It’s TCA time again, when presidents and CEOs of major networks — who are mostly white men in their fifties or sixties — make bold, sweeping promises about how this is the year when they are finally going to fix sexism and racism in television. It’s a tune we know by heart, so we are pleasantly surprised to report that two Peak TV players are actually making a difference for women and people of color in television — and they have the numbers to prove it.
According to separate reports from Deadline, Lifetime and FX’s recent commitments to hiring more women and people of color behind the camera and creating roles for women older than 30 have paid off. In short, these two networks are talking the talk and walking the walk.
On Friday, Lifetime shared the results of its Broad Focus initiative, which began 18 months ago. According to Deadline, its goal was “to achieve greater gender equity among behind-the-camera talent by nurturing and supporting female writers, directors, and producers.” Overall, Broad Focus has been a success. According to Lifetime’s presentation, more than 50% of their 2016 movies and series were written by women — as compared to 30% in 2015. Women continued to make up 29% of Lifetime movie directors, but helmed 55% of its television episodes, up from 13% in 2015. Further, with the exception of series executive producers, there were more women in all producing roles in 2016.
During an executive session on Thursday, FX CEO John Landgraf claimed, “FX has a had more [award] nominations for mature women than any other brand in television for the last decade,” Deadline reports. This is no coincidence. According to the piece, the inclusion of “mature women” (i.e. women in their fifties, sixties, or seventies) has been a priority for Landgraf since he first began his tenure at FX, when male-centric “Nip/Tuck,” “The Shield,” and “Rescue Me” ruled supreme. Soon after he came onboard, FX was pursuing “Damages” starring Glenn Close. “‘Damages’ set the stage for our ambition to bring great female actors to our network,” Landgraf explained.
Considering FX’s track record of creating meaty roles for mature actresses — including Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Susan Sarandon, Angela Bassett, Mare Winningham, Patti LaBelle, Margo Martindale, and Patti LuPone — we would say Landgraf’s flagship priority has been a resounding success.
But the FX boss reiterated that the network needs to do more. Landgraf is also pushing for more behind-the-scenes diversity. In the past year, the network’s number of white male directors in episodic television fell from 88% to 48%. This is an impressive, significant change, but FX still has a long way to go. And Landgraf recognizes that. Pledging to continue the effort for more diversity, the CEO called it “a work in process.”
“We’re going to keep going until every aspect of our channel is fair and better reflects the diversity of the population of the country we live in and is not as skewed […] towards white heterosexual males,” he said.
Again, it’s heartening to know that some studio higher-ups are genuinely dedicated to making pop culture more inclusive for women and people of color, behind and in front of the camera. It’s even better that they are putting their money where their mouth is and actually getting results. Be sure to consider Lifetime and FX’s recent work the next time you’re looking for something to watch on TV.
