Getting Played: who's playing you?! is a 2010 documentary about inequities in the entertainment industry and inspiration for this symposium. Not only are Industry workers subjected to rampant employment discrimination, entertainment media shapes who we are. Whether one compares the increased support of marriage equality to the number of LGBT characters on television, or the objectification of women in our society to the sexualization of female characters across all media, it is clear that the images we see every day - including those that are fictional - compel our thoughts and behaviors en masse. 

This year's Symposium focuses on legal remedies and challenges, an often overlooked aspect of Industry employment discrimination. Join us and keynote Amaani Lyle, plaintiff in Lyle v. Warner Brothers (2006) and former writer's assistant on the television show Friends. Then engage Lyle and a distinguished panel in a conversation including about solutions to the current inequities from casting to directing that shape what we see on the big and small screens. We will conclude our afternoon by honoring a courageous hero who advanced Industry equity in a way many more of us should recognize and celebrate.

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ABOUT LYLE v. WARNER BROTHERS

Lyle v. Warner Brothers California Supreme Court Opinion (2006)

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Russell Robinson. In the Case of Lyle v. Warner Bros. Television Productions, et. al.: A Brief Amicus Curiae (2005).

Sarah Pahnke Reisert. Let's Talk About Sex Baby: Lyle v. Warner Brothers Television Productions and The California Court of Appeal's Creative Necessity Defense to Hostile Work Environment Sexual Harassment. American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law 15, No. 1 (2006): 111-145.

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Thomas D. Brierton & Peter Bowal. The Creative Necessity Defense, Free Speech, and California Sexual Harassment Law. Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal Vol. 25:63 (2007).

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Carissa Dunlap. "Everything You Need To Know About Amaani Lyle & The ‘Friends’ Lawsuit That Pushed Back #MeToo." Her Campus (25 October 2018).

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LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS

Kathleen Tarr. Bias and the Business of Show: Employment Discrimination in the "Entertainment" Industry. 51 U. S.F. L. REV. (October 2016).

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Kathleen Tarr. The Arduous Ride(r) to Inclusion, Cultural Weekly (25 April 2018).