‘Derry Girls’ creator Lisa McGee finds the disparity between male and females employed in the TV business “incredibly depressing”.
‘Derry Girls’ creator Lisa McGee finds the disparity between male and females employed in the TV business ‘incredibly depressing’
The 43-year-old writer spoke out after the publication of a report from the Creative Diversity Network that analyses the gender disparity of those working behind the scenes at broadcasters.
She told The Irish Times about the findings: “The schemes and programmes created to address this very issue seem to, at best, merely paper over the cracks or, if I were to be cynical, were not created with the intention of creating real change.
“There’s a real sense of exhaustion out there among my fellow writers.
“People are asking why men are still writing female stories when that certainly doesn’t go both ways – male writers dominate most genres.”
Lisa – who won an Emmy this year for her work on Channel 4’s ‘Derry Girls’ – added women in television would be “disappointed by the fall” their representation within the business – but not “shocked”.
The gender report analysed six years of data provided by television broadcasters such as ITV, BBC and Sky and showed the amount of women directing television programmes was down 6 per cent over the six-year period studied.
It also found the amount of television programmes written by women had plunged from 43 per cent to 32 per cent.
And the report found female directors are more likely to be working on serial dramas than long-running dramas, while the overall amount of directors are aged between 40 and 49 years old.
Lisa is set to return to Channel 4 in 2024 with a new thriller comedy ‘How to Get to Heaven from Belfast’.
It will follow school friends Saoirse, Robyn and Dara who are now aged in their 30s who find themselves caught up in a mystery after an old classmate dies.
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