Will Packer knows that diversity in movies is good business. The producer has become a standout in Hollywood, making films with mostly Black casts that cater to an underserved audience — and that audience has rewarded him for it. His 2017 film “Girls Trip,” starring Tiffany Haddish, Regina Hall, Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith, was the highest-grossing comedy of that year.
Comedies “Think Like a Man” and “Ride Along” have seen massive success at the box office. He’s since branched out into projects for streaming, documentary features and television (both scripted and unscripted), diversifying his slate at a time when the industry is seeing upheaval in its business model. His next project is “Fight Night,” a true-story limited series for Peacock that chronicles the biggest heist in the state of Georgia’s history, starring Kevin Hart, Samuel L.
Jackson and Taraji P. Henson. But Hollywood’s current contraction shouldn’t mean that diverse projects should be abandoned in favor of the bottom line, he said.
“It takes folks pushing the industry to see the economic benefit of doing organically diverse content,” Packer said. “And I like to think that I’m one of the people that is doing the pushing.” This year is the 10th anniversary of Will Packer Productions.
What are you most proud of? Sustainability and longevity in the context of a very fickle industry where not a lot of companies last that long. As the ever-changing industry has continued t.
