Last week I posted a trailer from a new documentary about showrunners where I called attention to the fact that they did not include a single woman in the trailer. The site received a comment from a person affiliated with the film who said they needed to make a deadline and the footage of the couple of women they interviewed was not able to be included. I very much appreciate the comment from Ryan but this just illustrates for me the problem. That including women is an afterthought. Integrating women and women’s voices should be a mandate.

This needs to be a part of the thinking at all levels of the business. And it’s not. Women don’t get jobs, make less money than men with the same titles and in general are not treated equally. The Writer’s Guild recently released a report showing the women make up 28% of the TV writers.

That’s why these kinds of trailers matter. That’s why awards matter and that’s why competition in film festivals matter. And that’s why when I see a piece like the one in the Hollywood Reporter which is entitled “Emmy Roundtable: Drama Showrunner” which features six men it makes my head explode. And the subheader reads: “We gather the top creatives behind TV’s biggest shows.”

With all due respect to the men they gathered I hardly would call Southland (John Wells) or Men of a Certain Age (Mike Royce) or Sons of Anarchy (Kurt Sutter) three of the biggest shows on TV. And what, are there no women who run dramas? What about Michelle King who co-runs The Good Wife? What about Veena Sud who runs The Killing? Please don’t tell me that there were no women to include. I just don’t believe it.

I just don’t buy how any credible publication like The Hollywood Reporter can put together this type of group without getting at least one woman if not two in the room. Shame on them.

(PS — I think the woman in the picture is the reporter. How did she feel being the only woman in the room?)