26 Minority Screenwriters to Inspire You

In April, Amanda posted 30 Female Screenwriters to inspire you, which included female feature screenplay writers. I wanted to do a similar post, this time focusing on minority screenwriters. This 2013 report from the Writers Guild of America shows that just in TV staffing, the percentages still aren't great for women or people of color. But there are some minority screenwriters who have made a name for themselves both in film and television. This list includes some juggernauts, some up-and-coming writers, and writers who have been in the business for a few decades.

I hope these names can inspire you. As you'll read in her article below, Issa Rae, the writer/star of the Awkward Black Girl webseries, sent a "letter to Love & Basketball director Gina Prince-Bythewood nearly a decade ago. "That movie just changed me," she said. "It was a simple love story. I hadn't seen that. And the fact that it was written, produced and directed by a black woman made me think that I could do it, too."" Gina Prince-Bythewood is on this list and many other lists featuring women and minority screenwriters, and now Issa Rae is making her way on to these lists. You and I can be similarly inspired and one day we'll make it to someone's "list of inspiring writers," not limited by color or gender.

Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal)

Tyler Perry (Tyler Perry's Madea Series)

Mindy Kaling (The Office, The Mindy Project)

Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing)

M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense)

Issa Rae (Awkward Black Girl webseries)

Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station)

Yvette Lee Bowser  (A Different World, Living Single)

Shalisha Francis (Castle, S.H.I.E.L.D.)

Aisha Muharrar (Parks and Recreation)

Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou, Black Nativity [upcoming])

Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball, The Secret Life of Bees)

Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious)

Mara Brock Akil (Girlfriends, The Game, Being Mary Jane)

Saladin Patterson (Psych) 

Felicia D. Henderson (Moesha, Sister, Sister, Soul Food, Gossip Girl, Fringe)

Barry Jenkins (Medicine for Melancholy)

Kriss Turner (Something New)

Dee Rees (Pariah)

Gregory Allen Howard (Remember the Titans) 

Rob Edwards (Treasure Planet, Princess and the Frog) 

Angela Robinson (D.E.B.S., Herbie Fully Loaded)

Sunil Nayar (Oz, CSI Miami, Revenge)

Sherman Alexie (Smoke Signals)

Sebastian Gutierrez (The Eye, Snakes on a Plane, Gothika)

Michael Elliot (Brown Sugar)

Who are your favorite minority screenwriters?

30 Female Screenwriters to inspire you

According to a recent study from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, of the 250 highest-grossing films last year, only 14 percent were written by women, while 38 percent of the films employed one or no women in roles such as producer, director, writer, editor, or cinematographer.

"There is inequality going on, and it's institutionalized, and it needs to stop," says Diablo Cody. She also covered the topic in a different interview: "I didn’t know it was that bad. I’d have to say visibility and representation are important. The women that have power need to be vocal and not complacent. I have seen very successful women and they don’t speak out because they don’t want to rock the boat and they simply want to stay quiet and be part of the boys’ club. I understand wanting to protect your career, but I’m willing to be outspoken and obnoxious."

In a recent Broken Projector podcast, writers and critics wondered if a lack of visibility exacerbates the issue. If women don't see a lot of women writing and directing films, does that discourage them from doing the same?

I think it does. Sitting at this year's all-male panel of WGA award nominees, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Where were the women?

There are plenty of women writers and directors out there - but perhaps, like Diablo suggests, they're less outspoken, working hard under the radar. Ladies, you're not alone. What's encouraging to me is that it wasn't hard at all to find great female screenwriters to highlight. Get inspired by these 30 kickass women:

Lorene Scafaria

Tina Fey

Katie Dippold

Annie Mumolo

Gina Prince-Bythewood

Leslie Dixon

Lucy Alibar

Karen Croner

Robin Swicord

Mindy Kaling

Lena Dunham

Kourtney Kang

Dana Fox

Kelly Marcel

Julia Hart

Kirsten Smith

Karen McCullah

Dee Rees

Elizabeth Meriwether

Laeta Kalogridis

Vanessa Taylor

Nancy Meyers

Lisa Cholodenko

Sarah Haskins & Emily Halpern

Michelle Morgan

Melissa Stack

Diablo Cody

Jennifer Crittenden & Gabrielle Allan

Liz W. Garcia

Stacie Passon