LA DAILY NEWS: TV, film writers white, male

TV, film writers white, male

Barriers blamed for poor diversity
Greg Hernandez, Staff Writer
LA Daily News

10/12/05

It's hard enough to become a successful film or television writer, but the odds are exponentially harder if you are not a white male, according to a report to be released today by the Writers Guild of America.

The report shows that ethnic minorities make up a mere 10 percent of the television writing work force and women make up only 27 percent. In film, women are at 18 percent and ethnic minorities just 6 percent.

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"We're talking about an industry structured in a particular way, a very insular industry based on personal contact and comfort," said the report's author Darnell M. Hunt, director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. "When you have traditionally a group of writers, white males, as the dominant group without any intervention, they are likely to hire people they are comfortable with and have worked with before."

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Meanwhile, not only are white males getting most of the jobs, they are also better paid, according to the WGA report. After nearly reaching parity in 2002, the gap between earnings for white males and female writers in television continued to widen and reached nearly $12,000, with white males averaging $90,041 and females averaging $78,422... The gap between annual earnings of ethnic minority television writers ($72,325) and their white male counterparts ($90,041) has grown to nearly $18,000. For film writers, the gap is smaller (about $12,500), with white males averaging $84,963 and minorities averaging $72,500.

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http://www2.dailynews.com/business/ci_3107083
Greg Hernandez, (818) 713-3758 greg.hernandez@dailynews.com

if you go and write something good --- no one cares about your color, sexual persuasion, criminal record or age, they wil buy it. Greed drives the business. So my advice to all folks of color.... go ahead and beef but time will be better spent with your but in the chair, writing. And if you want to be a hack, no matter what color you are, I have no time for you.

I'm one of the gazillion people who write screenplays (none yet sold, but actually do have some prospects down the pike), and I'm a woman. You're exactly right that if you write something good, they won't care if you're a three-headed alien (hell, the marketing department would probably be thrilled with that propsect).

Work at it. Write, and write well. That's the best you can do to chip away at the disparity.

A couple of hundred people at best (that are ACTIVELY working and making a living writing for television). Most of the newer television shows don't use writers of any color -- they are so-called 'reality' shows.

If they want to study discrimination and sexism perhaps they should study a industry/profession that employs more people. Their analysis would have more applicability.