Days after the Women’s March Anniversary, which inspired millions of women to fight for human rights and equality, TV writers banded together to create an anonymous Google spreadsheet that shares individuals’ salary and benefits to shed light on pay disparity issues in the industry.
The Hollywood Reporter expounds that the survey doesn’t just document wage, benefits and studios for TV writers — it also records the wage differences between other TV production staff members, from story editors to showrunners. While the spreadsheet is still under construction as scriptwriters, assistants and editors alike record their salary details, the document already reveals a lot about the disparities in the industry — and as is the case in other industries, they don’t just exist between men and women, but also white people and people of color.
According to the document, a woman of color who is a co-producer for a CBS show alleged she earned only $10,000 per episode, while a white women co-producer at the same network alleged she received $14,000 per episode. That’s not to say the two work on the same tv show; however, it does call into question how equal employees are at CBS.
In the document, an assistant included a telling statement that she only earned $600 a week at her company before she pointed out that this was below minimum wage (thus illegal). The fact that this anonymous professional didn’t receive a legal wage until she mentioned that it was illegal shows that some organizations will deliberately try to use their power to undermine the women who work under them.
This telling Google sheet has become especially necessary after Michelle Williams revealed that she was paid 1,500 times less than Mark Wahlberg for All the Money in the World reshoots. Ellen Pompeo also explained that she’s struggled to get a raise for her role on Grey’s Anatomy — despite the fact that there wouldn’t really be a show without Meredith Grey.
It’s clear that injustices like these have inspired TV professionals to create this collaborative effort so that Hollywood can transmute into a more inclusive work environment.
Hopefully, networks and companies will listen to these courageous women speaking out and assure every employee, regardless of their gender, race, sexuality and disability, receives equal and fair pay.
While there are still a lot of injustices within Hollywood and other industries, efforts like this list will hopefully force the entertainment industry to amend these wrongs.