Aaron Sorkin had a wake-up call during the Writers Guild Festival this past weekend.
According to a report from Variety, the man behind shows like The West Wing and The Newsroom was shocked to discover that women and other minorities in Hollywood have a harder time making projects.
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“Are you saying that women and minorities have a more difficult time getting their stuff read than white men and you’re also saying that white men get to make mediocre movies and can continue on?” he questioned the audience at the festival.
Sorkin continued to press the issue while other audience members tried to ask him other questions. He wanted to learn more about the problem he was unaware of prior to the event. “You’re saying that if you are a woman or a person of colour, you have to hit it out of the park in order to get another chance?”
He went on to list several names of minority creators whose recent work has done well, including Lena Dunham, Amy Schumer, Ava DuVernay and Jordan Peele.
After realizing he was blissfully unaware of this occurrence in the business, Sorkin wondered how he could help the issue. “What can I do to help?” Sorkin asked. “I do want to understand what someone like me can do … but my thing has always been: ‘If you write it, they will come.’”
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