Ageism in Hollywood

"They want a writing sample? Tell them to watch Cheers or go fuck themselves."

Think of your favorite TV sitcoms. If you’re of a certain age, you’ll think of such shows as M*A*S*H, Cheers, Frasier, The Simpsons, Wings, Everybody Loves Raymond, Becker, and Dharma and Greg. Those shows were all written and/or directed by my friend, Emmy-award-winning writer Ken Levine. He’s still getting royalty checks for his comedic writing genius. He’ll long be remembered as one of the great TV writers of the 70s and 80s.

Except in Hollywood.

Hollywood has largely forgotten Ken Levine and his writing partner, David Isaacs. Some of today’s TV and movie executives never even heard of Ken because they’re half his age.

Hollywood worships youth above all.

Ken’s experience and talent still grow with the wisdom of his years, but that cursed number—his age—has pretty much finished him as a screenwriter.

Ageism is real.

I talked with Ken for my podcast, Conversations.buzz. Here’s a short clip (1:32) of part of our discussion of ageism, as Ken explains that ten or fifteen years ago, the president of ABC contacted him about joining the staff of a new show designed for Carol Burnett.

ABC got the message and asked Ken to write for Carol Burnett, but they scrapped the entire project before it got off the ground. Know why?

Carol Burnett. Too old.

The TV and movie industries have put hall-of-fame writer/director Ken Levine in the rearview mirror. They’ve moved on.

Evolution is insidious.

Ken writes stageplays now. Some are produced, and some aren’t, but he gets up every day and sits down at his keyboard.

Ken’s a writer. It’s what he does.

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Here’s my full podcast conversation with Ken Levine.