So says the Multi-Ethnic Media Coalition...well, who else would it be?
TV Still Lacking in Diversity
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Re: TV Still Lacking in Diversity
Originally posted by j over View PostSo says the Multi-Ethnic Media Coalition...well, who else would it be?
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Re: TV Still Lacking in Diversity
Originally posted by Slappynipsy View PostDid they actually say "Sorry we can't hire you because your a white dude"?
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Re: TV Still Lacking in Diversity
Since becoming a Mod, there are many topics that I refrain from commenting on. Lets just say, as a Latino, the same way you don't feel bad that minorities don't get jobs, is the same way that I don't feel bad that a white guy doesn't get a job either. Welcome to the club. We've been here awhile, pull up a seat.Never let the competition know what you're thinking... and never tell the unseen masses your story idea.
-- Rule 85, Ferengi Rules of Acquisition (updated by cmmora)
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Re: TV Still Lacking in Diversity
We're lumping two different issues together here: the representation of minorities on staff, and the representation of minorities on screen.
Most of the networks do have diversity programs that subsidize the salary of one or two minority writers on staff for each show. And there are very few slots on each staff available to newbie writers anyway. So if it comes down to two talented but uncredited writers vying for one position, a minority could have a better chance, because their salary will cost less out of the show's budget. That said, no showrunner is going to hire someone who can't do the job. For any position on staff, it's going to come down to a small selection of talented writers. If you're good enough to make it down to the final selection pool, being a minority might give you an advantage, but you still have to have the chops to make it there in the first place.
The representation of minorities on screen is a whole different thing, and is about the audiences desire to see people like themselves onscreen. The push to have diversity onscreen may go hand-in-hand with the push for diversity behind the scenes, but the makeup of a staff often really has little or no relation to the makeup of the cast. There are tons of white writers on staff on shows with predominantly African-American casts, and practically no Jewish characters in primetime at all, despite television being absolutely crawling with Jewish writers.
For minority kids and teens, an overwhelmingly white primetime landscape can feel like it's sending the message that non-whites don't matter. There's a difference between outright prejudice and assumed homogeny, but neither of them feels all that great when you're one of the people who's outside the "norm." There are tons of little things in everyday life in our culture that highlight the default assumption that everyone is white, Christian and straight. There's nothing wrong with being any of those things, and most people don't mean any harm by following those assumptions. But having a diverse television landscape is a positive way of acknowledging that we live in a diverse world -- we are not all the same, and we do not all clump into segregated groups.
Sorry if that came off lecture-y! I didn't mean it to.The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter -- it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. - Mark Twain
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Re: TV Still Lacking in Diversity
Originally posted by cmmora View PostSince becoming a Mod, there are many topics that I refrain from commenting on. Lets just say, as a Latino, the same way you don't feel bad that minorities don't get jobs, is the same way that I don't feel bad that a white guy doesn't get a job either. Welcome to the club. We've been here awhile, pull up a seat.
Ele...
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Re: TV Still Lacking in Diversity
Originally posted by BestWriterEverWhen people don't want to hire someone, they often give the easy excuse. It's much simpler to say "darn it, we wanted to hire you but weren't allowed to because of x/y/z" than "we didn't want to hire you."
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Re: TV Still Lacking in Diversity
Actually black actors are slightly overrepresented on TV compared to their proportion in the US population.
It's Latinos and especially Asians who are underrepresented. The top law schools and med schools are mostly Asian these days, but you see Asian doctors only occasionally, and rarely see Asian lawyers on TV.
I'm fairly skeptical that young white guys are finding it impossible to get hired on shows. At least when I worked on the Bernie Mack show several years ago, all the writers I met were young white guys, even though the showrunner and the star were black.
The writers assistant on The Boondocks is white, if the same guy is still there from last year.
If the new member meetings at the WGA are any indication, a young white guy is still the best thing for a writer to be. Then again, maybe these are guys who have an inside track via family connections or close friends.If you really like it you can have the rights
It could make a million for you overnight
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Re: TV Still Lacking in Diversity
Originally posted by elephant1978 View PostBasically. An example would be The Office where the studio loved me and there were connections throughout the writing staff. But they said the bottom line is that they won't hire a white male.
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Re: TV Still Lacking in Diversity
Originally posted by Master of Horror View PostTHE OFFICE has an all-black writing staff?
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