FOOD INSECURITY SURVEY RESULTS
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Humanitas opened the Groceries for Writers Food Insecurity Survey on September 6, 2023, and closed it on September 22, five days before the end of the 2023 WGA Strike. The survey was announced, and its results covered, in The Hollywood Reporter. The survey was available online, and could be taken by writers at any stage of their career.
Ultimately, 509 writers took the survey. Their answers were anonymous and self-reported.
The survey collected information on the respondent’s writing career, experiences with food insecurity and food insecurity related topics over the previous 12 months, and asked a series of demographic questions which were open ended, allowing respondents to answer with a level of detail they felt comfortable sharing.
FOOD INSECURITY AS A PUBLIC ISSUE
In the United States
The US Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life. Per their Economic Research Service, 87.2% of American households were food secure throughout 2022. This represents a 2.6% decrease from 2021. In other words, 2.7 million fewer households were food secure year-over-year.
To estimate these numbers, the USDA conducts a Food Security Supplemental survey, which uses a sample size of 31,948 households, to estimate food insecurity amongst the 133 million households in the United States. The survey estimates food insecurity based on answers to questions about affordability of balanced meals, the size of meals, or going hungry due to a lack of money for food.
In the Screenwriting Community
There is little in the way of studies on food insecurity specifically in the American film and television sector. This is also true of the screenwriting sub-sector. Cursory research indicates that most writing on this issue was specific to the impact of the 2023 WGA Strike.
42.4% of respondents to our survey say their responses were not impacted by the strike.
The WGA and similar labor unions in film and television regularly report on staffing and earning trends amongst its membership. By their nature, though, these reports do not include data for non-union writers and staff.
Not having a central force to organize them, the experiences of non-union employees in the film and television sector are not well undocumented but are well understood. Pay Up Hollywood conducted a 2021 survey quantifying the experience of support staff, including production and management/agency workers amongst others. Humanitas staff is unable to locate publicly available market research on writers pursuing screenwriting but working outside of the entertainment industry.
Humanitas’s experience operating its Groceries for Writers project, and feedback received during it, made clear the need for a systematic understanding of food insecurity amongst the community the organization serves: screenwriters at all stages of their career.
KEY STATISTICAL FINDINGS OF
THE FOOD INSECURITY SURVEY
61.7% of respondents said they sometimes, often or always worry about having enough food for themselves and/or their families.
38.3% said they rarely or never worry about having enough food for themselves and/or their families.
64.6% of respondents report food insecurity causing some or significant impact on their physical health.
77.2% of respondents report food insecurity causing some or significant impact on their mental health.
60.7% of respondents report skipping meals due to a lack of resources.
42.4% of respondents say their survey responses were not impacted by the strike.
NOTE: 34.2% of these respondents reported needing to skip meals due to a lack of resources.
Important Notes:
The higher up the TV writers room hierarchy a respondent was, the less likely they were to be impacted by food insecurity.
Respondents who identified as POC or mixed race reported higher food insecurity impact than non-POC respondents.
Respondents who identified as disabled or neurodivergent reported higher food insecurity impact than those who identified as neither.
Two thirds of respondents identified themselves as WGA Member Writers. Another 8.5% identified themselves as professional writers who are either non-union or represented by a guild other than the WGA. Emerging writers represented by a guild other than the WGA (e.g., IATSE) constituted 7.5% of respondents. 17.4% of respondents were emerging writers not represented by a guild.
There is ongoing discussion in screenwriting circles about what the proper terminology should be to describe for writers who are not yet WGA members or writing for the screen in a professional setting. This survey chose to use “Emerging Writer.” Other commonly used phrases include “Early Career Writer,” “Baby Writer,” or “Pre-WGA Writer.”
NARRATIVE RESPONSES
In addition to collecting quantitative data, the survey provided an opportunity for respondents to write about their experiences with food insecurity and make additional comments.
A selection of pull quotes can be viewed by clicking the button below.
CONCLUSIONS AND NEXT STEPS
The Food Insecurity Survey demonstrates three key points. First, food insecurity is a common experience in the screenwriting community. Through questions about mental health impact and anxiety over food insecurity, it also demonstrates that the threat of food insecurity looms over the writing community and leaves a detrimental impact. Lastly, the survey demonstrates that the presence of food insecurity in the screenwriting community predates the 2023 WGA Strike.
The impact of food insecurity stretches beyond the worlds of film, television, and the written word–and the United States. Humanitas is committed to helping where we can. The Groceries for Writers project remains open and will continue to distribute grocery cards to WGA writers and writer’s support staff (writers assistants, writers PAs, script coordinators, and showrunner's assistants) while the resources to do so are available.
To contact us about becoming involved with this issue, please use the form below or email us directly at admin@humanitasprize.org.
PROJECT STAFF & THANKS
Humanitas created the Groceries for Writers project in May 2023, and our staff has administered the project since then.
Weekly Grocery Card administration, Food Insecurity Survey design, and results analysis writing by Daniel Plagens (Program Manager). Results Web Feature designed by Daniel Plagens and Campbell Moore (Program and Events Coordinator).
Donor relations by Angie Lee (Special Events and Community Engagement Manager).
All Groceries for Writers activities are overseen by Michelle Franke (Executive Director).
With special thanks to Abbey White and The Hollywood Reporter for their coverage of the Groceries for Writers Food Insecurity Survey’s launch and results; our friends at Think Tank for Inclusion & Equity (TTIE) for their encouragement; and the approximately 1,500 unique donors worldwide who have donated to make this project a reality.
Finally, sharing this data for the purpose of creating a community conversation about food insecurity in the screenwriting community is only possible because hundreds of writers took the time to share their stories with us.
We’re proud of you, writers, appreciate your participation, and hope that your experiences inspire lasting action to alleviate and resolve this ongoing issue.
REQUEST ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
If you are an academic, journalist, or work at a non-profit dedicated to food insecurity or film and television and are interested in learning more about the survey’s findings, tables breaking down responses by career status and some demographic information is available by request. Please use the form below to contact us or email us directly at admin@humanitasprize.org.