Hollywood writers have some notes after Mattel revealed its Barbie Women in Film toy line for the annual “Career of the Year” collection.
Following the widespread popularity of Greta Gerwig‘s Warner Bros. summer release Barbie, which topped a billion dollars at the global box office, Mattel announced this week that it will release Barbie dolls in four film-related career paths: studio executive, director, cinematographer and movie star.
Not included in the line is a doll representing screenwriters, which is particularly notable following the recent Writers Guild of America strike that saw scribes pounding the pavement to remind the industry of their importance in the filmmaking process. A number of Hollywood writers took to social media to point out that the pivotal career path is not a Barbie option.
“Where is Screenwriter Barbie?” Fleishman Is in Trouble series creator and book author Taffy Brodesser-Akner posted to X (formerly Twitter). “Does Mattel not know how to make sweatpants? Does Mattel not know how to get avocado toast on a t-shirt and just kind of leave it there?”
She added, “Filing Quarterly/WGA Dues Barbie would be hit among a certain crowd is what i’m saying.”
Eden Dranger, whose television writing credits include The Unicorn and Beavis and Butt-Head, responded to Brodesser-Akner’s post with, “We went on strike and this is what we get?!”
Also tweeting about the new dolls was Carolina Munhóz, a writer who has worked on the Portuguese-language Netflix titles Invisible City and The Chosen One. “Ok, so there are no lines in that movie?” Munhóz posted. “Where is the screenwriter Barbie? Signed by a screenwriter that was Barbie for Halloween.”
Christopher Derrick, who has written for television series including The Equalizer and Star Trek: Picard, questioned the inclusion of the studio-executive doll and noted, “There’d be no successful movie that prompted this without the screenwriters.”
Plenty of other vital jobs involved in bringing a film to life — from agent to editor — were missing from the new toy line, and The Wire creator David Simon was among those shedding light on this.
“No writer Barbie,” he wrote. “No grip Barbie. No Teamster Barbie. No key set PA Barbie who has to go into Movie Star Barbie’s trailer and tell the delicate flower to get the fuck down to set because 120 other pissed-off Barbie’s are waiting for her. That film taught Mattel nothing.”
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Mattel for comment.
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