In Hollywood, there is also a lack of representation in leadership, as most of the power resides with ethnically white people. Brent Lang and Dave McNary believe that black films are generally not picked up by studios because very few people in positions of power are black. As a result, most studios don't understand what would appeal to black audiences. This causes analysts to undervalue the profit potential of black films, which distracts executives from any interest in pursuing black film projects. Examples of black film profits far exceeding projections can be found in this quote from their article, How Tracking Fails Diverse Movies: "'Straight Outta Compton's' $60.2 million debut was about $20 million of more than most trade publications had predicted. “War Room,” a religious drama about the power of prayer, more than doubled forecasts with its $11.3 million opening. And last weekend's champ, Sony's "Perfect Guy," exceeded expectations by nearly $15 million when it opened with $29.4 million” (Lang and McNary). The history between blacks and whites in America comes into play with the existence of a phenomenon called the "Hollywood plantation arrangement" which alludes to the relationships between black slaves and white slave owners before the Civil War. This idea describes how "the relationship between African Americans and white Americans is rooted in a tradition of ownership, direction, and responsibility" that "directly influences the ability of African Americans to achieve economic power and property ownership." , thus limiting creative control and cultural protection (Ndoubou 7). The ruling class, which in Hollywood is white people, uses their power to maintain control by creating these images in the media that make black people seem inferior... middle of paper ... more comfortable with the actors and the more likely they will be to see their films in the future. Again, if black actors are cast to play more racially neutral roles, this will eliminate the excuse of not casting black actors due to international box office (3). This all has to do with the Oscars because black actors are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to dealing with distributors. Those who deny the existence of entrenched racism in modern Hollywood are far from the truth. They might think that in America we're getting closer to equality when it comes to casting, but that's not the case. Although America is believed to have progressed on social issues, the percentage of roles played by black actors in film and television dropped from 15 to 13 percent between the early 2000s and 2011 (McClintock and Apello). 2).