TV Writing Staffs Got More Diverse Even as Jobs Dwindled, WGA Study Finds
TV writing staffs have continued to get more diverse, even with far fewer jobs available, according to a study released Wednesday by the Writers Guild of America.
The report found that 40.4% of TV writers in the 2023-24 season were Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) — up from 32% three years earlier. White staffing declined from 54% to 45.4% over the same timeframe.
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The report comes as several major studios have pulled back from prior commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion. Amazon, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount have dropped hiring goals tied to race and ethnicity, while the Trump administration has launched investigations of DEI policies at Disney and NBCUniversal.
The increase in diversity in TV staffing coincided with a sharp drop in employment, such that fewer writers of all racial backgrounds were actually working in 2023-24. The guild data showed that 673 BIPOC TV writers were employed in 2023-24, a 6.6% decline from 2020-21; while 755 white writers were employed, a 38% decline over the same period.
The WGA previously reported a steep decline in employment as a result of the strikes and an industry contraction, as well as a dramatic downturn in total earnings.
On the film side, the workforce remains significantly less diverse than in TV, and is diversifying at a slower rate. White screenwriters make up 63.6% of the total, while BIPOC writers are 18.9%. The overall employment level for white screenwriters declined to 1,367 — a drop of 14.5% from 2020 to 2024 — while BIPOC screenwriters remained static, moving from 406 to 407 over that period.
Within the BIPOC category, the report showed that Latinos remain the most significantly underrepresented group. The report found that Latinos make up 4.5% of TV writers and 2.5% of film writers. Latinos are 19.4% of the U.S. population.
The report also found that while TV is more diverse than film, there is significant stratification within writing staffs. At the lower levels, 60.2% are BIPOC and 27.5% are white. At the upper levels — EPs and showrunners — 56.9% are white and 25.2% are BIPOC.
The study is based on self-reported data from the WGA East and West. About 16% of writers declined to identify their race or ethnicity.
An earlier report charted a dramatic change since 2010, when 86.4% of TV writers and 94.8% of film writers were white.
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