Writers Urge New York Lawmakers To Pass Television Diversity Bill

Writers from The Rundown with Robin Thede, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Law & Order: SVU and SESAME STREET today met with New York State legislators to support a diversity bill that would allocate up to $5 million towards the hiring of women and/or people of color to write or direct television in New York.

Last year, the Senate and Assembly overwhelmingly passed a similar version of this legislation at the urging of all of the major entertainment industry unions and advocacy organizations such as New York Women in Film and Television and Color of Change. Ultimately, the bill was ultimately vetoed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The new bill, sponsored again this year by Assemblymember Marcos Crespo and Senator Marisol Alcantara, address the issues raised in Governor Cuomo's veto memo.

The EMPIRE State Film Production Tax Credit, which has been a huge success for New York's thriving entertainment industry, does not address the critical issue of the lack of diversity in New York's film and television industry.

Meanwhile, in neighboring New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy plans to revive the Garden State Film and Digital Media Jobs Act pending inclusion of an additional tax incentive for diverse hiring, including writers. The New Jersey legislature is expected to vote on the bill on June 7.

Writers Guild of America, East Executive Director Lowell Peterson said, "The television and movie industry creates tens of thousands of great jobs in New York, largely because of the state's very successful production tax credit. The problem is that the industry is simply not diverse, despite the state's vital support. The legislation would go a long way towards making real change by offering an incentive to hire women and people of color. The only effective way to diversify TV storytelling is to put money at the point of hire, to ensure that women and people of color can break through the longstanding barriers and build sustainable careers in this important industry."

Jo Miller, former showrunner for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, said, "I'm a veteran late-night comedy writer and show runner. Over the past decade, I've been in all-white, mostly-male writing rooms, and I've been in rooms where white men are the minority. The difference is clear: gender-balanced, racially diverse rooms MAKE BETTER COMEDY. They're also a more joyous, rewarding, intellectually stimulating place for a writer to spend 14 hours of his or her day. People with different voices and perspectives collaborating and learning from one another create richer art with more depth, resonance and originality. It's the difference between a symphony and a pan-flute quartet."

The Rundown with Robin Thede creator, host and writer Robin Thede said, "Now, more than ever, it is critical that the opportunities for women and people of color - and especially women of color - are proactively made available in the entertainment industry. With all THE TALK of progress in the news, the film and television industries are still overwhelmingly white and male, particularly in writer's rooms and behind the camera. This bill made it through to the Governor's desk last year and we must ensure that it passes this year if the state of New York is going to show that we support ALL citizens in their fight to make a fair living."

Law & Order: SVU writer Celine Robinson said, "This bill makes financial, moral, and creative sense -- financially it incentivizes studios and networks to build their writers rooms in New York, creating jobs for New York based writers; morally it levels the vastly uneven playing field in writers rooms; creatively it invites more varied experiences at the table to create broader more representative storytelling. If our state government isn't pushing to do the right thing economically for New Yorkers, morally for workers, and creatively for our platform, the New York State government is falling short."

Writer Jennifer Vanderbes said, "Women and people of color have been massively underrepresented and embarrassingly stereotyped on screen for years. Data shows that the best way to diversify and equalize representations on screen is for women and people of color participate as writers, creators and directors, etc. Female tv show creators have the strongest impact in improving the representations of women on screen AND in hiring other women. But a woman generally can't become a creator - a power position still held predominantly by white men - without getting the key professional experience that comes from working in a writers room. Encouraging the hiring of women and people of color in writers' rooms not only offers key job opportunities to a demographic historically excluded from the creative process of TV making, it helps to improve the on-screen representations of those groups and begins the crucial transformation of giving those writers the experience to eventually become creators and producers, so that in time the upper levels of power can be diversified as well. This is a bill with short term rewards for all involved, and the power, in years to come, to remake the industry in a profoundly egalitarian way. I was born in NYC and have lived here most of my life, and I'd love to see New York take this crucial step to RECTIFY this industry inequality and ensure that our fictional screen worlds honor the diversity that is the heart of this city."

ABOUT WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA, EAST

The Writers Guild of America, East, AFL-CIO (WGAE) is a labor union representing writers in motion pictures, television, news and digital media. The Guild negotiates and administers contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of its members; conducts programs, seminars and events on issues of interest to writers; and presents writers' views to various bodies of government. For more information on the Writers Guild of America, East, visit wgaeast.org.