ITV comedy drops all-male writing teams - Printable Version
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ITV comedy drops all-male writing teams - Kyng - 06-18-2019
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/18/head-of-itv-comedy-drops-all-male-writing-teams
ITV’s head of comedy has said she will no longer commission any show with an all-male writing team, or one that has just a “token woman”.
Saskia Schuster took action after an audit of her shows revealed “an awful lot” of all-male teams and a “significant lack” of women in scripted commissions. She said for every five scripts sent to her by a man, she would receive just one by a woman.
“Too often the writing room is not sensitively run. It can be aggressive and slightly bullying,” Schuster told Diverse Festival on Monday, according to the BBC, where she featured in a panel discussion titled “why employing more women writers in comedy matters”.
After consulting writers, producers, agents and performers, Schuster, whose commissions include Benidorm and CelebAbility, said she changed her terms of commission and refused any offering written exclusively by men.
I'm never sure what to think here. On the one hand, there are plenty of talented female comedians out there, and if they're being denied opportunities that their male counterparts have no trouble attaining, then I believe that needs to change. On the other hand, I also believe that the people chosen for the writing team should be the best ones for the job, regardless of personal characteristics like gender - and this seems to stand in the way of that (at least, if the move is being touted as a permanent, rather than a temporary measure to address historic imbalances).
The other issue I have is, I'm worried that this will demean the work of female writers, because they'll be perceived (rightly or wrongly) as "the token woman", rather than being seen to be there on their own merits. However, ITV say they won't allow shows that just have 'a token women' - so, how do they intend to enforce that?
RE: ITV comedy drops all-male writing teams - Pyrite - 06-19-2019
I assume they'll do the same for men, right? No all-women shows, or shows with a 'token man'.
Right?
Unfortunately, equality works both ways in reality, but only one way in the eyes of TV corporations. I'm all for more representation from women, but it needs to be alongside men, not instead of men.
RE: ITV comedy drops all-male writing teams - Kyng - 06-19-2019
Yeah - if the rule was "All writing teams must be mixed-gender", then I'd still find it unnecessarily restrictive, but at least it'd be consistent. However, I do get the impression that many of the people pushing for "No all-male writing teams" are the same ones who are pushing the gender-swapped, all-female-led Hollywood remakes. Admittedly, this is just an impression I have (I don't have any sources to back it up), but I would like to be clear on what the best way forward is, rather than trying to have it both ways.
Now, I have no problem with the existence of all-female-led movies (remakes or otherwise): if there's an audience for them, then go ahead and make them - and anybody who doesn't like them isn't obliged to watch them. However, I think these should exist as well as mixed-gender and all-male lead casts - not instead of them.
RE: ITV comedy drops all-male writing teams - Lurkerish Allsorts - 06-19-2019
(06-19-2019, 04:55 PM)Kyng Wrote: Yeah - if the rule was "All writing teams must be mixed-gender", then I'd still find it unnecessarily restrictive, but at least it'd be consistent. However, I do get the impression that many of the people pushing for "No all-male writing teams" are the same ones who are pushing the gender-swapped, all-female-led Hollywood remakes. Admittedly, this is just an impression I have (I don't have any sources to back it up), but I would like to be clear on what the best way forward is, rather than trying to have it both ways.
Now, I have no problem with the existence of all-female-led movies (remakes or otherwise): if there's an audience for them, then go ahead and make them - and anybody who doesn't like them isn't obliged to watch them. However, I think these should exist as well as mixed-gender and all-male lead casts - not instead of them.
But even "All writing teams must be mixed gender" you are still having the issue of the "diversity hire"/ "the token hire" where some one even if they are fully qualified and a good candidate for employment they will still be met with suspicion and what not because you are not going for "the best overall candidates get the job"
RE: ITV comedy drops all-male writing teams - Kyng - 06-19-2019
(06-19-2019, 05:59 PM)Lurker101 Wrote:(06-19-2019, 04:55 PM)Kyng Wrote: Yeah - if the rule was "All writing teams must be mixed-gender", then I'd still find it unnecessarily restrictive, but at least it'd be consistent. However, I do get the impression that many of the people pushing for "No all-male writing teams" are the same ones who are pushing the gender-swapped, all-female-led Hollywood remakes. Admittedly, this is just an impression I have (I don't have any sources to back it up), but I would like to be clear on what the best way forward is, rather than trying to have it both ways.
Now, I have no problem with the existence of all-female-led movies (remakes or otherwise): if there's an audience for them, then go ahead and make them - and anybody who doesn't like them isn't obliged to watch them. However, I think these should exist as well as mixed-gender and all-male lead casts - not instead of them.
But even "All writing teams must be mixed gender" you are still having the issue of the "diversity hire"/ "the token hire" where some one even if they are fully qualified and a good candidate for employment they will still be met with suspicion and what not because you are not going for "the best overall candidates get the job"
Yeah, I'm not saying I'd support a system of "All writing teams must be mixed-gender", because, like we both said, it's overly restrictive. All I said was "At least it'd be more consistent than only banning all-male writing teams".