Star Wars Creator George Lucas Donates $10 Million to Support Latino & Black Filmmakers
George Lucas has donated $10 million to the University of Southern California to establish The George Lucas Foundation Endowed Student Support Fund for Diversity.
The filmmaker behind "Star Wars" has made the fund to support scholarships for Black and Latino students pursing film at USC. The scholarship will be divided up between women and men at both the undergraduate and graduate level.
Latinos are the most underrepresented minority in the entertainment industry. According to a recent report by USC's Annenberg's School for Communications and Journalism, Hispanics have been represented in an average of 3.4 percent of the top 100 films of any given year, far less than any other minority in the industry. Moreover other statistics show that froom 2000 through 2009, only 2.4 percent of directors were Latinos. That number dropped between 2010-2013 with only 2.3 percent of directors being Latinos.
Lucas' wife Mellody Hobson is well-known as one of the most prominent African-American businesswomen in the world and she is also attached to the fund.
"Hispanic and African-American storytellers are underrepresented in the entertainment industry," said Lucas according to a Press release from USC. "It is Mellody's and my privilege to provide this assistance to qualified students who want to contribute their unique experience and talent to telling their stories."
Lucas studied at USC where he became friends with Steven Spielberg. Lucas became best known for his 1977 hit "Star Wars" and went on to produce and write the stories for "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." He also directed the prequel films "Episodes I-III."
Lucas also served as story-writer and executive producer for "Red Tails" and then eventually wrote "Strange Magic," his first musical.
In 2012 he sold the "Star Wars" franchise to Disney for a whopping $4 billion, most of which he reportedly donated to charity.
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