WGA West Inclusion and Equality Report Finds ‘Substantial’ Gains by Women and People of Color

Female and minority film and television writers have had “significant” recruits since 2010, according to WGA West’s latest Participation and Equality Report, which shows the percentage of Black, Indigenous and color screenwriters employed under the Guild contract. (BIPOC) has quadrupled in the last 11 years.

According to the report, the percentage of employed BIPOC screenwriters increased from just 5.2% in 2010 to 22.6% in 2020, from 20.2% the previous year. At the same time, the percentage of TV writers on the BIPOC staff almost tripled: from 13.6% in 2010 to 37% in 2020, from 35.3% the previous year.

Women writers have also had impressive success. According to the report, the proportion of women employed as screenwriters increased from 17.2% in 2010 to 26.5% in 2019 to 29.6% in 2020. During the same period, the proportion of women employed by television workers as writers increased. It rose from 43.5% to 29.3% to 45.3% in 2019 and is now close to male equality.

See the full report here.

“Our guild is getting more diverse,” WGA West President Meredith Steam, Vice President Michelle Malroney and Treasury Secretary Betsy Thomas said in a recent statement to members. “Historically underrepresented writers have made significant gains in employment, which is reflected both in the percentage of new members and particularly in the initial level of television employment.”

However, they noted that “although women and BIPOC writers have made significant progress in the recruitment process over the past decade, men, and particularly white men, continue to dominate in both employment and television roles.”

On television, the report showed that white men still hold the majority of the best jobs, making up 64% of executive producers and 58% of show attendees. Regardless, the percentage of white and shower executive producers (male and female) fell from 92.2% in 2011 to 82.1% in 2020, while the percentages of supervising producer inspection were 53.8% from 77.7%. Its participation in ‘and loan’ decreased to 82.1%. In these 10 years, production drops from 79% to 55%.

Guild leaders say recruitment data shows that “all writers have had a tough recruitment season with several hundred jobs on screen and in the 2020 lineup.” This is the result of a global pandemic that primarily affects production. As a result, 49 fewer TV series premiered in the 2020 season and 142 fewer movies in 2020.”

“With the 2021 report still coming,” they said, “we expect these employment numbers to pick up as we move forward with job growth on streaming platforms.”

The report says screenwriter employment increased by 363 writers from 2010 to 2020 and decreased by 107 writers, or about 5%, from 2019 to 2020, mainly due to the pandemic. The loss of TV writing jobs was even more dramatic, down 24% between the 2019 and 2020 pandemics.

Noting that the industry is in a “period of change,” the report says the broadcast model is beginning to dominate not just for serial television, but for more and more features. For screenwriters, the increased focus on tent poles for the theater market, with a large part of the art market shifting to broadcast, is breaking down the compensation and waste that screenwriters have historically relied on.

“The last two years have also seen an epidemic that has drastically reduced the number of newsroom jobs, not because of long-term changes in the industry but because of production disruption. With media companies dedicating billions of dollars to content for streaming services, we expect the number of broadcast businesses focused on both TV broadcast and screen to increase.

“The number of jobs reflects changes in the recruitment pattern that have occurred in recent seasons, particularly in the early stages of television,” the report says. In some writings it is a move towards a more diverse workforce. ”

The percentage of new members who identify as female, BIPOC, disabled or LGBTQ+ has also been steadily increasing in recent years.

The proportion of new entrants to BIPOC has doubled in the last five years, from just 25% in 2017 to 50% in 2021. The proportion of women joining the guild has increased from 41% in 2017 to 53% last year. The percentage of writers with disabilities joining the Guild has tripled in these five years, from just 2% in 2017 to 7% last year, and the percentage of LGBTQ+ newcomers nearly doubled from 12% to 22%.

Despite gains, the underrepresented group is underrepresented and even more in film than on television.

The report states that while women make up 50.8% of the US population, they only make up 29.6% of film writers in 2020; 35.2% of TV developers/pilot writers and 45.3% of all TV show writers.

In fact, serials written in 2020 were the most diverse audience of writers. According to the report, BIPOC, Black/African American, Asian/South Asian/Pacific Islander, and LGBTQ+ female television writers exceeded the percentages of the U.S. population for 2020.

Blacks/African Americans make up 12.1% of the population, but took up 15.5% of the TV series writing job in 2020. However, they only got 6.9% from authors and only 9.7% from development/pilot authors.

Representing 42.2% of the population, BIPOC men and women represented 37% of TV writers in 2020, compared to only 29.6% of active writers and only 23.3% of television writers/developers.

BIPOC women, 20.4% of the population, accounted for 21.4% of TV show writing jobs, but only 9.6% of employed writers and 9.9% of screenwriters, developers/pilots less than half.

At the same time, Latino writers remain among the least represented among the Guild’s ethnic minorities. According to the report, they make up 12.6% of the population, but will only make up 3.1% of screenwriters employed in 2020; 3.2% development/pilot writers and 5.9% serial writers. These differences are even greater if we compare the US Census Bureau’s findings that Hispanics and Latinos represent 18.7% of the population.

The Guild said, “To keep the demographics reported by WGAW as similar as possible, the number of Latinos reflects people identified by a single racial identity; if they were defined as more than one race, they belonged to a multiracial/racial category.”

Multi-ethnic/racial people make up 10.7% of the population, compared to only 3.8% of pilot developers/authors; 8.5% of script works and 8% of serial writing concerts.

According to the report, Asian/South Asian/Pacific Islanders represent 6.1% of the population, but only 3.4% of screenwriters employed in 2020; 6.4% are serial writers and 5.9% are development/pilot writers.

Native Americans/Native Americans/First Nations represent 2.9% of the population, but less than 1% of film and television writing jobs were taken by 2020. The Guild found that people from the Middle East, including North Africans, were similarly underrepresented. 3% of the population, but less than 1% of the writing job.

The report also found that age dependency is still prevalent in the industry. People over 55 made up 29.4% of the population, but represented only 18.1% of active screenwriters in 2020; 20.4% are development/pilot writers and 15.2% are serial writers.

But LGBTQ+ writers are pretty well represented. According to the report, LGBTQ+ will make up 7.9% of the population, while serial writing jobs will make up 11.6%; 6.2% script writing assignment and 6.4% development/pilot writing assignment.

However, writers with disabilities are the least represented group controlled by the Guild. According to the report, they make up 26% of the population, but less than 1% of screenwriters; 1.7% of TV series are TV writers and 1% are development/pilot writers.