WGA West Study Finds Mixed Results on Pay for Women, Minority Writers

Women TV writers saw slight rise in pay, but screenwriters’ pay drops 13 percent; findings were mixed for minority, older writers

The gender pay gap has gotten larger for film writers, according to a new study released by the Writers Guild of America West.

Their 2016 Hollywood Writers Report examined trends in hiring and compensation between 2012 and 2014, and found that females made 78 cents on the dollar in 2012, and had fallen to 68 cents by 2014 — a roughly 13 percent drop.

The report examined the progress of women, minority and older writers relative to their male, white and younger counterparts, and the findings were certainly mixed.

While female feature-film writers took a hit, their counterparts in television ratcheted up pay by 2 cents — from 2012’s 91 cents on the dollar to approximately 93 cents in 2014 for every $1 earned by white males, according to the WGAW report.

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