Black women in Hollywood have been working behind-the-scenes in TV writing rooms and on sets for decades. Now, more and more, they’re creating their own hit shows.
Take 2022’s TV lineup as an example. For her breakout hit sitcom “Abbott Elementary,” Quinta Brunson made comedy Emmys history; playwright-turned-showrunner Katori Hall delivered another season of Starz’ “P Valley;” Issa Rae is launching a new HBO Max series seven months after “Insecure” ended — and that’s just a sampling.
In 2011, just 4 percent of scripted broadcast television shows were created by a racial minority; and for cable and digital shows, it was 7 and 6 percent respectively, according to a “Hollywood Diversity” report the University of California at Los Angeles released in 2021. By the end of 2020, racial minorities created 10, 21 and 15 percent of all broadcast, cable and digital shows, respectively. There is no breakout data available for specifically Black women show creators.
“Black women have always been behind the scenes and television, particularly (people) like Debbie Allen, Susan Fales Hill, Yvette Lee Bowser, Felicia Henderson,” Lena Waithe, creator of “Twenties” on BET and “The Chi” on Showtime, said in an interview with TODAY. “I think that it’ll only continue to grow because everybody, from what I can see, is mentoring, reaching back.”
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