In today’s edition of “Are you fucking kidding me?!?” the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards have whittled down their selection to five finalists, and, as far as we can tell, not only are they all men, but the judges on the selection committee are all men as well.
As Deadline reports, a judging panel that includes “Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn, MC and SundanceTV exec Joel Stillerman, and “Empire” co-creator Danny Strong selected an all-male group of five finalists to represent the best of up-and-coming screen and TV writers.
This is not OK.
The Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards are suppose to “encourage young film, stage, and TV writers” of the future. How does the organization expect to accomplish than when it excludes women? (We also can’t say conclusively whether or not this year’s batch includes any men of color, but it might, hopefully it does.)
According to research done by MTV, half of film school graduates are women, but it’s curious how so few women end up professionally working in the industry. According to “The Celluloid Ceiling: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women on the Top 100, 250, and 500 Films of 2015” by Dr. Martha Lauzen, women account for only 11 percent of the writers behind the top 100 grossing films in 2015.The study found that, overall, women accounted for 16 percent of all directors, writers, executive producers, producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the top 100 films.
So how do we get from women being half of those studying to be in the industry to only 16 percent total? It’s bullshit like this. When three men are asked to serve on a jury to decide who might be worthy of becoming the next great screenwriter, don’t be surprised if all they find worthy is another set of men. This is why it’s important to have women on committees, juries, panels, and in board rooms and for folks to understand how their own unconscious bias effects their decision making.
Last year’s Samuel Goldwyn Writers Award winners included a woman taking home the top prize, a woman tied for second place, and a woman in third place. And what do you know? Shonda Rhimes was on the jury. In 2014, the top prize went to woman, another woman tied for second prize, and another woman on a team with a man came in third place. That year, Allison Anders served on the jury.
Look, we’re not asking that a woman win a prize every year, but to make up a group of five screenwriters and pass them off as they best without including a single woman isn’t just sexist, it’s laughable. Other prize committees, juries, selection panels, and curators should take note: if you find yourself with a group of finalists, panelists, judges, or winners that include only men, it’s time to start over.
