Television Academy increases Emmy noms for women writers, directors

The Television Academy announced its 2017 Emmy award nominees July 13, with a substantial number of female nominees in its writing and directing categories. Director Jamie Babbitt is nominated for the HBO comedy Silicon Valley, while Kate Dennis and Reed Morano are recognized for respective episodes of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Lesli Linka Glatter is well-known for both television and film, nominated again this year for directing Homeland for Showtime.

Lena Waithe’s critically-acclaimed Thanksgiving episode of Netflix’s Master of None is up for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and Westworld’s Lisa Joy co-wrote a nominated episode for the HBO drama.

Despite constant headlines about the Hollywood gender gap, the Emmy nominations are a hopeful step in the right direction for female filmmakers who go without recognition at other film-driven awards ceremonies.

Four out of the 13 Outstanding Director Emmy nominations are women. Although 31 percent appears low, it’s noticeably high when compared to the zero percent of women directors nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) over the past eight years (a woman hasn’t been honored in this category since Kathryn Bigelow in 2009).

Though both women writers nominated for Emmys this year are credited as co-writers with male counterparts, it’s an improvement upon the Oscars, in which only one female screenwriter was recognized (Hidden Figures co-writer Allison Schroeder).

Although this year’s AMPAS invitees include more women and people of color in its effort to boost diversity, the number of female directors has decreased from 2016. Backlash from the 2016 Oscar snubs sparked FF2 Media’s merit-based Make Oscars Gold campaign, a combination of #OscarsSoWhite (lack of People of Color) and #StopBlueOscar (lack of women). Though AMPAS is making pointed attempts to increase its diversity, today’s Television Academy nominees are proof that actions speak louder than words.