When a regular viewer tunes in the hit comedy show, Saturday Night Live, what might they examine on their screen? A viewer would be watching a comedy show with primarily young white men, some white women, and very few African Americans. There is a problem with the low levels of diversity within Saturday Night Live, otherwise called SNL. Since the show’s beginning, Saturday Night Live has had a very long history with not displaying actors from a variety of races and backgrounds. I, Hannah Rabitoy, head writer for SNL, am writing to the executive producer, Lorne Michaels, to address this issue of diversity and to suggest what must be implemented in the future to solve this issue. In order to improve the audience base and creativity within the
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To help combat this problem, one suggestion I would have is to enforce some quotas to ensure that some more racially diverse comedians are hired. I, as the head writer for the show I do not feel that there is enough diversity and creativity within the cast to adequately display some of the skits I would like to write. I would like to reach a wide variety of audiences and feel I do not have an adequate variety of actors to fulfill this need. Dr. Katherine Phillips wrote in the Scientific American journal, “the fact is that if you want to build teams or organizations capable of innovating, you need diversity. Diversity enhances creativity. It encourages the search for novel information and perspectives…” (Phillips). The hiring crew should try to target a different market of individuals to fulfill the roles on the show. Perhaps hiring more diverse people to be a part of this crew would increase the chances of wanting to hire people from more under represented groups. This issue has somewhat been addressed by adding a woman of color, Leslie Jones a few years ago. In 2014, Moylan wrote “Leslie Jones has been promoted from a writer on the show, to a featured player. Her first official episode as a cast member will be the 25 October episode featuring Jim Carrey as host” (Moylan). This was the first time in the show’s 40-year history that …show more content…
These changes may seem very overwhelming at first, but we must realize that it will take much time and effort to successfully improve the show by diversifying. Mr. Michaels, if you agree to address the severe diversity issues within the company, I would suggest that the first step we should take is to meet with the heads of each department and inform them of the situation. We should ask them what they think about the topic and if most agree, then an action plan could be further devised and followed. Diversity is a very important characteristic of successful companies and shows, and now is the time to address the issues within Saturday Night Live. Lack of diversity will cause harm to the show if no action is implemented. Thank you for taking the time to listen to my
To help combat this problem, one suggestion I would have is to enforce some quotas to ensure that some more racially diverse comedians are hired. I, as the head writer for the show I do not feel that there is enough diversity and creativity within the cast to adequately display some of the skits I would like to write. I would like to reach a wide variety of audiences and feel I do not have an adequate variety of actors to fulfill this need. Dr. Katherine Phillips wrote in the Scientific American journal, “the fact is that if you want to build teams or organizations capable of innovating, you need diversity. Diversity enhances creativity. It encourages the search for novel information and perspectives…” (Phillips). The hiring crew should try to target a different market of individuals to fulfill the roles on the show. Perhaps hiring more diverse people to be a part of this crew would increase the chances of wanting to hire people from more under represented groups. This issue has somewhat been addressed by adding a woman of color, Leslie Jones a few years ago. In 2014, Moylan wrote “Leslie Jones has been promoted from a writer on the show, to a featured player. Her first official episode as a cast member will be the 25 October episode featuring Jim Carrey as host” (Moylan). This was the first time in the show’s 40-year history that …show more content…
These changes may seem very overwhelming at first, but we must realize that it will take much time and effort to successfully improve the show by diversifying. Mr. Michaels, if you agree to address the severe diversity issues within the company, I would suggest that the first step we should take is to meet with the heads of each department and inform them of the situation. We should ask them what they think about the topic and if most agree, then an action plan could be further devised and followed. Diversity is a very important characteristic of successful companies and shows, and now is the time to address the issues within Saturday Night Live. Lack of diversity will cause harm to the show if no action is implemented. Thank you for taking the time to listen to my