Research on Writers: WGA West
Women and minority film and TV writers have made “significant” hiring gains since 2010, according to the WGA West’s latest Inclusion & Equity Report, which found that the percentage of screenwriters employed under the guild’s contract who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) has quadrupled over the past 11 years.
Partner:
"Despite the gains they’ve made, many underrepresented groups remain underrepresented – and even more so in film than in television."
According to the report, the percentage of working BIPOC screenwriters increased from only 5.2% in 2010 to 22.6% in 2020, which was up from 20.2% in the prior year. The percentage of women employed as screenwriters increased from 17.2% in 2010 to 29.6% in 2020, which was up from 26.5% in 2019.
BIPOC women, who account for 20.4% of the population, got 21.4% of the TV series writer jobs, but were only 9.6% of the employed screenwriters and 9.9% of the development/pilot writers – less than half their makeup of the U.S. population.
Writers with disabilities, are the most underrepresented group tracked by the guild. According to the report, they make up 26% of the population, but less than 1% of the screenwriters.
Seniors who are 55 and older make up 29.4% of the population, but only accounted for 18.1% of the working screenwriters in 2020.
Native American/ Indigenous/First Nations people account for 2.9% of the population, but got less than 1% of the film and TV writing jobs in 2020. The guild found that Middle Easterners, which includes North Africans, are similarly underrepresented, making up 3% of the population but getting less than 1% of writing jobs.
Asian/South Asian/ Pacific Islanders make up 6.1% of the population, but were only 3.4% of the employed screenwriters in 2020.
Read MoreLatinx writers, meanwhile, remain among the most underrepresented of the guild’s ethnic minorities. According to the report, they account for 12.6% of the population, but were only 3.1% of the employed screenwriters in 2020. These disparities are even greater if compared to the U.S. Census Bureau’s findings that Hispanics and Latinos made up 18.7% of the population.
Black/African Americans account for 12.1% of the population, but got only 6.9% of the screenwriting jobs in 2020.
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