"Male and Pale Is Stale:" Writers Sound Off on Writers Guild's Rules Aimed at Keeping White Writers From Getting Any Further Work

A few weeks ago, Film Threat revealed that the Writers Guild now required all members to identify their race with molecular precision, and also categorize themselves as to their exact sexuality, their exact "gender expression," their exact level of neurodivergence and mental illness, and on and on and on.

And they're requiring this to "aid in the hiring process" -- that is, when TV shows are looking for writers, they want to only hire non-white/non-straight/non-male pyrsyns, and the Writers Guild is eagerly assisting them in this racial/sexual discrimination.

Since then, white writers who are now unemployable -- and other Hollywood professionals similarly now without work due to the New Racism -- have written to Film Threat.

Anonymously, of course. If these emails are connected to anyone's public identity, they would literally never work again.

Though that might be just what Hollywood's aiming for anyway.

The only constant in entertainment is change. Industry veterans understand that dramatic pivots in the way that Hollywood does business are the only thing that can be counted upon. But recent shifts have veteran writers concerned. Part of this has to do with the WGA's requirement that new members "check boxes" to identify themselves so that this data may be used in the hiring process. A recent open letter to the Writers Guild of America, written by a WGA member, is saying out loud what so many in the industry fear to say. And that is that radical voices have taken hold in Hollywood and are more concerned with pushing ideology and messaging rather than entertaining an audience.

As a result, the money generated by the industry has seen a remarkably noticeable drop. The rise of the term "flop buster" (in response to so many films like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny underperforming at the box office) seems to be directly related to mainstream audiences' wholesale rejection of the over-messaging they see hijacking entertainment. Not to mention the destruction of intellectual property that normally performed successfully with fans. Box office receipts for films like The Marvels, among others, have writers questioning the wisdom of pushing identity/"the message" over storytelling with a broad appeal.

The mainstream industry trades have yet to weigh in on this open letter. However, the story has resulted in a flood of emails sent to Film Threat. These correspondences paint a picture of an industry where fear of speaking out could result in one being "blacklisted" as problematic. You must adhere to this new ideology or face the prospect of unemployment forever. A phrase we heard over and over again is this: "male and pale is stale." If one were to reword this statement another way, it may result in accusations of racism. But this view is widely accepted all over Hollywood. Like a mantra, "male and pale is stale" is driving the types of films and TV shows that get made.

What industry outsiders may not understand is that Hollywood is a freelance business where work is scarce and in the current day, one must constantly demonstrate allegiance to specific ideals or face the prospect of never working. The fear is palpable and a dominant force hanging over the heads of those who wish to simply make a living working in entertainment.

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What follows are emails sent to Film Threat in response to the open letter to the WGA. Draw whatever conclusions you wish, but one thing is certain -- Hollywood is changing and many feel it may not be for the best.

Here's one of the letters:

I am a WGA member and wish to be anonymous.

My email isn't real as I don't want to accidentally give up an IP address and end up on a modern Black List.

I have a few stories that illustrate the hostility to 'non-diverse' writers that may be of interest:

1. Writers hired on comic book shows are told it's a POSITIVE that they are unfamiliar with the original comic book and not a fan of the existing IP because they want to do a "modern new take on the material relevant to today."

That explains a lot. This Nerdrotic video proves that to be true, showing one Marvel no-talent diversity hire after another that she was told not to bother reading the comic books, or admitting that she never read superhero comic books in her life. Subtext: But Marvel contacted me out of the blue and offered my $300,000 for writing something I had no interest in, appreciation for, or skill at, based entirely on whether my genitals were internal or external, so obviously I took their money and shat out She-Hulk scripts for them.

2. Writers are asked (a) Why this story today? How is it relevant politically today to the existing narrative they're pushing on our culture? and (b) Why are you the person to tell it? "Because I have talent and wrote it" is NOT a valid answer. What is a valid answer is, "Because I'm a member of this aggrieved group or class and only we can tell our own story.

This is interesting: On one hand, Hollywood now rejects any scripts that don't have a major black or gay or trans character.

On the other hand: Only blacks can write black characters, only gays can write gay characters, and only trans people can write tranny characters.

