Writers’ Class-Action Lawsuit Alleges Age Discrimination

Hoping to move the discussion of age discrimination in television to a new arena--the courts--a group of 28 screenwriters has filed a class-action lawsuit against the major networks, studios and talent agencies, alleging that a “systematic” pattern of age discrimination has denied them employment on dramas and situation comedies.

The lawsuit, announced at a Monday news conference, contends that in their zeal to capture young audiences, networks, studios and talent agencies representing writers have unfairly squeezed out writers over the age of 40, creating a climate in which otherwise successful writers with substantial credits on their resumes have been unable to get work.

Though age-bias complaints from unemployed writers have long been common, the suit marks one of the more tangible responses to what Paul Sprenger, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, terms “an open secret” in Hollywood.

“This solution is the last thing I and my peers ever thought about--it’s the law against age [discrimination],” said Arthur Eisenson, 58, whose credits include the long-running detective series “Kojak.” Eisenson is one of 28 writers who agreed to lend their names to the suit.

The complaint includes a report commissioned by the Writers Guild of America in 1998 showing the decreased rate of writers 40 and older on broadcast-network sitcoms and dramas. According to the report, for instance, nearly 75% of writers within the guild age 30 or younger were employed in 1997, versus 46% of those in their 40s and 32% of those in their 50s.

More generally, the suit challenges the commonly held notion in the entertainment industry that younger writers are best suited to script programs featuring 20- and 30-something characters--an issue that leads many writers to fudge their ages and eliminate credits of older series from their resumes, said Ann Marcus, one of the plaintiffs, whose credits run from “Lassie” to “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.”

“The [perception] has evolved that older writers cannot write for young people,” added another plaintiff, Tracy Keenan Wynn, 55. “Was Shakespeare only 15 when he wrote ‘Romeo and Juliet?’ ”

Last year, the TV industry faced similar criticism from minority leaders citing a woeful lack of minority representation in front of and behind the camera. At the time, the NAACP threatened legal action as well as viewer and advertiser boycotts before the networks pledged to take steps to address the issue.

In a related news conference Monday, the Screen Actors Guild announced its own study on ageism in prime-time television, commissioning Temple University telecommunications professor George Gerbner to examine the casting and portrayal of characters 40 and up. The findings are scheduled to be released in the spring.