Hollywood films and television programs reach a diverse global audience, but young white men typically write the stories. Why do veterans older than the age of 40, women, and minority writers have such a difficult time finding work in Hollywood?
References
1.
BakerWayne E.FaulknerRobert R.. “Role as Resource in the Hollywood Film Industry.”American Journal of Sociology97 (September 1991): 279–309. Baker and Faulkner analyze how the rise of the “blockbuster” strategy in the 1970s changed the balance of power between business and creative professionals in Hollywood.
2.
BielbyDenise D.BielbyWilliam T.. “Audience Segmentation and Age Stratification Among Television Writers.”Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media45 (Summer 2001): 391–412. How advertisers' quest for younger television audiences contributed to typecasting writers by age.
3.
BielbyWilliam T.BielbyDenise D.. The 1998 Hollywood Writers' Report: Telling ALL Our Stories.West Hollywood, CA: Writers Guild of America, West, 1998. www.wga.org/manual/report The most comprehensive description of gender, race, and age disparities in earnings and employment among television and film writers.
4.
CavesR. E.Creative Industries: Contracts Between Art and Commerce.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000. The principles of industrial organization help explain how creative and commercial interests reconcile in the arts.
5.
Television Writers Age Discrimination Litigation Steering Committee. Writers Case Web Site, 2002. www.writerscase.com. Information about the class-action lawsuit against the networks, studios, and talent industries that dominate the television industry.
