WGA West report finds that progress for female and minority writers remains slow ‘at best’

Amid an ongoing debate about diversity in Hollywood, a new report from the Writers Guild of America, West has found that female and minority writers are still underrepresented in Hollywood.

The report, titled “Renaissance in Reverse” and authored by Dr. Darnell Hunt, director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA, analyzed employment data from 2012 through 2014 in film and television.

During that period, women’s share of employment in television increased by a modest 2% percent, despite an increase in demand for original scripted content. Their relative earnings were also up by 2%, from 91 cents for every dollar earned by their white, male peers to 93 cents on the dollar.

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Employment by writers of color in television remained flat over the same time period, at 13%.

In the contracting feature film business, employment by writers of color actually increased, though only by a single percentage point to 7% (yes, you read that right).

“Progress has been slow at best for women and minority writers in an era of television renaissance,” Hunt said, “while film sector stagnation has witnessed either anemic advances or actual reversals of fortune for groups of writers that remain woefully underrepresented in both sectors.”

The entire report can be read here.

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