Script coordinator and freelance screenwriter Brian Beneker is suing CBS Entertainment Group, its subsidiary, CBS Studios, and its parent company, Paramount Global, for more than $500,000 in lost wages and benefits over claims that he was allegedly denied a staff writer position because he is a heterosexual white male.
Mr. Beneker filed the lawsuit on Feb. 29 in the California federal trial court. He is being represented by America First Legal, a conservative nonprofit organization co-founded by Stephen Miller, a former senior adviser to former President Donald Trump.
Instead, he claims CBS hired “less qualified applicants” who “lacked experience and screenwriting credits” but were part of the production company’s “favored hiring groups,” including those who were members of the LGBT community, female, or nonwhite.
Mr. Beneker’s attorneys argue that CBS and Paramount Global “have implemented an illegal policy of race and sex ‘balancing’ in the SEAL Team writers’ room.”
‘SEAL Team’ Hiring Controversy
Mr. Beneker became a script coordinator during the first season of “SEAL Team” in 2017 and was later offered a freelance writing opportunity to pen an episode for the second season.
However, court filings indicate that the showrunner, John Glenn, required Mr. Beneker to leave his position as a script coordinator for the show in order to take on the role of drafting the freelance script.
In October 2018, Mr. Beneker agreed to step down as script coordinator, “but continued in the role while training his replacement”—a woman who allegedly had no prior experience in the field. “She struggled to do the job, soon became frustrated, and quit approximately two weeks into training,” the court filing reads.
Mr. Beneker was told he could continue as script coordinator in subsequent seasons. However, he repeatedly attempted to garner a position as a staff writer on the show.
After allegedly being told there were “too many staff writers” for CBS to offer Mr. Beneker the role, the screenwriter claims the company went on to hire a slew of more diverse individuals. These allegedly included a black woman with no major writing credits, a female writer’s assistant with no prior writing credits, and two female writers—one black and one a lesbian—both of whom did not have any prior writing credits, he claims.
Mr. Beneker alleges Spencer Hudnut—who replaced Mr. Glenn as showrunner in 2019—told him the reason he couldn’t be hired as a staff writer was because “he did not check any diversity boxes.”
Diversity Efforts
CBS has pushed to become more diverse and inclusive in recent years.Additionally, the network committed to allott 25 percent of its unscripted development budget toward shows derived from creators and producers who are black, indigenous, or people of color.
“The reality TV genre is an area that’s especially underrepresented, and needs to be more inclusive across development, casting, production and all phases of storytelling,” George Cheeks, CBS Entertainment Group’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
He continued: “As we strive to improve all of these creative aspects, the commitments announced today are important first steps in sourcing new voices to create content and further expanding the diversity in our unscripted programming, as well as on our Network.”
The new initiative followed CBS’s diversity plans for scripted programming, unveiled in July 2020. The network committed to allocating a minimum of 25 percent of its scripted developed budget to shows created by people who are black, indigenous, or people of color.
The company also revealed goals for its writer’s room, which included a target of having 40 percent of the staff be black, indigenous, or people of color for its 2021–2022 season, with plans to increase the quota to 50 percent the following season.
In December 2019, CBS also announced it would be providing “sensitivity/bias and anti-harassment training” for the cast and crew of its unscripted television shows.
