As part of its Content for Change campaign, BET is delivering groundbreaking programming to help address inequities faced by Black Americans. Recent specials and series include:

• “American Injustice: The Fight For Police Reform,” featuring award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien with key politicians, law enforcement officials, and activists addressing the fight for police reform. 
• “Disrupt & Dismantle,” a six-part investigative documentary series that follows O’Brien as she tackles injustices across the nation affecting the Black community, from police brutality to redlining, from the school-to-prison pipeline to the infant mortality crisis fueled by systemic racism. 
• “Black x Jewish,” a primetime special produced by award-winning filmmaker Lacey Schwartz Delgado and Truth Aid Media that examines legacies of hate and how Black and Jewish communities have united in the face of increased anti-Semitism and racism in America. 

BET Studios is an unprecedented studio venture that offers equity ownership for Black content creators. Propelled by the infrastructure and financing of BET and Paramount, BET Studios will create premium television series and films for an array of internal buyers, including Paramount+, SHOWTIME, CBS, Nickelodeon, BET+, and BET, in addition to select third-party platforms that seek best-in-class content from both leading and rising Black creatives. BET Studios launched with principal partners Kenya Barris, Rashida Jones, and Aaron Rahsaan Thomas, with more talent to be added to our expanding roster in the Studios’ first year of operations.

VIS Social Impact is a new studio division part of Paramount International Studios and Content for Change. VIS Social Impact is dedicated to the development of groundbreaking social impact-driven content addressing climate, equity, and health for the Paramount portfolio of brands, including Paramount+, and for third parties.

To understand the challenges and opportunities related to mental health storytelling in their programming, MTV Entertainment Group partnered with the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative to study mental health depictions across 29 shows in the Paramount portfolio.  

The study found that while nearly one in five Americans experience a mental health condition, fewer than one in ten of our series regulars did—and around half of the characters with a mental health condition were shown in a context with disparagement or stigma.   

We used those insights to inform our approach: partnering with mental health experts to create the Mental Health Media Guide to help creators portray mental health in an accurate and authentic way.

As part of Content for Change, Paramount expanded its partnership with the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative to analyze 62 series across key demographics—like race and ethnicity, gender, LGBTQ+ identification, and disability status. The research identified areas where Paramount excels at representation and where there are gaps—including among the people behind the camera and such as series creators, producers, writers, and directors.

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Additionally, as part of Content for Change, Paramount has partnered with Stanford University to test new hypotheses for how the power of content can be harnessed to shift perspectives. The study will examine individual bias among all audiences, the impact of longstanding oppression inflicted upon and internalized by audiences of color, and systemic racism across society.

Reflecting Me: Global Representation On Screen is an exploration of how people around the world feel about on-screen representation, shedding light on various aspects of diversity, including ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality, disability, and more.   

With more than 15,000 people surveyed from 15 countries worldwide, the study found that nearly nine in ten people globally agree that TV shows and movies influence perceptions in the real world. Globally, 79 percent say more diversity is needed on screens, and more than half of those who feel poorly represented say they are not represented accurately on-screen.

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Much more work needs to be done to improve representation around the world. This study is just one step in that direction.

Today’s kids are growing up in an increasingly multicultural world characterized by cultural fusion and diversity—as well as racial stereotypes and discrimination. Nickelodeon’s study on race, identity, and the American family unpacks how kids and families perceive their own culture and identities, how others perceive them, and how these perceptions impact their opinions, behaviors, and values. For more information, please reach out to Andrea.Strauss@nick.com and Makeda.Maysgreen@viacomcbs.com.

Dolls are more than just toys. They help girls understand themselves and the world around them. Girls want to see themselves in their dolls. Choosing a reflection of their image equals seeing their own value. This study from Paramount Consumer Products found that while we have come a long way in helping girls feel represented by their dolls, we have further to go. 

Paramount's In America series explores the history and experience of Black, Asian, and Latinx communities in America. In a three-part, deep-dive presentation, the series goes beyond numbers and demographic descriptions to uncover the passions, concerns, and cultural anchors of these unique audience groups, underscoring the ways in which they drive cultural production and consumer conversations.

The Content for Change Academy is a talent program that aims to remove barriers to entry for new storytellers, build equity, and invest in the industry’s next generation of leaders from nontraditional pathways, including individuals from community colleges and certification programs, who are historically marginalized from entry into the entertainment industry.

The Paramount Directing Initiative aims to create a meaningful network of people of color and women who are aspiring television directors and wish to establish a sustainable career. Participants must have experience and be members of the Directors Guild of America.

The eight-month Paramount Writers Mentoring Program is designed to help new and emerging writers improve their craft and build relationships with network executives and showrunners.

Our Paramount ViewFinder Emerging Directors Program provides a path for underrepresented directors to enhance their skills and grow their network. Selected applicants participate in a two-year curriculum focused on honing their craft and professional development.

Paramount's SHOWCASE started in 2005 and is a highly anticipated annual hybrid comedy show with live performances and original, creative writing. Casting agents, showrunners, and other entertainment executives attend the annual event.

The Nick Writing Program gives participants exposure to seasoned writers and executives and a chance to embark on a career as a writer for Nickelodeon’s scripted live-action and animated television productions.

The Nick Artist Program offers aspiring artists from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to hone their skills while working on our animated television shows in three tracks: storyboard, general, and computer graphics generalist.

Launched in 2020, MTV Entertainment Group’s First Time Directors Program provides opportunities for first-time BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) filmmakers and women filmmakers to give rise to multicultural narratives and voices that resonate with audiences around the world.

CBS Sports Eye on the Future is a community-based initiative sponsored by CBS Sports and Paramount's Content for Change partnering with Careers in Sports High School to provide high-school students with access, opportunities, and training in the world of sports media and entertainment. The initiative will create a bridge between the sports media industry and local NYC youth, including through programs across CBS Sports’ production, operations, talent, programming, communications, marketing, management, diversity & inclusion teams, and much more at the CBS Sports NYC headquarters and Careers in Sports High School campus.

MTV Entertainment Group’s Culture Orientation aims to nurture the creative community with a baseline understanding of key themes to integrate into more nuanced storylines to improve and expand portrayals of pressing social justice issues, diverse representation, and historically excluded communities. The immersive employee-led initiative is in partnership with Anti-Defamation League, CAPE, Color of Change, Define American, GLAAD, IllumiNative, The Jed Foundation, The Museum of Tolerance, MPAC, NALIP, RAINN, RespectAbility, and Storyline Partners.

As part of MTV Entertainment Group’s Culture Orientation, Paramount brings creators together for ongoing deep-dive workshops about community-specific issues delivered by expert partners. Prior examples included workshops about storytelling and issues such as criminal justice, gun safety, and more.

In honoring the kickoff of Content for Change, Paramount is awarding $1 million in Q1 2022 to community-based organizations on the front lines of enabling and celebrating more inclusive storytelling, with a broader commitment that the guiding principles of Content for Change will steer the company’s giving going forward.