What do you think of the race and gender dynamics going on with the Writers Guild strike?

Question

Normally I'm with the unions, but this sounds like a whole lot of white men whining to me. The Guild is populated by 90 percent white writers:

"A Writers Guild study released earlier this year found that, despite some advances by women and minority writers, white male scribes disproportionately dominate film and TV jobs in Hollywood. Minority writers accounted for fewer than 10% of employed television writers from 1999 to 2005" (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-race2oct02,1,2756258.story?coll=la-entnews-tv&ctrack=1&cset=true ).

Women account for only about 30 percent: "The [2005] study by the Writers Guild of America, West, found that minorities accounted for about 10% of the 3,015 employed television writers in 2004, while women made up 27% — even though those groups represented more than 30% and 50% of the population, respectively. ...

"In film, women represented 18% of the 1,770 employed film writers in 2004, while all minority groups combined accounted for just 6% of the total, virtually unchanged since 1998" (http://moderntribalist.blogspot.com/2005/10/amongst-hollywood-writers-women-and.html ).

Now Ellen catches hell for wanting to keep *her* show going, in which she is probably one of about three public, visible lesbian women anywhere in the media: http://tv.yahoo.com/show/35584/news/urn:newsml:tv.eonline.com:20071110:6a0b1ab633fa_43f6_8e4c_2a5bd96f9ac0__ER .

What do you think?

LOL. Tracey, I keep thinking sort of evilly about how great that would be. Now's the companies' opportunity to make some changes and get rid of those nasty white men who are responsible for all our dumb male TV characters (as our friendly neighborhood anti-feminists like to claim).

Yes, Juniper, I understand. But you seriously think there are not enough "qualified" female and minority writers to fill these positions? I almost guarantee there are. Just like there are enough qualified female and minority legislators.

The race and gender of writers is problematic because of the stereotypes perennially perpetuated in the media. If everyone loved television and film and loved the objectification of women and their half-nakedness and shows called "Ugly Betty" which suggest that even pretty girls are ugly and action movies starring hoards of gratuitous violence committed primarily by men, there would be no problem. Yet I think there is a problem. And it very well may partly have to do with writers.

Answer 1

It sounds to me like the writers union has taken positive action by commissioning a study which has shown that there is a clear difference in the proportion of employed writers to their absolute numbers in terms of race and gender.

I don't really see how that is "white men whining" - doesn't it sound more like a Union trying to identify possible discrimination? It does to me.

I am also not sure why you are talking about a strike, as no info about one is linked into your question.

On the other hand I have just woken up, so perhaps I am completely missing the point.

Answer 2

What the writer earns now is not that relevant when it is compared to the actors and director...It is pittance in comparison. As composers or singers do they have every right to earn money for each showing of their work. The actors have no work and the directors have nothing to direct without their work. I don't feel sorry for them as indeed they still make more than me but when i'm a writer i would hope i'm paid fairly what i'm due as i'm sure would you. The unfairness, in England anyway is the firefighters, train drivers and postal workers who take every opportunity to strike greedily over pay, pensions or what have you. All 3 professions earn more than paramedics and nurses over here but those who surely deserve more pay cannot strike because of ancient laws and a moral duty of care.

Answer 3

I don't know about the dynamics of this strike and the race gender relations involved in it. But what I do know about is the race gender dynamics in the characters themselves. I had recently celebrated the the apparent relationship that seemed about to develop between the black soldier on The Unit and his white waitress love interest. This is not new. Our society is still largely racist. And TV shows typically frown upon developing long term relationship period. But the likelihood of seeing a black man with a white women are nonexistent. And frankly, changing the dynamics of how many writers are minorities or women, isn't going to change that situation either. So, tell me once again, what am I supposed to care about here. Everything about this p!sses me off.

Shingoshi Dao
2007.Nov.10 Sat, 22:44 --800 (PST)

Answer 4

I lived in Hollywood for six years. There is rampant discrimination against women, believe me.

