ABC, SAG Showcase Minority Talent

ABC and the Screen Actors Guild have launched a program designed to showcase minority performers who could potentially be cast in ABC comedies and dramas.

The announcement Wednesday of the ABC Talent Development Casting Project comes two months after the network was severely criticized by NAACP President and Chief Executive Kweisi Mfume for not moving fast enough on an agreement to increase diversity. Mfume said in August that ABC “was not even out of the starting gate” when it came to minority representation.

Under the new initiative, the Walt Disney Co.-owned network will hold a reading in conjunction with a local professional arts group of a script by one of the Disney Studios/ABC Entertainment Writing Fellows, a program to nurture minority talent. Similarly, a member of the fellowship will work with an established professional to help direct the project.

The first event for the project was held Wednesday evening and involved the East West Players, the nation’s first Asian Pacific American theater company.

ABC executives, including ABC President Alex Wallau and ABC Entertainment Television Group Co-Chairman Lloyd Braun, are expected to attend the readings, which also will be open to other networks and independent casting agents.