A couple of weeks ago, the WGAW put together yet another panel. This one spotted three showrunners, Lauren Gussis of Insatiable, which will be showing on Netflix soon; Barbara Hall of Madame Secretary; and Jennie Snyder Urman of Jane the Virgin. Aided and abetted by moderator Pat Saperstein of Variety (not a TV show – yet), had a lot to say not only about TV but also about women in showbiz in general:
3 Female Showrunners Shed Light on Process, TV Today, Diversity in Hollywood
by Allison Boron
On being a woman in entertainment.
Hall’s early experiences as a TV writer were heavily focused on sitcoms before transitioning into writing for drama. “Back then, things were quite different [for women], though they’re not different enough today,” said Hall. “I took twice as long as a man would take to leave and try to do my own show, because I felt like I had to really know how to do it. I felt like, if I made a mistake, I wouldn’t get another shot.”
Hall explained that when she first started to break into entertainment, there wasn’t a female showrunner in sight, so she adopted a “you have to see it to believe it” attitude. “I just sort of pictured myself as being competitive with these guys,” she said. “You have to have a little bit of a pioneering spirit if you want to do it and maybe make that your goal. Like, ‘Well, I’m going to be the person that shows people what it looks like.’ And just believe that you have a right to play in the game.” read article
