According to the latest WGA study, the number of jobs for women, minority and older writers has declined. The report found that “minorities were underrepresented by a factor of 7-to-1 among executive producers.
Women, meanwhile, accounted for only 15.1% of the executive producer (EP) positions last season, a decline from 18.6% during the previous season. Out of the 457 EP positions in 2013-2014, women occupied 136. Since women represent more than half of the U.S. population, the group was underrepresented by a factor of more than 3-to-1 among writers who ran shows during the 2013-2014 TV season.
Here are some of the WGA stats:
- Minority writers saw a nearly 7% decline in employment last season, falling from 15.6% of the workforce in 2011-2012 to 13.7% in 2013-2014
- Female writers employment fell 5% from 30.5% to 29%
These statistic are sad given the fact that it is the guild’s own members (the showrunners and EPs) that do the majority of the hiring.
Where do the networks, studios, and production companies fit in to all of this? They are the ones who hire the showrunners. It is a given that if there is a lack of diversity when they hire showrunners — there will also be a lack of diversity at the end of it.
Dr. Darnell Hunt, director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies said, “The funnel is pretty narrow at the beginning phase in terms of project pitching, so it’s pretty much guaranteed that it’s going to be even narrower at the end of the pipeline. The pitching process needs to be more diverse. The higher payoff is diversifying the process at the very early stages.”
Odds are this won’t happen overnight or on its own. Something major is going to need to happen to create this change and cause a shift in hiring patterns.
We all know that a class-action lawsuit won’t change anything. Nothing significant has changed since the TV writers’ class-action ageism lawsuit (filed against the networks and the talent agencies) was settled in 2011 for a record $70 million. The reality is that most TV writers over 50 still find themselves largely unemployable.
What’s left?
Since studies have shown that audiences do prefer more diverse programming. It follows that for the TV industry to prosper they are going to need to give the viewers what they want in order to maintain ratings. Their lifeblood for advertising revenues.
When the viewers STOP tuning in to the networks and cable studios programming – which by the way is already happening – the powers that be will be forced to answer the public’s serious “Call to Action” if they want to stay in business.
