JITC’s 2nd Media Awards on November 12, 2024 hosted the most diverse audience ever – studio execs from—Sony, Paramount, Netflix, Amazon—to Hasidim and everything in between. Founder and executive director, Allison Josephs, discovered that every other minority group had been advocating for themselves for decades in Hollywood, which is why she founded the JITC Hollywood […]
Ten years ago, I met with an investment banker I was hoping would donate to our organization. I explained how problematic Orthodox representation was. He didn’t disagree that there was a problem, but all we had was anecdotal evidence. The banker explained to me that he only invests in nonprofits where the problem can be […]
Sharon Mazel aspired to work in television and be a journalist. People cast doubt on her dream because she was religious and ‘there are no frum Jews in television.’ She persisted and eventually landed a job, during which she was asked to work Friday nights. Mazel and the network compromised; she would go in on […]
“I just shot a show with Courtney Cox. She said to me, don’t you have to go? Don’t you have daf yomi in the morning? She didn’t call it daf yomi, she called it ‘your Jewish learning thing.’ But I like that Courtney Cox knows that I learn daf yomi.” Hear from Jeff Astrof, who […]
Last Tuesday night, we witnessed “The Greatest Night in Jewish Representation,” a celebration of Jewish diversity like never before. When we first envisioned combining the All Star Awards with The Jewish Media Awards, I wondered if we could bring together Jews from all walks of life and create something meaningful without alienating anyone. To my […]
Everyone’s talking about Nobody Wants This – the rom-com with “the hot rabbi” who loves being Jewish, the shiksa goddess who has a refreshing curiosity for his faith, and some nagging, stereotypical Jewish women and their henpecked husbands. While the series makes some improvements in Jewish representation, there are numerous problematic elements to the story. […]
