Sunset Boulevard: Women in Film

Variety did a great special section on this topic about a month ago, and it’s been in the back of my mind ever since so I thought I’d bring the issue up here on Gather.

In the early years of film, women were a major force. Mary Pickford co-founded the first great director-friendly studio, United Artists, which continues today – now headed by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner (after Paramount kicked them out of their studio deal). Then, somewhere along the line – i.e. during the era of the studio system – they all but disappeared from behind the scenes action. There were still famous women actors, but even they were bound by studio contracts. Since then, we’ve never really recovered.

Now I am a huge feminist, but I am also not one to bemoan the unfair situation we’re all in. I have been incredibly lucky in my career so far, and I don’t think it has anything to do with me being a woman. I don’t think it would have been different had I been a man. I think in many places, luckily, merit takes precedence over gender. But that doesn’t change the fact that the movie industry is still mostly a man’s world and that no female director has ever won an Oscar. The Academy has given out 79 Best Director awards. Not one of these has been given to a woman.

The answer to the obvious question ‘why?’ is murky. It lies somewhere in the middle of ‘there aren’t any women directors’ and ‘women directors are overlooked because of their gender.’ There are some great women directors; Susanne Bier (After the Wedding), for example, or the late Adrienne Shelley (Waitress). Even in comedy, so long a male-dominated genre, women like Tina Fey (Mean Girls, 30 Rock) set new boundaries every day. But they are few and far between.

The article that ran in Variety focused, though, on how things are changing for the better. This is most apparent in the executive ranks. Powerful women producers and executives are becoming so accomplished that questioning the existence of sexism in the film industry seems almost silly. Stacey Snider runs Steven Spielberg’s studio, Dreamworks. Donna Langley runs Universal. Paula Wagner runs United Artists. Some might say, then, that women have already become empowered and that the awards and accolades will soon catch up.

What I find most interesting is the community that women have created within the industry. Powerful women in all jobs have created organizations to foster community, to set up mentorships, and to encourage young women to dream big and have confidence in themselves. A variety of these organizations exist like Women in Film for women of all ages working in the industry, and WriteGirl, for young girls interested in telling stories.

These organizations, and the powerful women behind them are making huge strides in a world that unfortunately, still has work to be done. Gina Davis formed a nonprofit organization called See Jane that works on reducing gender stereotyping in young children. Ever watched a Disney show lately? If you have, you might have notice that the ratio of boy to girl characters in children’s programming has been 4 to 1 for more than ten years. Davis says, “If boys aren’t seeing boys and girls sharing the sandbox, if they aren’t seeing that girls take up half the space in the world, we’re going to continue to not make progress.”

Perhaps this is where the answer lies. It takes a certain amount of empowered women at the top to change the situation from the bottom up – to change how kids see themselves in the world, and to raise a generation that’s more gender blind. This gives women hope – for now and for the future.

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Alex M., Movie Correspondent

Alex's column, Sunset Boulevard, published every Friday to Gather Essentials: Movies, is a weekly summary of the movie industry's biggest stories.

Alex is a film school grad working at a production company in Hollywood. She's been passionate about movies since she knew what they were and always has an opinion (for better or worse).

You can find all of Alex's Sunset Boulevard columns at gather.com/SunsetBoulevard

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