Barriers to Diversity in Film – A Research Review – Aug 07

stereotyped as working class, even when they came with a good
education and middle class background (Holgate 2006).
3.4.7 Progression by who you know
A recent study shows that women who worked as screenwriters had
more difficulty securing work than their male counterparts (IES 2006).
The authors argue that even though the study was based on very small
samples, there were indications that indirect discrimination may be
operating. Screenwriting has been described as fluid, informal and
unstructured, where the career pathways are not at all formalised. For
screenwriting generally, prospective employees may be contacted by
producers, or they may send a script in, or present themselves through
agents. Sometimes screenwriters may be pitching against each other,
but their invitation to an interview was still through personal contact.
Women respondents felt it was important to be known among
networks to get work. However, the authors argue that women may be
less inclined to capitalise on networks and may feel less comfortable
about selling their work.
3.4.8 Pathways through television
Most film screenwriters had previous experience in writing for
television series according to a recent study (Rogers 2007). Women
may try their hand at screenwriting, but it has been argued that they
then tend to go into television, because TV provides more job
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