So if you don't include the "diverse" characters, your script gets rejected, and if you do include them -- it's also rejected, because "these aren't your stories to tell, White Man."

3. This leads to a "heads we win; tails you lose game" where if you don't include diverse characters, you're dinged for having an all-white/non-diverse cast -- regardless of the time or place of the story or historical accuracy -- and if you do have a diverse case (race / gender) then you are guilty of "cultural appropriation." This means that unless you are, for example, African-American, you are not allowed to tell a story about an African-American character. Or disabled or LGBTQI2+. Unless you ARE that specific subgroup, you can't write it.

That is really hilarious.

4. There's a bias toward the 'two-fer' or 'three-fer' hire -- being gay, for example, "isn't enough" now. You have to be gay / African-American / Latinx / undocumented / unhoused / differently-abled. Then, on the DEI scorecard, they have a 2x or 3x positive score for the hire.

I don't think I ever told you guys this, but I identify as a neorodiverse queer person of color. I'm 1/1028th Cherokee, you see, according to Family Lore.

5. To give you an idea of how competitive things are, for Only Murders in the Building there was word a staff position was available. This is the lowest-rung writing position. They received 450 scripts as writing samples for this ONE job. A manager told me these jobs would 'typically go to a BIPOC writer,' but the show decided not to hire anyone or to go in another direction.

5. The WGA has a diversity program where the Guild pays for the diversity hire's salary. Most of these writers aren't picked up after the 'free ride' expires. Many of these writers, hired only for diversity purposes, feel obligated to push stories that reflect the specific box they checked. So a transgender writer will be pitching stories exclusively about that experience.

Good, so we get to see more and more stories about a tiny, weird slice of the population that everyone is absolutely sick of and exhausted by.

Chris Gore now writes:

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Having people who aren't fans of the IP (Star Wars, comic books, etc.) results in a product that has no respect to the existing fans. Then, when fans complain they are insulted as "toxic."

What company would make a product that insults the consumers? It's insane.

What's also not being discussed is the antisemitism behind much of the push for 'diversity.' Jews are classified as "whites" and, thus, not a minority (despite being 2% of the population and historically victims of mistreatment and genocide). The mantra is "male and pale is stale." Out with the old order and in with the new.

Anyone who questions the new orthodoxy will, of course, be denounced as "not promoting a diverse workspace" or -- worse -- "racist."

The system encourages "crybulllies" -- those who complain of oppression as a means of moving up the ladder. Push out someone higher up the chain and move up. When John Lasseter was forced out (for allegedly unrequested hugging -- yes, HUGGING), it was asked, "Can we get a woman to run this place now?"

This creates an incentive system for complaining about slights, perceived slights, or "microaggressions," and once these are documented by HR... some 'corrective action' must be taken. Training, reprimand, and the person who complained now can't be fired, or it'd be retaliatory.

Writers rooms have historically been a freewheeling place for spitballing ideas and jokes. Now, folks are on eggshells for fear of offending DEI standards -- which are forever shifting.

Another letter:

I had a pretty great career -- with a few jobs on shows I'd rather not remember. That was right up until all this DEI stuff took over. And then I stopped getting asked to join rooms run by white showrunners. They stopped being able to hire more than one or two other writers who looked like them. My last gig was for a minority showrunner and a stellar writer -- someone who could hire me. In recent years I know I've lost gigs on shows that I would've been great for. Shows where the showrunner wanted me but where the corporate bosses nixed my hiring. The excuse is always, We needed a different "balance" in the room. Look, I get it. And I'm all for diversity in this business. But now, white guys are lucky to account for even 20 percent of a room. If that. I know that most showrunners are still white dudes. I know that. But for journeyman writers like myself, who have proven themselves on show after show, with experience running rooms, being on set, in casting and in editing -- with experience working on some of the best shows in TV, it's gotten very hard. But we're not allowed to say anything to anyone about any of this. Because of our gender and skin color. We no longer check the right boxes. It's like we're supposed to just shut up and go away. But I have a family to feed, and I'm really good at my job. If any of this got out there -- it could very easily end any hope I have to continue working in this business.

More emails at the link. Or, for you Auditory Learners, the video discussing the article, below.

Unrelated, but I want to link this somewhere:

posted by Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:05 PM

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