Writers Guild of America West: Minorities Lag in TV Programming Boom

TV production volume has exploded, more than offsetting the loss of jobs on the theatrical side, but that bounty has not trickled down to the minority media, according to a new report released by the Writers Guild of America, West, which found minority media earnings for TV writers was still over $25,000 less than their white counterparts. A 2014 report (based on 2012 data) on Hollywood writers, which the union represents, found modest gains for minorities and women and more than modest gains for older writers in TV.

The just released 2016 Hollywood Writers Report was described by WGAW as "a mixture of slow, forward progress; stalls; and reversals" on the diversity front. “The Guild has watched for years as the progress made by our industry has, in essence, flatlined," said WGAW president Howard A. Rodman. "Today’s report makes it emphatically clear that our Guild needs not just to mirror a broken system, but to work to change it.” Women were in the first category, having made small gains in employment and earnings, but still not achieving parity. But for minority TV writers, "any advances in employment share and relative earnings have stalled since the previous report," WGAW said, with only slight gains in film. Older writers continue to do well, as top writers have aged into the category. Writers 51 to 60 are the highest paid in TV.