Diverso

We are applying for the Elevate Prize to help us double down on our growth. As an organization devoted to tackling Hollywood's diversity problem, we have identified a huge need and have been overwhelmed by growths of 300% year after year, from 30 schools to 70 to 180+. We have done all that we can with no funding, and are looking now looking at changing that. The Elevate Prize funding would allow us to continue our growth, but it would be a huge catalyst in helping us get to our goal of incubating 200+ new members of the Diverso family in the next 5 years. 

Through our programming, we are systematically training and building a community of your future producers, executives, and storytellers of Hollywood-- your future diverse leaders of Hollywood. On a more granular level, the Elevate Prize funding would significantly enhance our programming through funded opportunities for our fellows and financial support for our operations. However, the most important part of being selected as a winner would be the mentorship and guidance from the Elevate team. We are prioritizing longevity, and your support would allow us to grow and scale our organization in a conscientious and meaningful way.  

My name is Frankie. I’m the founder of Diverso, and I am a first-generation, low-income college student. My story is inevitably the story of my parents. My parents were immigrants that grew up in China in abject poverty, they sacrificed everything to move to this country in pursuit of a better life for me and my brother. However, their vision of a better future is invariably a vision of a stable future.

Which is why their only response to my dreams of working in the entertainment industry was, “people like us should not follow our dreams.” Through that experience, I realized that every minoritized individual has their own version of that story. In 2042, the U.S will be a majority minority, so I set about building an organization that will uplift this New Majority of storytellers. An organization that would build communities, create support systems, and have sustained impact in increasing diversity. I wanted to create more dreamers.

I hope that Diverso can continue to thrive for generations and becomes a 100-year old organization. My personal goals include more building. I want to keep tackling problems and keep creating companies. I aspire to build the next Walt Disney Company.

Only 25% of directors and screenwriters are minorities. These are the people in charge of crafting the stories that are told on the screen, the people that control cultural conversation and currency. Largely, the diversity problem in the entertainment industry starts very early and systemically unbalances the playing field heavily for every underrepresented and minoritized group. Before any minoritized group can even think about getting their foot through the door, there are a matrix of obstacles that they have to overcome, from difficult conversations with parents, to negotiating with white systems, to unpaid internships. I’ve seen this happen to students all around me, and it is the reason that they end up pursuing jobs in other industries. Trying to break in doesn’t only feel foreign, it's isolating.

We are solving this problem by creating programs that develop the most talented diverse storytellers coming out of universities. We drastically accelerate their careers by introducing them to big decision-makers in the industry and help them develop creatively by giving them the resources and mentors they need to succeed. However, the biggest benefit of Diverso is the intergenerational community that continues to grow. Our alumni have already started giving back to our community.

Our core innovation is that we are an organization that will always be “by students for students.” We have crafted a 2-layered solution to the diversity problem. Not only are we having tangible impact by connecting our fellows with key industry players that can accelerate their career trajectories, but the student executives ourselves--through building Diverso’s programming--are also being trained to be your producers, executives, and builders of the future. 

We are a team of students working remotely from our dorm rooms--many of our members have never met in person. And yet, we have worked alongside and partnered with some of the most successful companies and storytellers in Hollywood, including multiple oscar-winners.  Our Fellows, despite being very early in their filmmaking careers, have all been staffed writing for TV shows and/or found representation at major management companies during their time with us. We have proved that writers at the student level are already capable of finding staffing and/or representation.

 All of our efforts are to support the New Majority of storytellers in a long-term, systematic way. We understand that the only way to truly solve the problem of diversity in Hollywood is to create a long-term, sustainable organization.

Diverso’s goal is to increase the overall percentage of students that are able to pursue careers in the entertainment industry. To achieve that goal, there are 3 key steps we are taking. The first was to prove that student-run fellowship programs can operate successfully. Through submissions from 180+ universities, we have proven that there is an overwhelming demand for our work, through our fellows’ professional successes, we have proven that we can find diverse student screenwriters who are ready for market. From there, we are growing our programs and offerings to encompass every profession outside of screenwriting.

The second step is becoming a bridge between students and top-level actors, directors, and screenwriters . We are currently organizing a speaker summit with a top talent agency that will be open to all diverse students. Top talent can give back to the next generation and create more dreamers through their dialogues and events. The students attending our programs will be your Hollywood changemakers of the future.

The last and most important step we are taking is focusing on longevity. Through internal resource manuals, training systems, mentorship programs, and a very strong culture, we are building an intergenerational alumni network of Diverso members.