A recent article in The New York Times discussed the lack of women writers in late night television.
This may be considered somewhat surprising considering the dominant female presence in many other aspects of TV; more women watch television than men; in prime time and daytime, many females have had huge success as producers and writers; and in January, women will hold two of three seats as anchors of network evening newscasts. In spite of it all though, there have been very few women to break the barrier into late night writing rooms, even though women make up a larger percentage of the audiences than men do.
There are no female writers on the new “The Jay Leno Show,” or on “Late Show with David Letterman” or “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,” yet Leno’s audience is more than 53%, Letterman’s 55%, and O’Brien’s also over half.
This fact was highlighted by Letterman’s confessions of having sexual relations with many of his staff members. Nell Scovell, a former female writer for Letterman, spoke about late night writing positions for females, based on her experiences, noting that the environment while working for Letterman was ‘hostile,’ including his relationships with female staff members. She said in an e-mail message, “Writing for late-night talk shows is a great entry-level TV job, and if you deny women that opportunity it reduces the chance for them to pursue careers in comedy.”
Steve Bodow, head writer for “The Daily Show,” said that their show hired two female writers in September, saying they had to ‘shake the trees a little’ to do so, but that they wanted to get their different perspective, which I agree with and am somewhat surprised that more shows have not wanted to incorporate as well.
An argument is that as long as the hosts remain male, so will the writers, because you are writing for that one person’s personality, which makes sense, but I think a female’s view would only add to the humor of these men.
I watch these shows occasionally, not regularly, and I think that the lack of female influence is apparent, although I still enjoy the shows and the humor, with or without female writers. It is sort of discouraging to me though, as comedic writing is something, quite possibly the thing, I want to do.
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I also watch these shows on occasion. They have all been around for some time now, and if male writers have paved the way for late nite t.v. then why change it up. You shouldn't let it discourage you, if thats what you want to do,go for it. Times are changing, who knows what will happen in the near future.
ReplyDeleteI think this is way too common, in way more aspects than late night TV writing. From sportscasting, to achoring, all the way to executive positions in general. A lot of things are male dominated, some instances are by chance. Other instances are because of intentional discrimination, those are the instances that definitely should be addressed.
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting that there aren't that many female writers. Many things are male dominated. I am a female but for some reason this doesn't bother me. Males seem to be better at certain things than females are, that's just the way it is. I would like to be a sports broadcaster. Being a women I am aware that this will be very difficult to do. I just hope and believe in myself I can overcome these obstacles.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen any of the late night shows. I didn't know that there are not much late night female writers. They should start looking for a female to do some of these late night writings, we can always use some change.
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