Melissa Lee Speyer (Photo credit: Darwin Morales).
Emerging screenwriter Melissa Lee Speyer is gratified by the advances in screen diversity in the past three years but worries that progress has been exaggerated and there is still a significant imbalance.
Born in the UK to Chinese-Malaysian parents, Speyer sometimes finds she is the only non-white writer in writers rooms.
“For every diverse show loudly championed there are a dozen more with representation issues that nobody notices,” she tells If.
“I know it feels like all the money and opportunities are going in a very specific direction. Trust me, that’s not where 100 per cent of it is going. It’s often just talked about the loudest.
“In the last three years there’s been a lot of loud mainstream talk about diversity, coming off the back of 50 years of virtual silence.
“It’s not just about ‘not being the only non-white writer in the room,...
Emerging screenwriter Melissa Lee Speyer is gratified by the advances in screen diversity in the past three years but worries that progress has been exaggerated and there is still a significant imbalance.
Born in the UK to Chinese-Malaysian parents, Speyer sometimes finds she is the only non-white writer in writers rooms.
“For every diverse show loudly championed there are a dozen more with representation issues that nobody notices,” she tells If.
“I know it feels like all the money and opportunities are going in a very specific direction. Trust me, that’s not where 100 per cent of it is going. It’s often just talked about the loudest.
“In the last three years there’s been a lot of loud mainstream talk about diversity, coming off the back of 50 years of virtual silence.
“It’s not just about ‘not being the only non-white writer in the room,...
- 7/3/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
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