Minority Writers Get Minor Share of Work

Javier Grillo-Marxuach, writer and supervising producer of "Lost," is among the few minority writers in Hollywood.

The Writers Guild of America West recently issued its "2005 Hollywood Writers Report," the first of its kind since the guild discontinued it in 1998. The sad news is, nothing much has changed in the 7 years since then. Hollywood TV and film writers remain predominantly white and male.
Between 1998 and 2005:

• Female writers' share of TV/Film writing workforce went from 23% to 25%.
• Minority writers' share in the TV workplace went from 7% to 10%, and stalled at 6% in the film workplace--a staggering fact considering that minorities make up 30% of the U.S. population.
• The earnings gap between female and white male TV writers has grown to $12,000, after having been nearly closed 2 years ago, and among film writers, the male/female gap has grown steadily to $19,000.
• The earnings gap between minority and white male film writers has grown to $12,500, after almost closing the gap in 2003.

>> Hollywood writers still lack diversity: survey [Hollywood Reporter, 10/12/05]
>> 2005 Hollywood Writers Report [WGA West]

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