US TV and diversity
Maureen Ryan, one of my favorite TV critics, has just published an extensive series of articles on Peak Inequality: Investigating the Lack of Diversity Among TV Directors. The main article is supplemented with several in-depth interviews with showrunners, directors, and the ACLU director who asked the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate gender discrimination in TV.
Ryan discusses both gender and racial discrimination, with a special focus on women of color:
One. Zero. One. Zero. One.
That is the number of women of color who directed episodes of television in the 2014-2015 TV season at AMC, FX, HBO, Netflix and Showtime, respectively.
Only one zero is needed for “Bones,” “Supernatural,” “NCIS” and “Law & Order: SVU.” Between 2010 and 2014, not a single woman of color directed any of those long-running dramas. Yet in the same time frame, “Grey’s Anatomy” hired 21 non-white women to direct.
When it comes to the issue of diversity in Hollywood, non-white women are the proverbial canaries in the coalmine. A meaningful commitment to inclusion will mean they are hired regularly, along with white women and men of color. Their near-absence hints at much deeper institutional problems in the TV industry.
Ryan continues the discussion in the latest episode of her shared podcast, Talking TV with Ryan and Ryan.
cups brewed at DW
Ryan discusses both gender and racial discrimination, with a special focus on women of color:
One. Zero. One. Zero. One.
That is the number of women of color who directed episodes of television in the 2014-2015 TV season at AMC, FX, HBO, Netflix and Showtime, respectively.
Only one zero is needed for “Bones,” “Supernatural,” “NCIS” and “Law & Order: SVU.” Between 2010 and 2014, not a single woman of color directed any of those long-running dramas. Yet in the same time frame, “Grey’s Anatomy” hired 21 non-white women to direct.
When it comes to the issue of diversity in Hollywood, non-white women are the proverbial canaries in the coalmine. A meaningful commitment to inclusion will mean they are hired regularly, along with white women and men of color. Their near-absence hints at much deeper institutional problems in the TV industry.
Ryan continues the discussion in the latest episode of her shared podcast, Talking TV with Ryan and Ryan.
cups brewed at DW