TV Writer On Women 40+ Scheme Says She Was Asked To Make Female Lead “20 Years Younger”

TV writer Katja Meier has revealed that, when she pitched her script idea to production companies as part of a scheme for female writers aged 40+, she was asked to make her female protagonist 20 years younger.

Meier told The Guardian newspaper she pitched her idea to multiple production companies with the backing of the UK arm of the Writers Lab programme, but her initial enthusiasm turned to dismay:

“You’re thinking, ‘Oh my God, the script came out of a programme for women over 40, and I’m sitting here being told the only way to get it made is to make my lead woman 35? It was literally heartbreaking.”

Meier says that she tried to argue that her target audience of women aged over 50 would appreciate the story, but this fell on deaf ears.

“In one pitch somebody told me: ‘Yeah, we don’t really believe that women over 50 are a valid audience’,” she says with a laugh. “And I was just like, ‘Are you f***ing kidding me?’”

Instead, Meier set up her own company Zenka Films and borrowed money to fund the filming in March 2024 of her pilot of $hare – the story of a 59-year-old woman who inherits a British-Swiss mining company.

The director told The Guardian she hopes to raise money to make the series through launching the pilot on independent streaming service Olyn.

The newspaper reports that women made up 23% of creators of original TV series in 2023/24 (figures from the Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film).