Women and Minority TV Writers Post Earnings Gains, Overall Entertainment Employment Declines

Los Angeles, CA – Women and minority screenwriters posted small earnings gains in television. The increases are offset, however, by declines in their overall rate of employment across the entertainment industry, according to findings released today by the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW). 

The 2014 Hollywood Writers Report: Turning Missed Opportunities Into Realized Ones,  a study commssioned by WGAW to assess the state of diversity in writing for television and film, analyzes employment patterns for writers working on broadcast and cable television shows during the 2011-2012 season, along with theatrical features writers for the same period. 

The study, set to be published in full in June, highlights 3 specific groups who have generally remained been underemployed in the entertainment business: women, minority and older writers.

“The good news is that, since the last report published in 2011, there appears to have been small gains for women and minorities in television employment and earnings – though both groups still have quite a way to go to reach parity with their white male counterparts,”  said UCLA sociology professor and HWR and author Dr. Darnell M. Hunt. 

The story for film, on the other hand? Not so good.

“Since the last report, there has been no progress for either group,” Hunt noted. “Indeed, relative to white males, women and minorities have lost ground in the (film) sector.”

Diverse writers remain significantly underrepresented on television and feature film writing staffs and overall current film and TV employment levels remain widely disproportionate to actual minority demographics of the U.S. population, the study said.

Minorities accounted for nearly 37 percent of the U.S. population in 2010, according to the report, and by 2012, the majority of babies born in the United States were non-white. 

The data also shows that minorities watch a disproportionate share of television and theatrical films. Plus, increases in consumer spending of minority groups outpaces the rest of the nation.

Among key 2014 HWR findings:

• Women Writers’ TV Employment Remains Static
  
  Women remained underrepresented by a factor of nearly 2 to 1 among television writers in 2012, claiming just 27 percent of sector employment.
   
• Women TV Writers Close Income Gap
  
  Women television writers earned about 92 cents for every dollar earned by white males in 2012, up slightly from 91 cents in 2009.
   
• Women Screenwriters Fall Further Behind in Film
  
  In the film sector, women writers fell further behind their white male counterparts in 2012, accounting for just 15 percent of sector employment (down from 17 percent in 2009). Women remained underrepresented by a factor of more than 3 to 1 among screenwriters.
   
• Gender Earnings Gap in Film Widens Again
  
  The gender earnings gap in film has traditionally been greater than the gap in television. Women film writers earned just 77 cents for every dollar earned by white male film writers in 2012, down from 82 cents in 2009.
   
• Minority TV Writers Increase Numbers and Close Earnings Gap
  
  Minority television writers posted an increase in employment share (from 10 percent in 2009 to 11 percent in 2012), while also closing the earnings gap a bit with white male television writers.
  
  Nonetheless, minority writers remain underrepresented by a factor of about 3 to 1 among television writers.
   
• Minority Screenwriters’ Share of Film Employment Remains Low & Earnings Gap Widens
  
  The previous report revealed that – after a decade of being stuck at 6 percent – the minority share of film employment dropped a percentage point to 5 percent in 2009. This figure remained at 5 percent in 2012, highlighting the fact that minorities continued to be underrepresented by a factor of about 7 to 1 among employed film writers.
   
  On the film earnings front, the gap for minority film writers widened since the last report.
   
• Older Writers’ Share of TV/Film Employment Remains Strong, Drops After 60
  
  Older writers – particularly those aged 41 to 50 – claimed the largest share of employment in television and film, as well as the highest earnings in each sector. 
  
  As previous reports have shown, however, the relative status of older writers tends to decline rather rapidly beyond the age of 60. 

For more about the forthcoming 2014 Hollywood Writers Report and WGAW diversity programs, read today’s executive summary here.