Audience segmentation and age stratification among television writers

In this research, we analyze quantitative longitudinal data on the careers of 8,990 television and film writers to assess whether barriers to career s uccess for older writers have increased in recent years. We detect a substa ntial shift in age-earnings profiles in favor of younger television writers during an era when programming strategies increasingly targeted younger au diences. We argue that marketing strategies in television that emphasize au dience demographics and distinctive features of the business context encour age "typecasting" that creates barriers to career success for older writers .