To see why, get the DVDs of the "Project Greenlight" series and watch them. The men are just a big puppy pile all day long, playing at finding out who's dominant and then the dominant "dog" being nice to everyone who they all pretend they are a team. There's no room for women in this ritualistic way of interaction. It's a male game and excludes women just because if women were to participate freely, then one of them might get to be big puppy.

People like to work with people who are just like them. So the men in the field hire men. They feel comfortable with them.

Do not for a moment think that Hollywood looks for talent and ignores gender, etc. That is flat wrong, wishful thinking with no basis in fact.

Answer 5

I think I'm with twilight on this one, I'm not sure what the gender or minority dynamics have to do with the reasons for the strike.

In many ways the strike is preemptive (pun intended) to prevent royalties from being lost due to the studios and producers lack of security and prevention of piracy, online or otherwise. (Similarly to the music industry). While these "whiny men" are making money now, the digital switch proposed to happen in the not so distant future could potentially have a HUGE fiscal impact on the entire industry.

BTW the figures (on salaries) are very misleading, according to some producers, the average Hollywood writer makes $200,000 a year, one could argue the figures are similar for Hollywood actors, but we all know that in this business, some make millions, while others are starving.

(Not necessarily related to the gender/ethnic aspect of your question, but theres my 2 cents anyway lol)

Answer 6

good question and good links. thanks.

we - women & minorities - are depicted but not heard.

i once spent 2 years overseas & went to see a movie nearly every week. nowadays, i boycott hollywood movies b/c of that experience.

the average movie is produced with a young male viewer in mind - lots of scantilly-clad or topless easy women. lots of action and violence. and the 'chick flick' is nothing less than an insult.

nowadays, i watch indie or foreign films - they are so much more realistic - dialog - reality - simple life - average looking people. i love them.

as far as whethe this is discrimination - it's simple. considering women make up 50% of the pop & african americans about 17% (not sure about latinos these days - maybe 13%?), you would expect to see about that reflected in your average job. it is not chance that white men are in the most lucrative fields and women & minorities aren't. it's not chance that when i get on the bus, it's driven by a black person, that my office is cleaned by a hispanic women, etc. This is like discrimination 101, folks. Not only, do these jobs not accurately reflect the population but the articles - if you've read them - clearly state that average salaries are LOWER for minorities.

when will we learn - as a nation, as a planet - to represent people fairly & respectfully when we do so? to represent people not by white men, but by diverse groups? -to work side by side, being given the same opportunities and receiving the same pay?

when will we learn?

Answer 7

If it is automatically a problem that 50% of the Union's members are not female, does that not imply that there is no possible way that women are freely choosing other occupations, or choosing to raise children?

MUST there be discrimination present? To prove that, wouldn't we have to compare the number of women who say, "I wish to be a hollywood script writer full time", plus have the skills to do so, against the number actually employed as such? If only 30% of the "applicants" (for lack of a better term) are female, what's the problem?

Of course, it's always possible that there ARE large numbers of talented women being brushed aside. I just think we should step back and really look at the information we have. Equal opportunity is not the same as equal in number.

EDIT: I do agree that what we see on TV could be vastly improved with a more representative population of writers. If there IS discrimination, than that IS a problem. No argument there. But simply noting that half of the writers are not women does not clearly point to discrimination.

Answer 8

I agree and would like to add(sarcasm):

How come only approx of 10% elementary teachers in the US are male!!!??

See, you must understand that the earlier teachers are disregarding our boys, as has been shown in college female students outnumbering male ones. How about the matriarchy in our schools?

And you didn't have to add the additional comments... as we all know that you have anti-white male sentiment, and will find ways to display such. This applies to a few others also.

What do you think?

Answer 9

Glad to see Rebirth belching out non-sequitur animosity at the women who scare him.

That's interesting. Considering the vast majority of trolls here will often generalize that writing/publishing are more "female" endeavors (i.e., liberal arts), the fact that that large a percentage of the writers are men is very telling. Perhaps they should can all the striking writers and hire some willing up-and-comers.

Answer 10

Then, in affect, the 'white men' are writing the shows you love and they've started introducing minorities and gays in prime time television. It's just a different outlook.