Story highlights
The event listed 12 panelists with only 1 woman
Actress called it "tone deaf"
Variety has apologized following backlash over a planned event to showcase Hollywood writers that has only one woman featured on its panel.
“A Night in the Writers’ Room” is set to happen June 14 and will feature back-to-back panels with writers from TV comedies and dramas.
Those listed as panelists include Joel Fields from “The Americans,” Stephen Glover from “Atlanta,” Matthew B. Roberts of “Outlander” and film director Judd Apatow in his capacity as showrunner for the TV series, “Crashing.”
Soon after invites for the event went out, some took to Twitter to complain that there is only one woman listed as a panelist – “Mom” co-creator, Gemma Baker.
“Can we talk about the invite I just received for @Variety’s “A Night in the Writers’ Room.” 12 panelists,” “Sneaky Pete” writer and producer Jamie Pachino tweeted. “ONE WOMAN. WTF, Variety????”
Actors, writers and other Hollywood insiders joined Pachino in tweeting about the event.
Actress Busy Phillips called the publication out for being “tone deaf.”
“If any female showrunners want to do a panel on Thursday night, I will moderate and organize,” “The Post” screenwriter Liz Hannah wrote in a tweet. This led to an offer of help from the Writers Guild Foundation and an “I’m in” from “Grey’s Anatomy” showrunner, Krista Vernnoff.
In response, Variety posted an apology on Twitter Tuesday.
“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,” the tweet read. “We hear you loud and clear, and are currently working on rectifying our mistake.”