About a year ago, I began researching ageism in entertainment. It is clear that many filmmakers and writers from different groups remain unrepresented, and it is especially difficult for people over a certain age to break into an industry where youth and sex sell. Enter Brad Johnson. He is a writer, director, and producer from the Pacific Northwest who also happens to be spearheading the Gray List, a list consisting of screenwriters over the age of 40. I conducted this interview this past November, and by that time, Brad had already spent countless months prepping for the February 28 release date. Brad stressed that creativity is a life force that doesn't have an expiration date, and neither do we.
What exactly is the Gray List?
Brad: the Gray List is not a competition. No one is paying any money to submit or paying any money to be on it. It is a curated list that is shining a spotlight on the fact that we don't lose our ability to be creative or imaginative or tell compelling stories once we cross over some imaginary threshold. There is no age limitation to any of that. I just got tired of seeing the annual 30 under 30 lists. There are so many writers out there trying to make a career for themselves, and just because they are over 30 doesn't mean that their work should be discounted.
Brad has been thinking about putting a list like this together for some time. He looked around and saw no one else doing it, so he thought, "why not?" In a wish to uplift writers he had met along the way and to meet new writers to be inspired by, he slowly formed a plan of action. He teamed up with Ash Lazer of The Stunt List for help and guidance, "I was basically reaching out to Ash to ask him how he got started with his list, I wanted to see if he had experienced any pot holes that I could somehow manage to avoid."
I reached out to Ash who was kind enough to speak to me via email, "I'm always on board to support any cause that helps boost writers. When Brad told me the concept of the Grey List, I loved it immediately and instantly offered to support it in any way I could, as well as host the inaugural launch on our new website. I created a page on the website for his new project, handed over the reins to him, and he absolutely nailed it. It's such a beautiful design, and it supports such a great cause."
Ash and his creative partner Eric Moyer started The Stunt List as a way to showcase screenwriters and to get finished material out there for others to see. Every writer knows that a good script doesn't belong on a hard-drive collecting dust. They need to be able to put their work out there and share their stories, and Ash is creating an outlet to put writers on the web. Something cool I noticed is that their site features writers who are doing hilarious crossovers and mashups of genre, themes, and ideas that I haven't seen anywhere else.
Brad is aware of the challenges women face in trying to get their work read, and it was important to him that the list be as gender equivalent as possible, "One of the things that was really important to me was that the list itself be diverse and not just be a group of 40 white guys over 40." According to this recent Variety article, female employment in the entertainment industry has only gone up about 7% in the past 25 years. At the time of our interview, Brad let me know that the Grey List was almost 50/50 on female to male writers.
"When you cross a certain age, it does become more difficult to be heard. The list is comprised of a pretty good spectrum of writers. We got everything from pre-WGA to show runners on the list."
The beautiful blue and gold PDF consists of one page per writer, and includes their script's title, longline, cover art, writer photo, and any other recognition the writer has gotten over the course of their career. Most importantly, the PDF includes a contact button for the writer if the longline you see interests you.
If you have a chance, go check out this list! It includes writers who I have featured on this very blog! (Elizabeth Ditty who was my VERY FIRST interview and the amazing Guy Crawford!) Looking at the loglines on this list I am very intrigued. I hope this list continues next year and the year after that, and I hope writers who think their chance will never come will be pleasantly surprised when they get featured on this list. A million thanks to Brad for zooming with me and to Ash who was super quick too answer my twitter DM!
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