I Read “The Women in Hollywood Speak Out” NYT Piece So You Don’t Have To (Even Though You Really Should)
Here’s what over 100 women had to say about sexism in their industry
Women in the TV & film industry are angry. I know this because I just immersed myself in Maureen Dowd’s New York Times article where she interviewed over 100 women (and men) from Hollywood to get their perspectives on the issue of sexism in the business. You can check it out here, but let me warn you, it’s quite long. So if you don’t have time to read it word-for-word — even though really, you should — check out my summary of the most important points below.
Let’s start with this harrowing statistic:
In both 2013 and 2014, women were only 1.9 percent of the directors for the 100 top-grossing films.
Not even 2 percent. Dowd was baffled by this statistic, so she decided to speak to members of the Hollywood community about it. Through her interviews, she was able to unearth “previously pent-up fears, regrets, recriminations and recommendations.” Most of her conversations with prominent producers, actors, directors, writers and more were raw and full of emotion. Key word: most. Some men she spoke to described the issue as “bogus.” One in particular recommended she just “Call some chicks.” Well, call she did.
Women are under-represented in the TV & film industry. In 2014, up to 95 percent of cinematographers, 89 percent of screenwriters, 82 percent of editors, 81 percent of executive producers and 77 percent of producers were men, according to Professor Martha Lauzen of San Diego State University.
A lot of the top-grossing films are movies targeted for a male audience — think: superhero movies, action movies and Star Trek-y movies. Perhaps the problem is that women do not outwardly express their desire to play a part in these kinds of films enough? As Kathleen Kennedy, who is in charge of Lucasfilm, said: “ Until I waved the flag at the Fortune women’s conference recently, I had not had one single phone call from a woman telling me that she really, really wants to direct a ‘Star Wars’ movie. They need to be the ones picking up the phone and saying, ‘Hey, let me tell you what ‘Star Wars’ means to me and how much I could do with it.’”
In the NYT article, several of the interviewed women are featured in powerful photos, wearing black and white, ranging in expression from jovial and classy to awkward and introspective. (There were many poses with distracting hand placement, too, just saying.) Readers are allowed to click on a picture of a woman and read a quote from her. Some words oozed with optimism while others felt like a punch in the gut. I’ve included some of my favorites below.
“If people think they’re hiring directors based on merit, and women are at 1.9 percent — come on there’s a whole boatload of unconscious bias right there.” — Geena Davis
Geena Davis is an actress, producer and activist. You probably know her as Thelma from Thelma & Louise.
“When I made ‘The Parent Trap’ in 1998, they told me girls will go to the movies about boys but boys will not go to the movies about girls. And I think that might have been true back then. But ‘Frozen’ changed all that. And I’m hoping if little boys can change, maybe big boys can change.” — Nancy Meyers
Nancy Meyers is a director, producer and screenwriter. Other than directing The Parent Trap, Meyers’ creativity spawned The Holiday and most recently The Intern, which was really good and I totally recommend it.
“It’s harder for women, because you’re not hanging out with your agent playing pickup basketball.” — Jamie Babbit
Jamie Babbit is a director, producer and screenwriter. She’s directed several television episodes from mega-popular series such as Malcolm in the Middle, Gilmore Girls and Nip/Tuck.
The issue of sexism in Hollywood was thrust in the spotlight ever since Sony Pictures was hacked. Documents and e-mails were leaked, exposing the gender pay inequality between actresses and actors in the movie American Hustle. Wages aside, the hack also revealed that all of Sony’s top executives were white men. A New York Times series was then written in January about the “plight of female directors.” After the third article in the series called the male:female director ratio “maybe illegal,” the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission began investigating the situation.
“I think it’s worse than 10 years ago, so we can’t even tell ourselves it’s slowly evolving.” — Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt is an actress, director and screenwriter. She starred in Pay It Forward, which I watched so many times in middle school that it would be wrong for me not to mention that film.
“I look forward to the day when I’m referred to as a D.P., not a female D.P., and the work is allowed to speak for itself.” — Rachel Morrison
Rachel Morrison is a cinematographer. D.P = Director of Photography. Remember when everyone thought Jennifer Aniston was going get an Oscar nomination for the film Cake? Well, Morrison was the D.P. for that project.
Right now, it’s just so much easier for a guy to make it big in the industry. Screenwriter and director Dee Rees said: “For buzzy first films by a white male, the trajectory is a 90-degree angle. For us, it’s a 30-degree angle.” Case in point: It took her 12 years to make two feature films. And I doubt she wasn’t working hard enough.
There was an emphasis on the need for women to assert themselves and demand equal pay and opportunity. Jennifer Lawrence, who starred in American Hustle and had her salary leaked in the Sony scandal recently wrote an “honest and open” piece about her previously weak negotiation skills.
As producer Cathy Schulman said to Dowd, “It’s called show business for a reason. … We have to teach women how not to be embarrassed about money.”
Dowd makes sure to note the many female-driven successes in the industry lately— ranging from “Bridesmaids” to “Hunger Games” to “Pitch Perfect 2” — but she adds that Hollywood “continues to treat those successes as anomalies.”
Other issues surrounded sexism in the industry focused on motherhood, women feeling afraid of women, and men being seen as “eccentric geniuses” for acting out while women just seem like “dragons.”
Overall, this was a fascinating look into the male-dominated TV & film industry through the perspectives of over 100 skilled women, some of whom have made it to the top despite the disparity and others who are honestly still struggling.
