Why I’m Team Effie
HBO’s Project Greenlight reminds viewers how difficult it is for women — and especially, women of color — to succeed in white, male-dominated Hollywood.
I’m watching the fourth season of Project Greenlight (HBO), a television series helmed by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck that gives first-time filmmakers an opportunity to direct a feature film. As a former film student, peeking behind the scenes of filmmaking interests me as does learning how much work goes into completing a movie.
But what I’m taking away from this season is less logistical and more political: the series has become a crystal clear reminder of just how difficult it is for women, and especially women of color, to work in white, male-dominated Hollywood. Even when a woman like Effie Brown, the producer of Project Greenlight’s movie this season, has proven herself to be a kick-ass, effective, and incredibly smart asset to any film, it’s still an uphill battle.
Though I can’t pretend to know what Effie Brown feels like — I’m a white woman and will never know the depth of her personal experience — I can and will be pissed-the-fuck off for her and all other women in the industry who can’t show their strength without being vilified.
On Project Greenlight, Effie Brown’s legitimacy as a producer is no match for the ingrained sexism of those around her, and this becomes painfully evident in at least one scene. Brown and Peter Farrelly, a well-known Hollywood writer/director/producer, partook in a short argument about their respective roles. Each expressed his/her opinion, the two disagreed, and the phone call ended.
The conflict itself was mostly irrelevant because it’s the kind of workplace conflict any two people might have: both parties expressed differing opinions, they were prickly, they moved on.
Except Peter Farrelly decided to quit the whole show, and chaos ensued.
The lack of respect for diversity foreshadowed in Episode 1 with Matt Damon’s off-color commentary bubbles back up. (If you didn’t see it, Damon, “schooled” Brown on how one doesn’t get diversity in filmmaking “in the casting of the show,” meaning Project Greenlight.) Damon has since apologized.
Here’s the thing: Effie Brown knows what’s up. She knows exactly how this is going to go down, because she’s highly perceptive to the biases embedded in people around her (white men), because she’s been dealing with this BS all her life, no doubt. This is why she brings up the importance of diverse director selection at the beginning, and this is why she tells Jeff Balis, another producer, she “will not be painted as the Angry Black Woman.”
Unfortunately, despite her protestations, that’s exactly what happens. And it’s bullshit. Brown can’t stop the overreaction train, which is so, almost satirically, overblown that it’s the focus of an entire episode! And it further illuminates the unfair disadvantage women of color (and women in general) have in a white male-dominated industry.
One might argue that anyone in Brown’s shoes would have received the same response from Project Greenlight’s cast. After all, she offended a “Hollywood big-timer.” But, objectively speaking, this is just not true and here’s why:
Project Greenlight revolves around building up, shepherding the ideas of, and bending over backwards for filmmaker Jason Mann — a pretentious, entitled, stubborn and opinionated white, male filmmaker. But it’s all gravy baby, because he’s got talent; he has balls. He’s stubborn and unmoving and annoying as hell, but, hey, that’s what it takes, right?
Even in his very first interview, when he enthusiastically expresses he doesn’t want to make the movie, Mann is rewarded by being able to make whatever movie he wants, on (the more expensive) film and back-patted along the way. He continues to disregard the needs of everyone else on the crew (even when those needs are for his benefit), and yet he still receives 100% support from all the higher-ups. Sure, there’s some shit-talking, but ultimately nobody wavers in his belief in Mann’s ability to do his job — because sticking to your guns is what makes you a visionary filmmaker.
(Unless you’re a black woman. And then sticking to your guns is just drama.)
Additionally, Peter Farrelly — again, a Hollywood professional who’s undoubtedly experienced larger conflict in his long, successful career directing Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something about Mary — is the one who quits. He can’t deal with a minor misunderstanding and simply won’t work with Brown anymore. Seriously?
Effie Brown notes in an interview Farrelly must have had another reason to leave. But frankly, who cares what his real reason is? He essentially let Brown take the fall for his exit, and the rest of the crew does too. Farrelly quits because in filmmaking you have to go with your gut, and if you’re not being treated the way you’d like to be treated, you have to do something.
(Unless you’re a black woman. And then it’s just conflict.)
Even the producers of Project Greenlight display their implicit biases in the editing room. Sure, it’s a reality show and they’re looking to build compelling narrative at every turn because viewers expect drama! But why does the drama around Brown feel so much more personal and penalizing than any other storyline?
When Jason Mann goes behind nearly everyone’s back to get what he wants, there’s not an entire episode to pick apart his process. When Farrelly quits, there’s no character examination around his motives and his legitimacy as a professional. Why? Because drama happens in filmmaking, but it’s all part of getting a great film made.
(Unless you’re a black woman. And then getting pissed off can call into question your years of professionalism.)
So, you could go ahead and say Brown is being treated like everyone else, but, I mean, come on. It’s grossly clear to anyone who’s enlightened enough to give a shit about equality for women and minorities that she’s not.
Project Greenlight might be boring without some “drama.” Producing a film on a small budget with a tight timeframe is a great incubator for conflict, so such is bound to happen. And I don’t even mind, from a viewer’s perspective, if the show’s editors take a little narrative freedom in post-production to craft a clearer story.
However, I do mind if this is all done at the expense of a (black) woman who is doing her job (damned well, at that) and communicating simply about her own professional boundaries.
Effie Brown admits she might have handled her conversation with Farrelly differently, maybe even in a more effective way. But she didn’t. And even though she was pointed and pissed in her exchange with Farrelly (is this a crime?), she doesn’t deserve to be the center of a ridiculously overblown subplot that, at its core, is really just about entitled white men being big fat babies.
Grow up, Hollywood. Wise up. Team Effie forever.
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