Inclusion riders are equity clauses that actors can have put in their contracts that guarantee a project attain a certain level of diversity both onscreen and off. They also come with financial penalties should good-faith efforts not be made to achieve these goals. They were introduced by University of Southern California professor Stacy L. Smith of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative , civil rights attorney Kalpana Kotagal, and Head of Strategic Outreach at Pearl Street Films Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni, who had already been working together behind the scenes to roll them out several months before the Oscars. Kotagal told Jezebel they had been hearing from talent interested in including the riders in their contracts, but couldn’t “name names.”