If you want something and the other person, for whatever reason, doesn\u2019t want to give it to you, change the rules. Don\u2019t try to fix the system from the inside: pull the argument on to your turf. Stand where you are strongest and argue from there.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s taken me so long to see that this is necessary and that any system\u2019s rules are designed to protect the system and fight change. And this week 76 writers demonstrated it.<\/p>\n
Actually, it\u2019s 76 women writers and not only would it be irrelevant that they\u2019re women, I\u2019m not entirely sure I\u2019d have noticed they were as I read their names. There are some I\u2019ve not heard of, there are some whose writing I don\u2019t like and there are some who I aspire to be as good as. But it\u2019s their writing I\u2019m interested in and gender wouldn\u2019t cross my mind.<\/p>\n
Except that the 76 names are signatures on a letter that made news around the world this week. These writers are protesting against the fact that UK television drama series use startlingly, ridiculously few women. Or to put it another way, it\u2019s always the same bleedin\u2019 men who write these shows. Or put it a third way: it\u2019s the same type of people who write most of them. <\/p>\n
I want to see drama from everyone and about everything. Right now the system is boringly out of whack and if I\u2019ll be happiest when drama better reflects our country\u2019s brilliant and vibrant culture, we can start by hiring more women. And I can point you at 76 women writers.<\/p>\n
There are more than 76: that\u2019s how many publicly signed the letter but there are untold more who support it yet fear putting their current work at risk by signing. I readily get that: I think I might well have been one of them if I were one of the writers doing this.<\/p>\n
So I understand the ones who can\u2019t sign and of course I applaud those who did.<\/p>\n
But read their letter<\/a>. <\/p>\n It\u2019s strong and forceful but it\u2019s layered, it\u2019s funny, it\u2019s involving. This letter is not a placard demanding what we want and how we want it now, it is engaging in every sense. If there is no mistaking its point or the strength of its argument, it is equally clear that this is a conversation. Like the very best writing, this is not a transmission of arguments from the writers to television commissioners, the text speaks in such a way that the reader is as involved as the writers.<\/p>\n If you forget everything else about what it\u2019s trying to achieve, this letter is an example of smart, classy, vivid writing.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t forget what it\u2019s trying to achieve though, specifically because it won\u2019t let you.<\/p>\n I imagine that there must\u2019ve been hundreds of meetings where women writers somehow didn\u2019t quite get the commissions their writing warrants. I imagine thousands of emails where projects somehow didn\u2019t get to where they should.<\/p>\n And so rather than continue working in that system, these 76 writers yanked the argument over to where they visibly and vividly rule: these writers wrote. <\/p>\n I can only hope that it helps but I tell you, I wish I\u2019d written that letter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you want something and the other person, for whatever reason, doesn\u2019t want to give it to you, change the … Continue reading