Robin Veith
Remember when everyone was heralding Mad Men as the second coming for women writers and I didn’t buy it for one minute? I’m not saying the show doesn’t write great female characters. It does. It just doesn’t employ many women in senior level writing positions. That’s just a fact.
The writers started working on the new season yesterday and two women in the writing women, Kater Gordon and Robin Veith have departed and have been replaced by men. We knew Gordon was leaving since the fall. Commenters on this site and in other places have stated that she got married and moved north. Congrats to her.
Robin Veith, who started out as a writer’s assistant and wound up getting co-writing credit on the first season finale of the show which earned her and Matthew Weiner an Emmy nomination, is said to have quit before she was fired.
There is always a lot of writer turnover before each season. But having two women replaced by two men — Keith Huff and Jonathan Abrahams — gives me pause. I am betting that both of them will be in higher writing positions than the women who departed were.
“Mad Men”: Writers’ room opens Monday with new faces (Variety)
Digging a Little Deeper: Mad Men and Women Writers
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Cynical me would say that as soon as it’s clear that something is a sexy cache “winner” then opportunistic men pressure to get a hitch on that ride. When women leave, it’s always: “I know a guy…” to replace. And they always refer a guy – after all, they go to all the Seth Rogen movies together.
It was suspicious to me that a woman wins an award on the show, then is shuffled off. What? Was she not an asset? Where there suspicious circumstances? Looks like it.
I see it all the time in my line of projects. Also re: the Twilight Movies. Get rid of women: indulge the men as soon as serious bank starts happening.
“I see it all the time in my line of projects. Also re: the Twilight Movies. Get rid of women: indulge the men as soon as serious bank starts happening.”
Ugh.
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