Ryan Reynolds launches program to boost diversity in his films

Ryan Reynolds has announced a program designated to hiring diverse trainees on his forthcoming films.

The Group Effort Initiative will see the 43-year-old actor using his own salary to hire “black, indigenous, people of colour or people from marginalised or excluded communities.” 10-20 trainees will be paid, housed, and have their travel expenses covered.

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During this time, the trainees will "spend their days on set learning from professionals and getting real-life experience that they can then parlay into another job and another job and hopefully a career in the film industry.”

Reynolds used the description in his Instagram post to succinctly describe his ambitions for The Group Effort Initiative, which he says is “designed to invest in the talent and creativity of any and all under-represented communities who’ve felt this industry didn’t have room for their dreams.”

In a short video that accompanied the launch, Reynolds also added, "Making a film is a group effort. But for entirely too long that group has systemically excluded Black, indigenous, people of color, and several other marginalized communities. This is a global problem, which will not be fixed overnight, but change can start locally and immediately."

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Reynolds says that this initiative will begin on his very next film. The Netflix release is currently still untitled, but will revolve around time-travel and will be overseen by director Shawn Levy, who just helmed Reynolds in Free Guy.

"This is a long-overdue action, but I've got to thank Netflix and I have to thank [production company] Skydance for letting us do this," continued Reynolds. "And since it's called Group Effort, we're hoping that people with the privilege that I'm lucky enough to experience will join in that effort."