The Writers Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) is calling for immediate action to address inequalities in the screen industries, a move supported by the Musicians' Union (MU) for its knock on effects.
WGGB’s ‘Equality Writes’ campaign comes off the back of a new report revealing that only 16% of working screen writers are women, and only 14% of prime-time television is predominantly written by women.
A catalyst for change in the creative industries
Naomi Pohl MU Assistant General Secretary adds:
“These statistics are a shocking reminder that decision makers in the creative industries remain predominantly male.
This is bound to have a knock-on effect throughout the production process and leave a trail of gender bias which will affect creators, workers in the industry and audiences.
We hope the WGGB's report will be a catalyst for change.”
Calling for change
Despite the critical and commercial success of scripts written by women, the number of women in the screenwriting industry has barely improved over the past ten years.
The soon-to-be-released report, ‘Gender Inequality and Screenwriters’, states that the data analysed suggested:
“[there is] consistent evidence of the underemployment of female writers in both film and television, and female cast, crew and creatives in the film industry.
Additionally, it revealed a number of trends in industry decision-making and structures which help sustain, and even promote, unfair workplace and hiring practices.”
Following on from the reports recommendations, WGGB is calling for:
- All broadcasters to publish anonymised diversity information on a programme by programme basis.
- All national and regional funding bodies to commit to funding on a 50/50 basis by 2020, across all genres in terms of number of projects and total amount funded.
Add your name to the campaign
WGGB is calling on those who support their ‘Equality Writes’ campaign to add their names to the growing list of supporters, and asking for those who can to include a quote about their experiences.
Add your name
You can also find out more about the MU’s current campaigns, and ways that you can get involved.