There
seems to be an uprising of TV shows featuring one girl amongst the ranks of men,
The Big Bang Theory and Zooey Deschanel’s New Girl, to name a few. These shows
are likely representations of the office where these shows are written, with
one quirky female amongst an entourage of men.
In
a book about the history of Saturday Night Live called Live From New York, political satirist and one
of the original writers of SNL Al Franken is quoted as saying, “Saturday
Night Live was
a very positive experience for all of us. It was really just a wonderful
fucking thing for everybody.”
“All
of us” was apparently non-encompassing. Men have a very different experience
working at SNL than women. On the next page of the same book, Janeane Garofalo,
who worked on SNL from 1994-95, explains her reason for leaving the show,
stating, “Life is a boy's club. So SNL is a reflection of that. I’ll admit that
I was not ready to deal with that wall of resistance”
This
boy’s club scenario is not specific to SNL or even late night TV. In 2009,
there were no women writers on the Jay Leno Show, Late Show with David
Letterman,
and The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. There was one on The Late Late Show with
Craig Ferguson,
but rumor has it that it was his younger sister, Lynn Ferguson. Similarly, the
lone female writing for the Jimmy Kimmel show is his girlfriend.
Amongst
prime-time TV writers, a mere 15 per cent of them are female, which is less
than half the amount it was in 2006, at 35 per cent. Since the writers strike
in 2007, the female writer has become a dying breed – and apparently to be a female
writer for late-night TV, you either have to be related to the host or sleeping
with him.
The
main detriment of losing female writers is that female characters are being
primarily written by men, and therefore can be easily misrepresented. Men will
be more inclined to write their ideal female characters instead of more
realistic females, as a woman could write from experience. This may be
detrimental in fueling this ideal of the “perfect female” that is already a
symbol in mass media – a size-four woman that can eat endless amounts of potato
chips and not get a belly, looks perfect in the morning and wakes up without
morning breath, and never suffers from PMS. If young females see these ideal
characters, they may strive to be more like these characters, creating a sort
of “Barbie-syndrome”.
In
an article in the Huffington Post, Maureen Ryan pinpointed advertisers as one of the
main reasons why the female writer is becoming increasingly more rare:
"We're not making art out here, we're making programming that allows networks
to sell ad dollars," says Jill Soloway, a writer for Six Feet Under and Made in America. “The only ad dollars that
appeal solely to women only are diapers and cleaning products.”
Male
writer Kurt Sutter echoes that view in an interview on Vulture.com: "Just
look at the primary measuring statistic for a viewing audience; the only
statistic that matters financially — males 18-49. Networks demand that shows be
aimed at that target audience. They have to. That's what advertisers demand of
them. No ads, no TV. So by default, for the most part, we are creating
television for white guys," he says. And who better to write for white
guys between the ages of 18-49 than white guys in that exact age bracket?
With
advertisers meddling in the creative process of television writers, the chance
of seeing female writers create and write for network television is slim. As
Jill Soloway explained to Maureen Ryan, “Sometimes I watch Louie, which, for my money, is
one of the best shows I have ever seen on television, and wonder if … a network
would air a show where a woman was talking about masturbating and farting (in
an awesomely deep way, mind you). The answer is no – not because networks hate
women, not because studios refuse to hire women creators – but because there is
no brand that would be willing to be associated with the idea of such an
antiheroic woman."
The
chances of seeing more female writers on programs created for publicly funded
television, such as PBS, are greater. Maybe, instead of creating ideal female
characters, we should create ideal television networks that have creative control
without interference from advertising bullies. That would create cause for more
realistic female characters, and increase the pleasure of watching TV without
the annoying commercials between every scene. Instead of adding to the problem,
maybe we should fix the root of it.
We
know that there are good female writers. They just need a medium that won’t be prejudiced
to the type of women they represent and write about. Until men and advertisers are
comfortable hearing about strong women who menstruate, we won’t be seeing it on
network television.
//Leah Scheitel, writer
//Graphics by Sarah Vitet
//Leah Scheitel, writer
//Graphics by Sarah Vitet
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