The Motion Picture Academy is catching flack this week for the notable lack of diversity among Oscar nominees again this year. In fact, all the contenders in all the acting categories are white. Spike Lee and Jada Pickett-Smith already said they’ll boycott the ceremony Feb. 28. Snoop Dogg was pretty angry too. The hashtag #OscarsSoWhite got a second lease on life.

But the Oscars are the symptom. The problem is just how few people of color are working in Hollywood at large.

A study by the University of Southern California looked at more than 30,000 roles in the 700 top-grossing films from 2007 to 2014. What they discovered was diversity has made little inroads: people of color played 26.9% of all parts in 2014, up just slightly from the 22.4% in 2007.

Television seems to be inching in the right direction, at least. In 1999, no African-American actors were cast in series’ lead roles. The 2015 TV pilot season included 73 black actors in starring or supporting roles.

TV networks, maybe more than movie production companies, feel a sharp imperative to connect with audiences across all demographic groups. “There’s been an incredible interest from all of the networks in diverse casts,” saidFox TV chief Dana Walden. “Our shows need to reflect our audiences.” Certainly the critical and ratings success of shows like “Empire,” “How to Get Away with Murder” and “Orange is the New Black” support their sense that diverse casts are an asset.

But the diversity on-screen is just one part of the story. Behind the camera there’s still lots of work to be done too.

UCLA’s Bunche Center reports annually on diversity in Hollywood. Its 2015 edition said that film studio heads were 94% white and all male and that film studio senior management was 92% white and 83% male.

A report released by Writers’ Guild of America, West in 2015 noted that the percentage of people of color on TV writing staffs actually dropped from 15.6% in 2011-12 to 13.7% in 2013-2014. The number of executive producers of color also decreased in those seasons, from 7.8% to 5.5%.

So is Hollywood serious about creating a more inclusive talent pool? Are training programs for minority writers and directors working — or actually hurting?

African-American filmmaker Ava DuVernay has an idea: Start by changing the rhetoric. “‘Diversity’ is like ‘Ugh, I have to do diversity.’ I recognize and celebrate what it is, but that word, to me, is a disconnect,” she said. “There’s an emotional disconnect. ‘Inclusion’ feels closer; ‘belonging’ is even closer.”