Here's how Samantha Bee hired one of the most diverse writing staffs in TV
"We don't feel like we solved the diversity problem," Bee said in a new interview with Rolling Stone. "We didn't fix racism, quite. I mean, we almost did. We'll see how things pan out. I'm feeling really good about it."
In order to achieve its 50% female and 30% nonwhite team of writers, the show used a blind submission system that wouldn't favor those with experience. For example, it provided directions to applicants on how to set up a TV script.
"I have literally filled my office with people who have been underestimated their entire careers," the host said. "To a person, we almost all fit into that category. It is so joyful to collect a group of people who nobody has ever thought could grasp the reins of something and f---ing go for it."
Aside from gender and race, the writing team has a diversity of backgrounds. For example, the team consists of "Daily Show" alums, a former writer for David Letterman, and an ex-staffer for the Maryland DMV.
The diversity of its writers is a very important part of "Full Frontal's" "visceral" tone, which, as Rolling Stone's writer put it, "required hiring people who had fury to spare."
The show doesn't stop there. It's also developing a mentorship program meant to bring in more talent who have been underrepresented in the TV industry.
"We are going to learn a lot the first time we do it," Bee said in a January article in New York magazine. "It may be janky, we don't know. Or it might be amazing, and you'll find a diamond in the rough, and then you'll find a job for that person... and then you start actually seeing the ratios change. That's the goal."