The College Media Scholars Foundation is a 501c3 charity that endeavors to diversify the creative side of the entertainment industry. The numbers tell the story. The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University found in a 2008 study that women comprised only 15% of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 domestic grossing films of 2007.
According to the 2007 Hollywood Writers Report commissioned by the Writers Guild of America West, minority groups were underrepresented among employed television writers by a factor of 3 to 1 and among film writers by a factor of 5 to 1 in 2005. It states, “TV employment for women is at 27%, while minority employment is under 10%: in features, women writers are represented in 18% of jobs, and minority representation is 6%.”
In Variety’s annual “Women In Showbiz” report (November 11, 2008), the percentage of women’s participation is as follows:
American Society of Cinematographers: 2%,
Directors Guild of America: 13%
American Cinema Editors: 19%
Writers Guild of America: 28%
Art Directors Guild: 35%
Producers Guild of America 45%
Comparable numbers for minority participation are not published by the guilds. We can draw our own conclusions about their omissions.
Entertainment is our biggest export to the world. It will enhance our global standing to present comedies, dramas, musicals, games, and software that more accurately reflect our rich culture.
Education is the key to broadening inclusion in the creative marketplace. To some degree the makeup of the top film schools mirrors the industry reality. There are scholarships for performing and fine artists, journalists, and writers, but there are very few for aspiring visual media artists. College Media Scholars hopes to make a difference by providing scholarships and internships to underrepresented and disadvantaged students who want to study media arts.
Susan McGuirk
Susan McGuirk is the Executive Director of College Media Scholars. The organization provides scholarships to disadvantaged students to study Media Arts at CUNY colleges and to be mentored into the entertainment industry. She holds a BA and MA in Media Studies from the New School, where she was elected to the Alpha Sigma Lambda Honor Society. Susan serves on the Board of Advisors of Anthology Film Archive in New York, as well as the Board of Vitamin L, a character education project partner of the Center for Transformative Action at Cornell University. She also serves on the Advisory Council of the City College of New York Division of Humanities & the Arts.