New York Seeks to Open More Film-Crew Jobs to Women and Minorities

NEW YORK SEEKS TO OPEN MORE FILM-CREW JOBS TO WOMEN AND MINORITIES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Joseph Fred]
The Bloomberg administration is seeking to expand job and training opportunities for minorities and women in the off-screen crews that form the backbone of the thriving film and television production industry in New York City. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has said that the effort is intended to continue the work of a City Council task force on diversity in the film industry, which Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn established early this year. She acted after some council members complained that minority groups and women were underrepresented in the often well-paying production jobs even as the film industry was being aided by city and state tax breaks. Now the administration is putting together what it calls a working group that “will have a goal of developing specific recommendations in six months” for increasing job and training opportunities in the industry for minorities and women, said Daniel L. Doctoroff, the deputy mayor for economic development and rebuilding. The group is to include representatives from production companies and labor unions. Advocates for increasing such opportunities said a group having the mayor’s imprimatur would signal the strength of the city’s commitment on the issue.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/29/nyregion/29film.html
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