TV writers more diverse in Canada

A Writers Guild of Canada report says while its members in the TV industry have seen steady progress on diversity issues, gaps still remain.

The guild’s first Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Report found improvement in the overall composition of the WGC’s membership and the hiring of diverse writers.

The percentage of new guild members identifying as diverse has risen from 14 per cent in 2016 to 33 in 2019. And 26 per cent of writers on Canadian TV series under WGC jurisdiction identified as diverse in 2019, compared to 16 in 2016.

However, Indigenous screenwriters represented just four per cent of working writers. And while Black writers represented eight per cent of those in TV in 2019, they got only five per cent of writing credits in live action.