Aeriel Miranda Quotes

I look in the eyes and I see the heart. As long as it's a human story. I would like to turn on my television and see African American, Hispanic, Asian as well as Caucasian. And I think there are probably more people like me.

The reality is that diversity as an overall subject has to continue to be addressed onscreen. That goes beyond having a gay superhero. There should be a black superhero, a Latino superhero and, while we're at it, we still aren't seeing nearly enough women behind the scenes and as the anchors of movies.

I would love more stories with strong characters of color who don't always fit the mold that Hollywood has created in the past.

We have privilege in our hands as storytellers. We need to tell stories that reflect our world.

I look for us - people of color in Hollywood, to create more stories as writers, directors and filmmakers, creating more opportunities for ethnic actors. At the end of the day, we have to be the ones giving jobs and telling the stories, not just waiting to be hired.

When it comes to period stuff, I think it's great to see South-Asian actors get their foot in the door there, because it's nice to tell period stories and tell it in a way that reflects the world now.

It is my belief that we as human beings have a need to tell stories - I think it's evolutionary. So you can think of the short story as a literary form, or you can instead think of stories.

I'm not saying that we need more stories about people of a certain age, we just need more great stories about people.

I can actually get involved in getting stories off the ground that no one would ask me to be in because I'm the wrong age, the wrong sex, the wrong nationality, or whatever. I've found it quite exhilarating to have that freedom to tell the stories that aren't just about middle-aged white English guys.

I think there are some stories that need to be told by a specific person as opposed to in the third person.

I am optimistic. I think that there are a lot of women producing things, not necessarily in the studios. Actresses are putting stuff together. I think there are more stories about women of color [and] older women. But it is slim pickings.

People often ask me if I feel discriminated against as a black female director. I don't. I'm actually offered a ton of stuff. But I only want to direct what I write. And I prefer to focus on black female characters. What's most important to me is to put characters up onscreen who are not perfect, but who are human and flawed.

We have African-Americans and black people getting behind the scenes more and more, we get true black images in television and film...because we have black people behind them. They can tell stories from those points of view and bring to life those characters who have yet to be shown. As long as we have people behind the camera just as much as in front of the camera doing the work, then we'll always be good.

What I want to do is create great content on television and movies. It is not my role to program only for Latinos, and you can't really assume that Hispanics only want Hispanic content. But I do think that we are severely underrepresented in television and film. And instead of complaining about not seeing ourselves, we should become film producers, directors, and writers, and tell our story.

I think if you look at Hollywood as a whole and the type of content that they put out over the years, it's pretty homogeneous, right? They haven't done a really deep dive into a lot of stories of people of color. I don't want to say that there haven't been attempts, and there has been some great product that has come out over the years, but I think in 2016, we're in a world of struggle. It's not just about race, it's also about the LGBT community too and others.

Even on my films, I always collaborate with the actors. That's a given. I think you need that. You need the actors to feel as much ownership of the performance and the direction of the story as you do, to get the most out of everyone's potential.

Whenever you think that your needs are not being met, you’re telling the story of a future

So many of us are hungry for stories with more racial diversity, more truth in representation, and I am anxious to help tell those stories in the future.

I cannot imagine where we would have been without BET. Many like me who operate in black America can only get our balanced story told nationally on BET talk shows.

Diversity in literature is, in part, about representation - who is telling the stories and who stories are told about.

I think we need to have stories about women that don't necessarily fit the trope of the classic woman, because they do exist. We have to show real life on TV and film. And we don't. We only see maybe 5 percent of what real people are really like. I mean, movies set in Los Angeles that don't have any minorities in them - how does that happen?

I think that America is more diverse than ever before, and is continuing to become more diverse, and our content should and is reflecting that.

A good story needs only a good storyteller.

If you tell the story emotionally in a truthful way, then you start naturally looking at the landscape and thinking "Wow, we have to watch out."

I’m not saying that everyone needs to be celibate, but you don’t need a romance to complete a story about a woman