2019 in the U.S., a country with nearly
60 million Hispanics, there’s more left to
do. I’m very fortunate and grateful that I
happen to be a Hispanic CEO, representing
the fourth-largest circuit in the United
States. But aside from that, if you take a
survey, even within the top 20 circuits, you
will not find many others.
If we represent one in every four
people that walk through the door in this
industry, then it goes beyond just looking
at the CEO level. How many Hispanic
CMOs, COOs, or CIOs are there? It’s about
leadership. If you take a broader look and
say, how many Hispanics sit on boards
of directors at public companies in the
United States, that number gets really
small. It’s less than 2 percent.
Winter 2020
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