Adult Swim is known for offering viewers alternative, unconventional content, but the network famed for cutting-edge programming is seriously behind the times when it comes to hiring women. BuzzFeed investigated the network’s lack of women both behind-the-scenes and onscreen, and rightly concluded that Adult Swim could “do better by women” — a lot better.
As BuzzFeed explains, “Adult Swim is the late-night programming block of Cartoon Network that operates as its own network; it generally favors short-form, low-budget animated and sketch comedy shows for grown-ups.” While nearly half of its audience is female (42 percent), the network seems wholly uninterested in supporting content by and about women. Adult Swim announced a roster of 26 new and returning series and specials back in May, and as BuzzFeed details, “the network had picked up exactly zero projects from female creators in this current on-air crop. And with the exception of the animated sketch series ‘Brad Neely’s Harg Nallin’ Sclopio Peepio,’ all the series center on male characters.”
This isn’t an especially bad year for Adult Swim when it comes to gender parity — it’s par for the course. BuzzFeed reports, “According to available creator credits on 58 series and miniseries aired by Adult Swim [in its 15 year existence,] only 1 out of every 34 credits went to women. That’s well below TV’s 2015–2016 overall average of 1 out of 5, a statistic confirmed by a 2016 study from San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film.”
As BuzzFeed notes, and Women and Hollywood often emphasizes, studies show that female creators lead to more women in prominent positions behind-the-scenes, as well as more female characters.
A source told BuzzFeed that the network flagged its lack of female creators as a problem as far back as 2005. But what’s been done to address the issue? The stagnant numbers indicate that the answer is … not much. This summer, Adult Swim told Splitsider that the network had “talented women writing and producing on our original series” and mentioned that the network is “always on the lookout for new creative partners.” Former employees have confirmed this “lookout” approach, which does not seem to be working.
BuzzFeed writes, “Adult Swim declined to comment on the record about any of the specifics in this article and did not answer direct questions about its plans to rectify the gender imbalance.” The network did send BuzzFeed a statement: “Since its launch, Adult Swim’s growth and success have been the result of listening to our young, diverse audience and giving them the content they find entertaining. From ‘Robot Chicken’ and ‘The Boondocks’ to ‘Childrens Hospital’ and ‘Rick and Morty,’ women have contributed significantly to Adult Swim’s success over the years as producers, executives, creators, writers, actors, and directors. With the expansion of our development slate and the growing need for streaming series, we are furthering our ongoing commitment to finding new talent to create content that will reflect and engage our fans.” This response is anything but elucidating.
We don’t have the stats for the percentage of female writers and directors Adult Swim has employed, but we suspect that those numbers also fall below the already-bad averages of other TV networks based on the absence of female characters and creators from the network.
To their credit, it seems that Adult Swim has made a serious effort to embrace inclusive hiring practices when it comes to race. “In contrast with its inert response to the lack of gender parity, one former employee noted that hiring people of color was an avowed priority at the network,” BuzzFeed writes. A source explained, “It was like, ‘How can we get more voices, more people to be a part of this?’” But this policy has led to hiring men of color (who are also underrepresented behind-the-scenes in TV), not women of color (who are even more underrepresented behind-the-scenes).
Adult Swim does have a number of prominent female employees, including senior programming director Kim Manning and two VPs of animated production and on-air. “There are women there doing tons of work,” a former employee told BuzzFeed. “But it’s pretty much like, ‘Oh, you’re a woman? You’re a producer. You do budgets, you do scheduling. You’re not a creative.’”
Head over to BuzzFeed for more insight from industry sources and past employees of Adult Swim. You may also want to check out this feature from The Mary Sue that explores some of the network’s female characters.
