Dustin Lance Black slams Hollywood agents who tell actors not to come out
Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black has slammed the views of agents who encourage young actors to remain in the closet.
The Oscar-winning writer said that film and TV studios were mostly on board with equality – but that agents and managers were warning their clients not to come out.
Speaking at Student Pride. he said: “The truth is there are tons of lesbian and gay actors in Hollywood. But for so many years now at agent level and management level there has been a lot of closeting going on.
“The studios are on our side, the producers are on our side but we hit the wall with agents and managers.
“They think somehow it is going to hurt their bottom line.
“It is outdated thinking. Young actors are coming out now, there is no going back into the closet.
“So managers and agents will have to grow up and get a spine.”
The writer – who is dating Olympic diver Tom Daley – also spoke about the lack of diversity in film making, which leads to most LGBT stories being about white gay men.
He said: “We write what we know. The issue right now in Hollywood is it is not representational. It is going to take diversity initiatives.
“It is going to take studios with balls to hire diverse writers so they can start writing what they know and we get more diverse stories.”
