| TV Writers' CasesThe Writers' Class Action Age Discrimination Cases | ||
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Greying Screenwriters Sue US TV and Movie Studios for Age Discrimination
Agence France Presse By Marc Lavine Summary: One-hundred and fifty writers filed 23 class action lawsuits in the Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming that the country's top television moguls were shunning them simply because they felt the writers were too old. The writers claim that NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, Warner Bros. TV and cable channel UPN, as well as several movie studios and talent agencies, would not hire or represent the writers, who are mostly in their 50s, because of their age. The writers' lawyer, Paul Sprenger, alleged that NBC management had decreed that freelance writing jobs "should only be given to writers who were in their twenties or early thirties.” "If the stereotypes had been directed against women or members of a racial group, everyone would be up in arms," Sprenger said. "Numerous powerful figures in Hollywood apparently believe, however, that directing such comments against older writers is not only legal, but unquestionable," he added. Sprenger alleged that some top television producers had gone public with their "discrimination," including Marta Kauffman, the co-creator of NBC's hit television sitcom "Friends.” Sprenger quoted her as saying that "once you hit 40, you can't do it anymore," while the producer of ABC's sitcom "Spin City" Gary David Goldberg allegedly stated that the program had "no writers on the set over the age of 29 -- by design." |
