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Hollywood Asked For & Received This All-Women Showrunners Panel

Kaitlin Reilly
Last Updated 7 June 2018, 0:15
Photo: Jim Spellman/WireImage/Getty Images
Ask and you shall receive. An all-women showrunner panel will happen on 13th June at the Twitter headquarters in Los Angeles, according to screenwriter Liz Hannah.
"I’m thrilled to announce that the female showrunner panel will be hosted at @TwitterLA next Wednesday evening!," Hannah tweeted. "More details about live-streaming and invites to come soon. I can’t thank everyone enough for their passion for this!"
This post was originally published on 5th June 2018.
A panel on television writing, hosted by trade publication Variety, has come under fire for its lack of women.
Titled A Night in the Writer's Room, the panel is set to take place June 14 at the Jeremy Hotel in West Hollywood. It will be broken down into two back-to-back talks, one with drama writers, and another with comedy writers.
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Out of the 10 showrunners participating in the event, there is only one woman: Mom co-creator, Gemma Baker. Other writers listed include The Americans' John Fields and Judd Apatow, set to speak on his TV series Crashing.
Hollywood writers and stars were not happy with the gender disparity. Liz Hannah, the screenwriter behind The Post, wrote in a response to the list:
"If any female showrunners want to do a panel on Thursday night, I will moderate and organize."
The Writers Guild Foundation responded to Hannah's tweet:
"how can we help?," inquired the "non-profit dedicated to the sheer unflinching awesomeness of screen and television writing."
Krista Vernoff, showrunner of Grey's Anatomy, also added "I'm in" on Hannah's panel request.
Busy Philips expressed similar outrage on Twitter, listing all of the potential women who could belong on the panel.
"Hey @Variety! Here are some ideas for you! *Jenni Konner&Lena Dunham*Melissa Rosenberg* *Tina Fey*Marti Noxon&Sarah Gertude Shapiro*Liz Flahive&Carly Mensch*Nahnatchka Khan*Maurissa Tancharoen*Jessica Queller*Shonda Rhimes*Jenji Kohan*Rachel Bloom&Aliene Brosh McKenna."
Divorce executive producer Jenny Bicks also reminded Variety that women writers exist.
"Hey @Variety, just got invited to a show runner panel with 12 showrunners. ONE WOMAN. ONE WOMAN OUT OF 12. Shame on you. We exist. Not very hard to find us."
Variety heard the backlash loud and clear. Shortly after these tweets popped up, the publication tweeted an apology and promised to make the wrong right:
"On behalf of Variety, we apologize for the egregious oversight regarding the lack of female writers participating in our upcoming A Night in the Writers' Room event. We hear you loud and clear, and are currently working on rectifying our mistake."
On Wednesday, June 6, Variety will also host a Path to Parity Summit which will discuss the ways in which the entertainment industry "can move forward to achieve true equality for women." The summit will feature a more even distribution of women, and will feature content creators and activists like actress and producer Mila Kunis, lawyer Gloria Allred, and Transparent creator Jill Soloway.

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