Los Angeles – Writers Guild of America, West President Howard A. Rodman released the following statement today on the issue of diversity in the entertainment industry:
“Late last year, Canada’s newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled his cabinet: 15 men, 15 women. When asked why, his response was brief: ‘Because it’s 2015.’
But in our industry it’s not even 2015 yet. In terms of gender the world is everywhere 50/50 male/female, but you wouldn’t know that by looking at the writing credits on films or television. America is 36% minority, but the pool of people of color employed as writers is a small fraction of that.
The WGAW understands that we need to change a broken industry, not simply mirror it. Shonda Rhimes, speaking last weekend, defined the task simply and beautifully: ‘to write the world as it actually is.’
Because it’s 2016.”
