VICTORIA -- B.C.-born Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds is helping spearhead a new program that will see Black, Indigenous, people of colour (BIPOC) and those from marginalized communities train with professional movie staff during an upcoming film shoot.
The program, called the Group Effort Initiative, hopes to provide an opportunity for BIPOC and marginalized people to learn from experienced movie crews and enter an industry that has “systemically excluded Black, Indigenous, people of color and several other marginalized communities.”
“This is a global problem which will not be fixed overnight, but change can start locally and immediately,” reads a message from Reynolds on the recently launched Group Effort Initiative website.
Reynolds says he will be paying out-of-pocket for between 10 to 20 trainees to join the film set and learn from industry professionals.
“These new recruits will be paid and housed out of my salary and will spend their days on set learning from professionals and getting real-life experience that they can then parlay into another job and another job and hopefully a career in the film industry,” he said.
Though exact scheduling and preparation for the movie shoot is still being finalized, anyone looking to apply to the Group Effort Initiative can do so now here.
“COVID-willing, we’ll be starting a movie this fall,” said Reynolds.
While the actor did not say what the upcoming film project will be, he thanked Netflix and Skydance for allowing him to launch the initiative during the movie shoot.
