What Is An Inclusion Rider? Frances McDormand Says 'We're Not Going Back'

Los Angeles-- After an iconic acceptance speech for the best actress in a motion picture award at the Oscars, Frances McDormand ended her time on stage by simply telling everyone in the audience and at home two words-- "inclusion rider."

Now, McDormand is revealing just what she meant by that comment, and admitted it was something that, despite several years in the business, she hadn't been made aware of until recently.

"I just found out about this last week," she told reporters in the press interview room at the Hollywood & Highland Center. "There is—has always been available to all—everybody that get—that does a negotiation on a film, an inclusion rider which means that you can ask for and/or demand at least 50 percent diversity in not only the casting, but also the crew."

She also admitted that she was astounded it had taken so long for her to be made aware that such a thing existed and explained how making sure that everyone was aware of the power they had with an inclusion rider would help change things in Hollywood for good.

"And so, the fact that we—that I just learned that after 35 years of being in the film business, it's not—we're going back," she continued, "So the whole idea of women trending, no. No trending. African Americans trending, no. No trending. It changes now, and I think the inclusion rider will have something to do with that. Right? Power in rules."

McDormand's acceptance speech was one of the most talked about of the night, after she asked all of her fellow female nominees—from every category, not just best actress—to stand up for a round of applause. Women nominees were a big focus of the night, especially after Rachel Morrison's historic nomination as the first ever female nominee for cinematography, and Greta Gerwig's nomination for direction, the first time a woman had been nominated in the category since 2010, and only the sixth to be nominated overall.

McDormand addressed the power women could have as well following her win, discussing how the conversation that had been started since Harvey Weinstein's downfall in October 2017 wasn't going to end just because awards season was over,

"...It doesn't end here. But I think publicly as a commercial, because that's what we are, this is not a—this is not—this is not a novel," she said. "This is a TV show after all, but I think that the message that we're getting to send to the public is that we're going to be one of the small industries that try to make a difference. And I think $21 million in the legal defense fund is a great way to start...See, we didn't just—we didn't just put out commercials about it. We actually started a conversation that will change something."