Dan Lin’s Rideback Announces ‘Rideback Rise’ Accelerator Program for BIPOC Creatives

variety.com:

Angelique Jackson Rideback founder and CEO Dan Lin has announced the launch of “Rideback Rise,” a non-profit accelerator focused on developing BIPOC-created film, TV, digital and audio content.Rideback — the entertainment company known for producing “The LEGO Movie” and “It” movie franchises, as well as Disney’s “Aladdin,” along with series television including the CW’s “Walker” — has developed the accelerator program to support BIPOC writers, filmmakers and entrepreneurs and their projects as a “means to advance racial equity in mainstream entertainment.”“When I started my career, first as a creative executive and then as an entrepreneur, I benefited from the mentorship and generosity of leaders in both a formal and informal way,” stated Lin, pointing to industry leaders including Alan Horn, Lorenzo DiBonaventura, Jeff Robinov and Peter Roth, who guided him “in an era long before the industry’s recent racial reckoning.” “But they took a bet on helping a 25-year-old intern from Taiwan who had no connections in Hollywood,” he explained. “With Rideback Rise, we are building a system of support and mentorship for creators and entrepreneurs alike, to help the next generation of leaders who are creating content and businesses that will help build bridges and advance racial equity.”Lin went on to acknowledge the “incremental improvement for diversity on and off screen,” but affirmed that people of color “remain massively underrepresented, and this inequity perpetuates the racial divide in American society.”Thus, he concluded, “Rise is dedicated to lifting up those exceptional creative voices that get fewer chances, whether they are Asian, Black, Hispanic and Indigenous, for example, or whether they are Muslim or another.