This month, Black Enterprise magazine released its Top 50 Hollywood Power Brokers list, which includes a diverse range of black Americans making an impact in the world of entertainment and entrepreneurship. The list features prominent figures in motion pictures and television as corporate executives, in client representation and as entrepreneurs.

The Power Brokers list was intended to “recognize and celebrate” black Americans who have made a significant contribution “in a given industry,” whether as a household name or from behind the scenes, according to Black Enterprise Editor-in-Chief Alfred Edmond Jr., and News Editor Nicole Marie Richardson.

Although popular names like Queen Latifah, Will Smith, Halle Berry, Tyra Banks and Oprah Winfrey made the list, Edmond stressed that executives, lawyer, agents and producers were included on the business side of entertainment that the average person may not be familiar with.

“We need more African-Americans who want to do the business executive side of the industry, which could open doors for additional actors and musicians in entertainment,” said Edmond.

A few of those people on the business and executive side of the list are Stephen D. Barnes, partner at Barnes Morris Klein Mark Yorn Barnes & Levine L.L.P.; Byron Allen, chairman & CEO of Entertainment Studios; Salaam Coleman-Smith, executive vice president of Style Network, and Alfred C. Liggins, chairman of TV One.

The top 10 Power Brokers are talk-show host Tyra Banks, actor/producer Eddie Murphy, actor/director/producer Denzel Washington; Douglas V. Holloway, president of Cable Investments and NBC Universal Cable; Tyler Perry, president and CEO of The Tyler Perry Co.; Robert L. Johnson, founder of Our Stories Films; MJE chairman and CEO, Earvin “Magic” Johnson; actor/producer Will Smith; Richard D. Parsons, chairman & CEO of Time Warner Inc., and the CEO of Harper Productions, Oprah Winfrey, who is ranked No. 1.

There is no doubt that those on the Black Enterprise roster have gained a significant amount of wealth and prestige, however, Gregory Carr, an Afro-American studies associate professor at Howard University, says that while a number of black Americans have made in mainstream entertainment, he questions whether they are equally respected.

Carr said the list is “highlighting black entrepreneurial success.”

“It shows that hard-working black people have found a way of accumulating wealth as individuals better than their predecessors,” he said. However, Carr doubts that “the status of blacks in Hollywood has changed that much.”

Johnetta Boseman Hardy, executive director of Howard University’s Institute for Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Innovation, expressed similar sentiments.

“ELI’s mission is to provide our students with the tools and skill set required for entrepreneurship,” she said. “Sure, all these folks are making a lot of money, but are they in a position to contribute and bring wealth back into communities?” 

Hardy added, “It says that more of us are doing something. But are we really in power?”

The criteria for the Top 50 looked at the power and influence its members wielded in their fields.

The 50 were chosen from a pool of approximately 200 people and by contacting industry insiders, movie studios, television networks and reviewing box office sales and television ratings reports for several categories; motion picture and television programs, corporate executives, client representation and entrepreneurs.

Actors, creators, directors, and producers were selected based on “their track record with influencing the green-lighting and production of motion picture and television projects that [have] grossed huge box office receipts and produced ratings,” according to Black Enterprise. In addition, those selected under the motion picture and television program criteria were also recognized for “controlling production companies.”

Corporate executive candidates were required to be “at the senior vice president level or higher.” According to Black Enterprise officials, the selected executives must have the ability to “make final decision(s) related to the production, marketing, or distribution of projects.”

Agents and lawyers chosen for the list were described as “broker[ing] some of the industry’s biggest deals, handling negotiations and assisting with the packaging of production deals on behalf of their clients.” Entrepreneurs were described to be “independent” and have “control [over] their own production companies, distribution entities or studios."

Richardson said the editorial team wanted to have people in high-level positions in corporate America on the list.

Edmond said, “there has been an increase” in black representation in mainstream entertainment, but at a slow rate. 

“Our [overall] mission is to point out the progress we have made so that we can use those role models to build off of them,” he said.

However, behind the spotlight, there are a shortage of black people filling certain positions that could aid them in having more control in entertainment and media, Richardson said.

She says that there are “few African-American distributors -- someone who can take a film already made and get it out [on the shelves] where people can get to it.”

“Generally older white men are in charge of that,” she added.

“There is also a shortage of exhibitors who, like Magic Johnson, would control screenings, and studio heads like Bob Johnson who can decide what type of movies he wants to make,” Richardson said.