He’s the outspoken star of shows such as Amazon Prime’s The Grand Tour and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and now Jeremy Clarkson has offered up his decisive verdict on female writers in the world of TV and film.
Writing in the Sun Online, the 59-year-old argues that ‘women are cleaning up’ in this sector pointing to the work of award-winning actress and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge of Fleabag and Killing Eve fame.
'It’s always annoyed me that writers are never really recognised for their contribution to a show or a movie, and that’s why I’m thrilled to bits that Phoebe Waller-Bridge has been invented.
‘Because she’s become something we’ve never really had before — a superstar writer,’ he writes.
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Continuing he goes on to highlight the work of equally impactful female scriptwriters including Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass/Kingsman) who he describes as another ‘writing genius’, Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Sofia Coppola (The Beguiled/Lost in Translation).
Outlining what makes these female writers so special, he adds:
‘They’re not sitting on Twitter demanding better pay.
‘They’re sitting at their laptops, long into the night, and earning it. And I hope they’re being rewarded.’
Before continuing:
‘Because they’re putting some va-va-voom into what is easily the most important part of any production.
‘It’s not the direction or the acting or the battle scenes. It’s the writing.’
Figures published last year by the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain revealed some encouraging statistics when it came to female film screenwriters, though there was definitely room for improvement.
Among its findings, it revealed that 28 per cent of all UK TV episodes between 2001-16 were predominantly female-written.
It also showed that 14 per cent of primetime programming was predominantly female-written, while this figure stood at 27 per cent for morning programming.
Do you think the proportion of female scriptwriters will continue on an upward trend?
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