Women in film talk about the industry’s challenges and pluses
Women in film talk about the industry’s challenges and pluses
When a U.S. senator praises a movie studio for hiring two women, a Hollywood issue has officially entered the wider conversation.
Sen. Barbara Boxer sent a note to Warner Bros.
CEO Kevin Tsujihara recently, commending the studio on its selection of women to direct the films “Wonder Woman” and “Unforgettable.”
In the letter, Boxer, whose daughter, Nicole Boxer, is a documentary filmmaker, also pointed out the industry’s poor track record of hiring female directors over time and said she will “continue to follow the issue of women directors and your studio’s efforts to expand diversity at all levels.”
Less than 5 percent of major studio movies were directed by women last year, according to a Times analysis.
Boxer’s letter comes two months after the American Civil Liberties Union asked three government agencies to look into Hollywood hiring practices with a specific eye toward possible gender discrimination.
[...] that movie studios are coming under fire for their failure to hire women, women are working in greater numbers in independent film.
In June, the Los Angeles Film Festival scheduled a slate with 40 percent of its films directed by women.
The interviews were conducted individually and have been edited for clarity.
What do you think when you hear that less than 5 percent of studio movies last year were directed by women?
Maybe we need to learn to play golf? I don’t really fully get it.
When I started in film, we were always arguing, Look, we can do this.
Stephanie Allain: I think, “Where can I see the movies that are being made by women? I know they’re out there.”
Women seem to be more behind the scenes, in producing.
Maybe it could be a great movie for men to watch and see, “Dang, that happens to women?” It just shifts the perception a little bit.
Being women of a certain age, there’s a sensitivity towards how a camera gets set up, how lighting gets set up.
There’s a certain sensitivity for a woman to look at another woman and say, “This is how I’m going to frame you, this is how I’m going to light you and take care of you.”
Most of the people (working on) my film are moms.
The people in the crew made the mothers feel very comfortable.
The mothers had to talk about things that are very private.
Allain: I don’t like to repeat stupid things because people repeat them and somewhere along the way it becomes true.
The Melissa McCarthy movies where you take a James Bond-type character and make it a middle-aged woman — that I can totally relate to.
Do I want to make a standard violent action movie?
[...] this is terrible, but I think if you gave me $200 million I might divide it up and give it to some other women who make a few more personal stories that go out and start a conversation, change the conversation, rather than make a movie that already exists.
Stephanie, 40 percent of movies at your festival were directed by women.
What you see, what’s interesting, what strikes you, is partially built from your experience of who you are, how you are raised and what’s been valuable to you.
[...] I don’t believe a group of exclusively male programmers could have programmed this festival.
What three words come to mind when you hear the phrase “woman director”?
Very well prepared, willing to listen, and in my experience because I have produced women directors, focused on getting the job done and then getting home to their kids.