The Law: Older Writers Get a Legal Assist

Photo by Michael Kelley

The case: Older writers get a legal assist in an age bias suit against Hollywood.

Larry Mintz remembers the salad days when he and his partner earned an annual salary in the mid-six figures writing comedy scripts for such shows as Mork & Mindy and The Nanny. Today, at 58, Mintz, of Marina del Rey, Calif., ekes out his living as a substitute teacher in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. His finances, he says, are very tight.

And Mintz is angry. “The same people who used to chase me down to write no longer take my calls. Writing jobs have dried up,” he says.

Mintz and more than 150 writers have filed an age discrimination suit against virtually the entire Hollywood establishment—TV networks, studios, talent agencies and producers—from the William Morris Agency, NBC and the Walt Disney Co. to Fox Entertainment, Universal Studios and Paramount Home Entertainment. AARP lawyers joined lead counsel Sprenger + Lang PLLC of Washington after the case was filed in 2000.

In February, a preliminary decision by a California appeals court gave the writers a boost by granting them access to statistical information from the Writers Guild of America. The lawyers believe they can use the data to demonstrate a pattern of discrimination against writers over age 40.

Of special importance is the loss of health benefits. Writers earning more than $31,174 a year qualify for union-guaranteed health benefits. Those earning less don’t.

The case is important not merely because it’s about Hollywood; it also highlights a national problem of age bias, according to Tom Osborne, a senior attorney with AARP Foundation Litigation. Attorneys for two defendants, International Creative Management and Viacom, a unit of CBS, would not comment. In court papers the respondents cited writers over 40 and 50 who were still working.

Of greater importance, says Osborne, is the writers over 40 and 50 who aren’t working. “It’s important because this is a highly visible industry,” Osborne says. “It [the lawsuit] emphasizes the devastating effects of age discrimination.”

Emily Sachar is a journalist and author based in Brooklyn, N.Y.