Anything Goes : Fascinating Infographic - Women In Film by CJ Walley

No thoughts, feelings or experiences with this? Read some forum posts agreeing and disagreeing with the picture this paints on other forums.

I've been reading scripts for a contest recently - putting aside all other judgement of quality, most of them place women only in secondary or minor roles...plus an alarming number of them are downright sexist and misogynist, with all female characters being strippers, sluts, objects or possessions of some sort…it's horrifying, partly because it often doesn't seem intentional on the part of the writer; this is just the kind of thing they're used to in movies. But as writers, we can lead by example. We have the power to change everything.

First of all, I have to ask, how many women in the first place actually want to work in film? What's the percentage of that? Second of all, it does seem that currently there is a gender bias in Hollywood. Perhaps that's one of the main reasons some women don't want to work in film in the first place. Thirdly, I do agree that there needs to be stronger female roles, and writers can influence that. However, I have to ask, how likely is the current Hollywood to want to make those movies? Perhaps, the route to go would be indie films, if an indie film with females portrayed as equals to the male characters does well, perhaps it would show Hollywood that a movie like that can succeed at the box office. Because, at the end of the day, that's all Hollywood cares about, how much money a film will make. They don't want to spend money on a film that they don't think will do well. Fourthly, I am currently a film student. The majority of my classmates are male. The school doesn't seem to like this very much, since they have a scholarship that only women can get. That is something I do not agree with. That is not about equality, since it shows favoritism to a gender. It's just as sexist as if they gave a scholarship just because you are male. You can't have it both ways. I think people, in general, should be encouraged to pursue whatever career they want to, and scholarships are a good way to do that. However, they should not be based on whether or not someone was born with a pair of breasts, or a penis, they should be based on merit and/or need. Is this person most likely to actually pursue their dream career with everything they have, and learn everything they can, to make giving them the scholarship worthwhile? Then they should get the scholarship. Lastly, the same policy that I would have for scholarships goes for whether or not I would hire someone. I would not hire someone based on just their gender. I would hire someone based on their skills, what they can bring to the production, to make it better. If a woman wasn't as skilled as a man also going for the same job, then I would hire the male. If a man wasn't as skilled as a woman going for the same job, then I would hire the female. I would not give anyone a 'Break' based just on what gender they are. But, skill isn't the only factor in hiring someone. Is this person easy to work with? Does their personality mesh well with the team I already have? Depending on those other factors, I might hire someone who is less skilled, then someone who is more skilled, because of how I think they will fit with the rest of the team. Now, the questions is, how many truly skilled women in the film industry are there now? If I hired just based on skill, and how well they fit with the rest of the team, would I end up with a team that has some balance between male and female, or would I end up with one that's mostly male? Or, perhaps, mostly female?

I looked at the breakdown of directors who've contacted me to read my shorts, it's about 1/3 female. That's for shorts which feature female leads too. Eden Sher wrote a very interesting article about how so few of her female work-friends aspire to be directors, while almost all her male colleagues do, Something we have to appreciate is that HW is only trying to serve what the marketplace wants. If it's perceived audiences don't like female leads and don't like strong female characters, then it's going to choose profit over trying to change culture.