Story Boards

Think about the image of the corporate board of directors Hollywood has given us. The actors playing board members are WASPy, middle‐aged males in well‐cut suits. The set is a mahogany‐paneled conference room containing a very large, highly polished table. Most of the lines belong to another white male actor, who is either the villain or the hero of the story, although one or two of the actors sitting at the table may speak a line or two to break up the main character's monologue. On rare occasion, one of the “directors” is either a hero or a villain intent on taking over the company for good or evil and thus has a lot of lines. But even then, the bulk of actors playing the board have non‐speaking roles.