“I think the biggest problem is still the issue of color. There are still only a few slots on the entire release schedule for African-Americans,” she said. “Tyler Perry has maybe three films in that block, and that leaves the rest of us to kind of vie for those other spots.”

That’s not to say that women have it easy in Hollywood. Edmonds, who recently founded the online venture Alright TV, suggested that aspiring female producers develop a stiff upper lip. “I encourage young women to be empowered and independent and not rely on other people to fulfill their dreams.”

Read more in So What Do You Do, Tracey Edmonds, Award-Winning TV and Film Producer?

– Nicholas Braun

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“I do think that, in general, when you look at what’s going on in the world and where kind of how things are,” he said in our @mediabeat interview, “people are looking to go to the theater and find hope, and to get inspired, and to be encouraged. And I think that when you have faith in a film, and you do it right, it can do that.”

Franklin also expressed some disappointment in Spike Lee‘s longstanding criticism of Tyler Perry. (In case you missed it, Perry recently bit back, telling Lee he can “go to hell.”)

“There is room for everyone — for Tyler, for Spike. I mean, there’s room for all different types of filmmakers and all different types of filmmakers of color. Our experience is incredibly rich and diverse, so why would we allow ourselves to be subject to a dialogue that doesn’t represent that?” he said. “Would you ever say, ‘Hey, I’m going to see the Jerry Bruckheimer movie over going to see the Brian Grazer movie’? No. It doesn’t even make sense.”

Part 2: Columbia Pictures VP Devon Franklin: ‘If You Write a Good Script, We’ll Find It’

Part 3: Columbia Pictures VP Devon Franklin Talks Netflix, Social Media

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