Office with a View: The co-founder of the production company tells TheWrap about their inclusive approach to supporting creatives
When Rashem Nijon, Carrie Twigg, and Nicole Galovsky co-founded the production company Culture House four years ago, they insisted that their business stood out as an inclusive network of creatives in Hollywood that created “healthy competition” and a community. -based approach. film production
Already, the efforts of all three are paying off. The company is producing the upcoming “Growing Up”, a Disney+ documentary conceived by Brie Larson, which profiles 10 American teens, and “The Hair Tales”, a series about black women featuring Oprah Winfrey and Tracee Ellis Ross. Discover the hair that will stream on Hulu via Onyx Collective.
While Nijon comes from a background of cinema verité documentary work in India and Galovsky started out as a production assistant, Twigg both worked as a special assistant to former President Barack Obama and as director of public engagement after serving as director of public engagements. had partnered with for a long time). Joe Biden. The trio bonded over a joint vision and passion for closing the “gaps” in representation, storytelling, and empathy that they saw in Hollywood.
“We are not about zero-sum and even within our company culture, competition is not a thing,” Nijon told TheWrap for this week’s Office With a View, saying That she is in a WhatsApp group to share with other women officers and receive support and advice. “I personally strongly believe that you do your worst work when you are really insecure.”
Following the recent West Coast expansion, the entrepreneur is working on a soon-to-be-unveiled audio slate, in addition to further developing the unscripted IP, doc features, and the series.
Read on for a conversation with the co-founders and producers, who discuss the importance of fostering mentorship among underrepresented communities and how they seek to “diversity within the context of diversity.”
This interview has been edited for style and length.
Can you talk me through setting up the Culture House — what kind of gap did you see with the production companies that you were trying to fill?
rashem Nijon: Between the three of us, we as women and people of color bring such diverse experiences to the table, and by nature, our stories and our choices actually underrepresent people of color and women and other communities. There are not many production companies operating at our level that also run production services and are actually engaged in the physical process. We think a lot about the stories we’re publishing, but the way we do it: Who are the people we’re hiring? Who are the people working down the line? We thought this was something the industry could really use, and we’ve found that it leads to better shows. As well as creating a culture that’s not just a production company, of course, but a community and really a place where filmmakers and producers can feel like they have allies.
Carrie Twig: We all come to Culture House from our different backgrounds and perspectives and we are able to build around the community, and how our company works, we are able to create something that would require any of us to struggle. don’t need or fit in to shrink how we think about the world [in], So many people on our team bring something that none of us have. And that’s something we really respect and cherish.
Nicole Galovsky: There is reason for everyone in this business to change to a certain extent. For human existence, the things that have really changed and moved things are the stories and that is our goal.
What are your main goals and approaches to diversify the storytelling landscape?
Twig: At the very top level, we are really thoughtful about diversity in terms of diversity. We make it as strong as possible. So we have a project that centers on black women – although there are many black women alive, there are many different ways to be a black woman. We are no less as thinking this as you visually appear to have somehow that is enough to have an experience or a writers room or a research team or a creative team to be diverse. We’re really thoughtful in a 360 way and that requires knowing who you’re dealing with, and asking them questions, trying to figure out what their point of view is.
Nijon: When we’re looking at projects, two things that we think about a lot, is this story higher than what these groups expected or the type of story that we’ve heard about these groups many, many times? And does it seem that it is looking forward, looking forward? We are not here to prosecute the past; We’re looking for stories that propel the future, that tell us how to be predictable [for] and imagination. That doesn’t mean we don’t focus on people’s struggles, but I think there’s a way to do that that’s more inclusive and three-dimensional and reflective of people’s real everyday lives.
Galovsky: From a hiring perspective, it’s really hard to get hired the way we have. We’ve had to ask for more time to hire from every network we’ve worked with.
When it comes to hiring practices, behind-the-scenes diversity has lagged behind compared to onscreen representation. Why do you feel that change is stalled in that space?
Galovsky: Our goal will be to make our process a repeatable process for the industry. Right now, it’s project-by-project and there’s a lot within the network that we’ve built and going out and really trying to build on those experience levels. We need women of color to be a woman of color editor [assistant editors], We have to invest now and always. If you’re working with people who don’t have that much experience, the support and shepherding infrastructure should be there.
Twig: Those people are there. You just need to know how to find them. No production company would hire me to be the head of development based on what they say about me on a piece of paper, but if you know me. It is about getting to know people. There are obviously hard skills you can’t immediately close a gap on, but that’s about it: Who are you with in the community? Who are you near? what hunger [are you] Ready to take the risk?
Nijon: We have another pillar to our business, our cultural mentorship. Really we’re looking to build a multimedia company that supports projects, not just what we’re producing, but how we can be like that. [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] Outpost for all Hollywood? We want to be at the center of that conversation. How do we support other creators to create culturally specific world-building and how do we support them to build characters and stories that feel inclusive and futuristic?
