Hollywood to Writers: You're Fired!

Once a successful television writer, Tracy Keenan Wynn now lives in a 400-square-foot efficiency apartment in Colorado, drives a battered Jeep with 225,000 miles on it and keeps his Emmy awards packed away in a box because "it hurts to look at them."

Not a day goes by that Wynn, the son of actor Keenan Wynn and grandson of comedian Ed Wynn, doesn’t jot down an idea for a TV series, work on a plot outline or tweak a script. But the man whose writing credits include The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and The Longest Yard says after he turned 45, Hollywood—in its relentless quest for young writers to attract young audiences—turned its back on him.

"I have energy, ability and experience—but no work," Wynn says ruefully.

Now, Wynn and more than 150 other television writers over age 40 are in court with AARP as their co-counsel in a far-reaching series of 23 class action lawsuits that charge Hollywood’s television industry—networks, studios, talent agencies and production companies—with age discrimination. The defendants are a Who’s Who of TV powerhouses, from the William Morris Agency, NBC and the Walt Disney Co. to Fox Entertainment, Universal and Paramount.

After years in state and federal courts—Wynn’s case was first filed in 2000 when he was 55—the writers’ lawsuits are now before the California Supreme Court, which will decide this month whether to consider the defendants’ appeal of several aspects of the litigation. If the court takes up the appeal, the lawsuits could be delayed for another year. But if the court refuses, the suits could finally proceed to trial in a lower state court.

Ultimately, the outcome of these cases could affect more than 6,000 unemployed or underemployed older writers and help change the way TV deals are done in Hollywood and elsewhere.

"We believe it’s important to fight age discrimination in the workplace, whether it’s in Hollywood or Peoria," says Tom Osborne, an attorney with AARP Foundation Litigation who is handling the cases. "While Hollywood writers are the ones directly affected, their cases help spotlight the problem of ageism in America—and give fair warning to employers in other industries."

The lawsuits are "unusual and audacious," says Ann Reesman, general counsel to the Equal Employment Advisory Council in Washington, a national association of employers that tracks employment discrimination cases. "They contend that an entire industry—and all the businesses in it—have a common practice of age discrimination."

Attorneys for several of the studios and networks named in the suits declined requests from the AARP Bulletin to comment on the litigation.

"Age discrimination is so established in this industry, everyone is offended we are questioning it," says Paul Sprenger, of the Washington office of law firm Sprenger & Lang, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs.

Sprenger, who has successfully tried several of the largest age discrimination cases in the country, says, "This is by far and away the best case on the merits that I’ve had.

"No one in Hollywood would say publicly, ‘I don’t hire women,’ or ‘I don’t hire blacks,’ " he adds, "but they will say, ‘I don’t hire older workers.’ "

And in fact, the court papers quote dozens of public statements on age from a number of high-profile TV executives, like Marta Kauffman, co-creator of the hit television series Friends, who told an interviewer: "Once you hit 40, you can’t do it anymore. Who’s got this energy to go on three hours of sleep? You just can’t do it. And also, I think the networks and studios, they want new, fresh ideas. They’re looking for young people coming in out of college."

Gary David Goldberg, creator of the comedy series Spin City, told TV Guide his program had "no writers on the set over the age of 29—by design." The court papers say that Brandon Tartikoff, when he was president of NBC, declared a policy of not hiring older writers, while former Fox Broadcasting president Jamie Kellner said, "We don’t need anyone over 50 years of age to succeed with our business plan."

But younger writers aren’t necessarily the best writers, TV veterans say.

"I never watched Friends," says Larry Gelbart, 76, who created the wildly successful TV series M*A*S*H, "maybe because it was written by people straight out of college."

Gelbart is not part of the lawsuits, but the comedy writer, whose credits include Tootsie and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, says, "The only way to avoid age discrimination in Hollywood is to die young."

Hollywood loves to point to exceptions like Gelbart—writers still working past 40 or 50—but he says for most TV writers the issue is "black and gray—they want people with black hair, not gray."

To reach the youthful audiences that advertisers target, television studios and networks in the 1980s began hiring young executives—in their 20s and 30s—and they in turn preferred hiring young writers.

"Executives in their 20s don’t want to sit across the table from someone who looks like their mother or father," says Burt Prelutsky, 64, who wrote for Newhart, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Family Ties and a host of other popular TV series.

Before the 1980s, older, experienced writers were the most highly paid. But the last independent survey of TV writers—commissioned by the Writers Guild during the 1997–98 season—found that a TV writer’s income, contrary to most other professions, decreased with age: In 1997, for example, median earnings for employed writers in their 30s was $84,000, compared with $50,000 for writers in their 50s and $36,000 for writers in their 60s.

But some Hollywood insiders aren’t convinced the system is as skewed as the writers charge. "A German shepherd dog could walk in the office with a script in his mouth, and if that script was really good, they’d buy the script," declares Peter Guber, chairman of Mandalay Entertainment and a host of AMC’s Sunday Morning Shootout, a talk show that examines the entertainment industry.

Guber, who is "over 55" and is not being sued, says, "It’s all in the person, not the age."

A former chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and a film and television producer with credits like Rain Man, Flashdance and Batman, Guber says the young audience—"the buying audience"—wants to see 17-year-olds, 21-year-olds, 25-year-olds. "Who has the best sensibility to talk [to them]? More likely than not it’s some younger person."

Guber says that’s not discrimination. "You’re actually making a judgment of who’s more likely to execute the material in a manner that will address the audience you want to reach."

Tracy Keenan Wynn disagrees. "It’s a myth that older writers can’t write for younger audiences," he says. "Shakespeare wasn’t 15 when he wrote Romeo and Juliet.

"It takes time to learn how to tell a story, spin a yarn, be a juggler of words," he adds. But as writers age, honing their skills and broadening their experience, TV executives "don’t want you anymore."

Wynn, who won two Emmys for his TV movies, says he used to walk into a meeting with TV executives, "and when they saw I was 45, they immediately lowered their eyes. They saw someone who was not young and who was therefore over the hill, not in touch. I’d never get the chance to show what I could do."

Today, Wynn lives modestly on his Writers Guild pension, teaching and writing, always writing.

When Cecile Alch was in her 40s, she went from writing for sitcoms like Cheers and Alf to writing a company stock prospectus.

"I was desperate, I needed the money because there was just nothing happening with my career," the California writer says. "Now it’s like I’ve started all over again—working at other jobs to pay the bills and writing in my spare time."

Hollywood, the writers say, is a highly segmented business, and some segments are more discriminatory than others: The feature film business can be kind to veteran writers, while TV comedy productions are the cruelest.

But aging TV writers don’t give up easily. Some try to dress "young," dye their hair and even lop off earlier, prestigious TV credits on their résumés for fear those credits date them.

Some try teaming up with a young writer—even a total neophyte—and sending that writer to the "pitch" meetings.

A comedy writer who asked not to be named wanted a young writer to "front" for him. "But," he recalls, "I didn’t know any young writers. And I didn’t want to hang around outside writing schools saying, ‘Hey, come here kid, I’ve got a script to show you.’ "

Larry Brody—who once wrote for shows like Police Story and Mike Hammer—left the Hollywood youth culture behind several years ago when work dried up for him. Today he teaches an online writing course and runs a nonprofit arts center outside the tiny town of Ralph, Ark. He and his wife live in a log house that sits in a clearing edged with wild blackberry bushes surrounded by a deep forest of dogwoods and oaks.

The 60-year-old Brody revels in his new life and in the peace and beauty of the place. But, he says wistfully, "I would trade it all in a minute for another shot at writing."