H’wood Mounts Its Gender Bias Defense

…And puts women showrunners in the front lines so everybody knows the ladies are ~~being exploited at the same time they’re being dissed~~ getting a fair shake after all.

14 Women are in The Hollywood Reporter’s Top 50 Showrunners of 2012 – by Kerensa Cadenas (Hollywood Reporter)

The Hollywood Reporter recently named their Top 50 Showrunners of 2012 for both comedy and drama. 14 of the 50 showrunners named were women. And women made up 4 of the 11 on the Showrunners to Watch list. Despite the recent and continuing frustrating news regarding women in television, I’m hoping that the recent influx of women-created television news continues to up these numbers.

Here’s a list of the women showrunners (several work in teams with guys):

Comedy:

Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil – The Game (BET)

Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner – Girls (HBO)

Lauren Iungerich – Awkward (MTV)

Emily Kapnek –Suburgatory (ABC)

Liz Meriwether, Brett Baer, David Finkle – New Girl (Fox)

Drama:

Cynthia Cidre – Dallas (TNT)

Carole Mendelsohn (original) and Pam Veasey (NY) – CSI (CBS)

Marlene King and Oliver Goldstick – Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family)

Michelle King and Robert King – The Good Wife (CBS)

Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers – Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal (ABC)

Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz – Gossip Girl and Hart of Dixie (CW)

Greer Shephard – Longmire (A&E)

Janet Tamaro – Rizzoli & Isles (TNT)

Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson – The Vampire Diaries (CW)

2013 Showrunners to Watch:

Dana Fox, Neil Goldman, Garrett Donovan – Ben and Kate (Fox)

Dee Johnson – Nashville (ABC)

Mindy Kaling and Matt Warburton – The Mindy Project (Fox)

Lizzy Weiss – Switched at Birth (ABC Family)

2 thoughts on “H’wood Mounts Its Gender Bias Defense”

LB, what happened to the daze when you and I cared about only one thing: “Pitching a story, getting a script to write, and being asked as we headed for the door, our feet barely touching the ground: “Think you can have it by Monday?” “Sure, why not, it’s only Friday.” It all seems so…complicated now. Hey, c’mon, we’re writers. Nothing more nor less. We make up stories. If we sell ’em great… If not, we make up stories. As an old friend of mine use’ta say. “Who’s better than us?” gs

As a matter of fact, Ger, I keep telling every writer who asks the same thing. “If you want to make it as a writer in TV or films you have to be a) talented b) lucky c) obsessed.”

In other words, the writers who get where they want to go aren’t the writers who need to be towed to the keyboard they’re the ones who can’t keep themselves away – no matter what.

So tell me. Do you think writing’s an addiction? Or maybe, I dunno, a birth defect? Or what?

LYMI,

We're looking forward to your comments!Cancel reply

geraldsanford says:

October 16, 2012 at 9:36 am

LB, what happened to the daze when you and I cared about only one thing: “Pitching a story, getting a script to write, and being asked as we headed for the door, our feet barely touching the ground: “Think you can have it by Monday?” “Sure, why not, it’s only Friday.” It all seems so…complicated now. Hey, c’mon, we’re writers. Nothing more nor less. We make up stories. If we sell ’em great… If not, we make up stories. As an old friend of mine use’ta say. “Who’s better than us?” gs

LB says:

October 17, 2012 at 1:34 pm

As a matter of fact, Ger, I keep telling every writer who asks the same thing. “If you want to make it as a writer in TV or films you have to be a) talented b) lucky c) obsessed.”

In other words, the writers who get where they want to go aren’t the writers who need to be towed to the keyboard they’re the ones who can’t keep themselves away – no matter what.

So tell me. Do you think writing’s an addiction? Or maybe, I dunno, a birth defect? Or what?

LYMI,

LB