Entertainment powerhouse Mindy Kaling has spoken out about her struggle to be make it in the industry, citing an incident where she was forced to provide a resume to prove her producer credentials on The Office after being threatened to be cut from an Emmy award nomination.
The award-winning writer, actress and producer told magazine that Emmy Awards organisers tried to drop her from the producers list, making her ineligible to accept an Emmy for her work on the comedy series.
“They made me, not any of the other producers, fill out a whole form and write an essay about all my contributions as a writer and a producer,” Kaling said.
“I had to get letters from all the other male, white producers saying that I had contributed, when my actual record stood for itself.”
According to the , an academy spokesman challenged the view saying "no one was singled out."
“There was an increasing concern years ago regarding the number of performers and writers seeking producer credits. At the time the Producers Guild worked with the Television Academy to correctly vet producer eligibility.
“Every performer/producer and writer/producer was asked to justify their producer credits."
Kaling disputed the rebuttal, taking to Twitter to explain that she was singled out because she believed she was 'easiest to dismiss' as a junior woman of colour on the team.
“I *was* singled out,” Kaling wrote on Twitter.
“There were other Office writer-performer-producers who were NOT cut from the list. Just me. The most junior person, and woman of color. Easiest to dismiss. Just sayin’.”
“I worked so hard and it was humiliating,” she tweeted. “I had written so many episodes, put in so much time in the editing room, just to have the Academy discard it because they couldn’t fathom I was capable of doing it all. Thankfully I was rescued by my friends, the other producers.”
She continued: “The point is, we shouldn’t have be bailed out because of the kindness [of] our more powerful white male colleagues,” she added. “Not mentioning it seemed like glossing over my story. This was like ten years ago. Maybe it wouldn’t happen now. But it happened to me.”
Kaling's candour on the struggles of her upward trajectory was lauded online - a reassurance to so many minority women who experience similar situations in white and male dominated industries.
Kaling, who is a powerhouse in her own right, went on to be a showrunner on The Mindy Project, Late Night and created the Hulu series Four Weddings and a Funeral.
The fact she has the creative autonomy and independence to openly speak about her experiences is a boon for many who still fear professional reprisal, or worse, being doubly disbelieved and dismissed for speaking out about their painful experiences.
"I’ve never wanted to bring up that incident because The Office was one of the greatest creative experiences of my life, and who would want to have an adversarial relationship with the Academy, who has the ongoing power to enhance our careers with awards?"
She told the magazine she never felt like she "truly belonged", recounting a story of being shouted off the set of her own show by security, only to inform staff she was the star.
“I am grateful, because I do think it keeps me feeling like an outsider, which is helpful as a writer.”
