As a member of an awesome listserve for women in the film and TV industries, I originally wrote the below as a response to a heated email chain regarding Colin Trevorrow’s recent comments about female filmmakers’ opportunities in Hollywood. I have made a few minor edits from the original email.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Men in power are way more likely to take a chance on another man because he is familiar. Trevorrow made the leap from Safety Not Guaranteed to Jurassic World 2 because Brad Bird, director of Tomorrowland, suggested his mentee Trevorrow saying “there’s this guy that reminds me of me”. You guys, Brad Bird’s feeling, his instinct about Trevorrow is what brought him into the room with Spielberg and Universal. From there he obviously had to pitch, work and earn that job, but that initial opportunity was driven by a hunch. When an established male director looks at me, even if we have the same artistic sensibility, they are rarely gonna think, “Huh, you know that woman Anna, she reminds me a lot of me.”
Lena Dunham would not have had the artistic freedom she has on Girls, if it wasn’t for Judd Apatow vouching for her. She had a blind script deal at HBO already, yes, but I personally know and know of, a number of indie filmmakers, male and female, who’ve had that deal and nothing happens. How did Apatow even hear about Dunham? Because his trusted bro, David Carr (RIP), a champion of Tiny Furniture and Dunham, recommended her to him. Apparently Carr thought that Apatow had a “woman problem” and an alliance with a female artist would also be beneficial to his public perception. (Yes. I realize I am totally citing a Gawker article.)
Obviously Dunham had the chops. But she probably wouldn’t have advanced as far as she has as quickly as she has, without the initial help of an established veteran. And let’s face it: most established vets of this industry are dudes.
Rather than attack these bros, I wonder if there’s a proactive opportunity we can put out there to established men in the industry: a big ASK. Women are always asking other women for help, why aren’t we ASKING MEN in a public way? Why aren’t we creating a structured call to men in the industry, big directors and producers whose work we admire, to mentor women? These guys have mothers, daughters, wives, and sisters – I doubt they’re rubbing their hands together and laughing maniacally as they plot ways to block women from opportunities. In most cases, the impetus to align themselves with a female artist just doesn’t come naturally.
*photo courtesy of Dollar Photo Club