HBO partners with Annenberg for forum

The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and HBO have partnered to create a yearlong speaker series titled the Diverse Voices Forums, which will begin on Wednesday.

According to USC Annenberg Dean Willow Bay in a press release, the partnership developed from a question and answer session Bay moderated with HBO’s CEO Richard Plepler this spring.

The series was created to discuss diversity in future entertainment in the classroom and in interactive community forums with various professionals providing new perspectives.

Its events will be open to all USC students, and it aims to connect Annenberg students and faculty with HBO professionals. Producer David Simon, who worked on HBO shows “The Wire” and “The Deuce,” will be in conversation with Taj Frazier, director of the Institute of Diversity and Empowerment at Annenberg on Wednesday. Simon will also attend Frazier’s undergraduate course “Race and Ethnicity in Entertainment and the Arts” to engage in classroom discussion.

Annenberg will also host other HBO professionals to discuss issues such as race, gender, sexual orientation, age and ability as portrayed in its shows throughout the 2017-18 academic year. These industry professionals have worked on shows like Insecure, Ballers, Silicon Valley and Westworld.

“We are thrilled to form and strengthen partnerships with industry leaders such as HBO to position USC Annenberg along communication’s new frontier,” Bay said in the press release. “Our faculty are thought leaders on topics of race, gender and representation in media and will dive deep to look at HBO’s role in amplifying voices of difference.”