Hollywood is battling back after over a year of shutdowns that placed productions on hold.

"Projects are starting to ramp up again and people are getting very busy," actress and lifestyle influencer Tika Sumpter told Yahoo Finance during a recent interview. She added that many producers, actors and directors are all working again as coronavirus restrictions ease.

It's a positive sign following a dark time for Tinseltown, but one Black media executive says the appetite for content has reached an all-time high — ironically thanks to COVID-19 lockdowns.

"What was interesting during the pandemic is that you saw demand on the consumer side for content consumption across all channels," Thai Randolph, president and COO of Kevin Hart's LOL Network, explained to Yahoo Finance.

Sh listed podcasting, linear viewing, and on-demand viewing as several viable distribution systems that consumers embraced enthusiastically.

The LOL Network, which has channels on both Peacock and Pluto TV, recently received its own linear channel on Roku (ROKU) — with the platform resurrecting Kevin Hart's Quibi series "Die Hart" as a Roku Original.

The LOL Network's big "proposition...is comedy and color whenever and wherever audiences want to laugh...We're trying to be wherever our customers are," Randolph said.

"There really is a maximum amount of choice in the ecosystem right now. If you're on the content creation side, there's an unprecedented amount of demand for content. So it's not a bad time to be on this side of the equation," she continued.

Hollywood makes more money 'when diversity is happening'

Hollywood's diversity issues have plagued the industry for decades — but the entertainment mecca took several decisive actions to address its racial blind spots last year following the murder of George Floyd.

"We had this huge kind of social and racial reckoning over the course of the summer, but I also think it's a big economic reckoning — we're sort of living in this cultural economy," Randolph said.

She added that, although there's "certainly still a long way to go," the rise of the streaming wars and emphasis on real-time data prove that "diversity works."

A prime example of that success lies in "Bridgerton" — Netflix's (NFLX) breakout success that features a mixed-race cast, including a Black lead.

To date, “Bridgerton” is Netflix’s most-watched series premiere, with 63 million households projected to have seen at least a portion of the show in its first four weeks, according to the company. (Caveat: Netflix counts a ‘viewer’ as someone who watches at least 2 minutes of a piece of content.)

Still, Sumpter doesn't think the traditional power structure that has ruled Hollywood for decades is necessarily gone. Rather, she says the old guard has "opened its eyes to what actually makes money."

"I think what they've noticed is, 'Wait, we make more money when diversity is happening,'" she told Yahoo Finance. Sumpter added that people are finding new ways to get around traditional power structures, mostly by creating their own production companies or investing in more diverse content.

Hollywood loses out on $10 billon annually due to a lack of diversity, a recent McKinsey study found. In addition, the report went on to explain that studio producers often look at Black content as "Wakanda or poverty, with no in between.”

"Hopefully we see the further democratization of content, not just in representation on-screen and behind the camera, but in the boardrooms as well," Randolph added.

And the diversity push extends far behind Hollywood for both Randolph and Sumpter, who launched the lifestyle brand Sugaberry — which celebrates Black woman and the Black motherhood experience — last year.

"We found this white space in the market that we wanted to fill with brown faces," Randolph explained.

"The parenting industry is a huge one, but Black moms were largely ignored...And while there was a lot of noise, there weren't a lot of voices like the ones that we're now bringing to the table and amplifying," she said.

"As a part of our strategy, we want to push even further in that direction," the executive added.

Alexandra is a Producer & Entertainment Correspondent at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alliecanal8193

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