Our Story

DIVERSITY HIRE LTD is the production banner founded in 2021 by writer, producer and screenwriter April Shih and Jen Goyne Blake, the founding director of the Sundance Episodic Lab.

While soul-searching during the pandemic, Shih (whose credits include “DAVE,” “Fargo,” “You’re the Worst,” “Undone,” and “Mrs. America”) discovered that she wanted to cultivate a community of artists and devote herself to elevating other diverse voices. Blake, who produced over 20 labs during her time at Sundance (including with alums such as Barry Jenkins, Katori Hall, Desiree Akhavan, April Shih), wanted to find even more meaningful ways to help artists in the industry. Serendipitously they came together to establish their production company DIVERSITY HIRE LTD, founded on the core tenet of artist support.

DIVERSITY HIRE LTD has a unique development process which involves holding space for and listening to the artist’s inner life, curating programming for each of their artists and their projects, including personalized retreats, and promoting the idea of artist authorship and ownership.

Their first project is the film “Joyland,” directed by Saim Sadiq, the first Pakistani feature ever to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.  “Joyland” tells the story of a young man from a happily patriarchal Pakistani family who secretly joins an erotic dance theatre and falls for an ambitious trans starlet. It will compete in the Official Selection’s Un Certain Regard.

DIVERSITY HIRE LTD was named to reclaim the word diversity to its original meaning—the entire spectrum of feeling and experience. Its goal is to elevate stories that contain parts of this infinite spectrum that we haven’t seen or heard before.