We all know that ageism is an issue in Hollywood. In an effort to combat age discrimination, actors now have the ability to take action if they want their ages removed from IMDb, Deadline reports.
The California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill that would require IMDb Pro to remove the ages of actors or other entertainment workers that are listed on the site if requested to do so. The bill was pushed by SAG-AFTRA as a means to address age discrimination, which SAG-AFRA president Gabrielle Carteris described as a “major problem” in the industry on the union’s website.
Carteris explained, “SAG-AFTRA has been working hard for years to stop the career damage caused by the publication of performers’ dates of birth on online subscription websites used for casting like IMDb…Currently, many websites used for casting proactively present birthdates and ages to casting decision makers who often can’t avoid seeing this information even if they try. That’s wrong for performers, just like it’s wrong for all employees.”
But, as Deadline details, “The bill was narrowly crafted to apply only to ‘commercial online entertainment employment providers’ that charge a ‘subscribers’ fee, as does IMDb Pro. Online publications such as Deadline Hollywood, TheWrap and Variety — which can be viewed for free — are not subject to the law.” So the ages of actors, directors etc. can still be reported on, but won’t be listed in subscription services.
“Even though it is against both federal and state law, age discrimination persists in the entertainment industry,” stated Assembly majority leader Ian Calderon, who authored the bill. “Unfortunately, it is common practice for casting directors and producers to use web sites such as IMDb and IMDb Pro to access information about actors, which can contain age information that should not be part of the casting decision.”
As Women and Hollywood reported earlier this month, Hollywood definitely has an age problem. In a study released by the Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, it was found that only 11 percent of about 4,066 speaking characters in the 100 top U.S. films of 2015 were 60 or older and only 10 roles considered leads or co-leads were held by actors 60 or older. But women are often more affected than men, especially once they hit 40. Hopefully this new bill will make it more difficult for casting and hiring folk to discriminate against people.
