Based on reporting by The Hollywood Reporter, Eli Lilly is highlighting USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative research that found chronic illnesses remain rarely depicted across major 2023 film and TV releases, while promoting a toolkit intended to help creators write more nuanced stories.
The study examined 8,676 speaking characters in 100 popular TV series and 100 top-grossing films. Less than 3% portrayed obesity, despite the report citing an estimated 37% of Americans living with obesity. Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, diabetes and atopic dermatitis each appeared in fewer than 1% of evaluated characters, according to the report.
The Hollywood Reporter said cancer narratives often focused on treatment, severe illness or mortality rather than survivorship. It also reported that nearly half of characters with obesity were written with unlikeable qualities and more than one in 10 were subjects of jokes or ridicule.
Lilly said it has worked with the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, patient advocates, Tribeca Studios, CBS and Imagine Entertainment to encourage more authentic portrayals. The company also backed the initiative’s Content Creation Toolkit, described as guidance for writers and showrunners.
Impact assessment
For creative teams, the toolkit and advocate involvement could make illness-specific research easier to access during development in the coming weeks. Whether that affects scripts depends on writers, producers and studios choosing to use the guidance.
For viewers with chronic conditions and their caregivers, the potential benefit is longer-term and conditional: future projects could broaden depictions beyond ridicule, decline and acute-treatment plots. Patient advocacy organizations may gain a clearer route into story development if the reported partnerships become specific productions or recurring consultation practices.
Scenarios
Most likely: Our outlook (informed speculation): If the named partners continue treating the toolkit as a development resource, some connected teams may consult advocates over the next six to 12 months, leading to incremental improvements in character detail rather than industry-wide change. Evidence would include a project publicly crediting the toolkit or advocate consultation.
Upside: If several studios and networks turn the guidance into recurring writer training or consultation processes, more chronic-illness characters could appear in sustained roles that include work, relationships and daily life alongside care needs. Multiple partners establishing formal consultation practices would support that trajectory.
Downside: Unless the collaboration produces concrete production commitments, the research may remain an advocacy reference while major screen stories continue to treat illness mainly as a source of comedy, decline, treatment or mortality. A lack of projects tied to the work would strengthen that outcome.
What to watch next
The clearest measure will be whether Tribeca Studios, CBS, Imagine Entertainment or another partner identifies a project that used the Content Creation Toolkit or patient-advocacy input. New films and series that give chronic illness an ongoing, multidimensional place in a character’s life would offer a more visible test of whether the effort changes production practice.
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