Thursday, October 30, 2014
LA Agent to Producer: "I Don't Do Women Directors"
Women and Hollywood: While infuriating, sexist, and unjust, this sentiment really does not surprise me. Here's why: Women are not given the opportunities to direct the big-budget movies that generate large fees for agents. And agents' jobs are to make deals happen.
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Well, this article is really something, good to remember that there are a good amount of sexist bigots still up, about, and making a ton of money. What bothered me the most about this article actually was the last paragraph. The author of this article spends the majority of it shaming the agent who wrote this tweet and trying to make it clear that the producers did not share the same views on female directors. THEN at the end of the paragraph he basically negates any legitimacy of the producer by quoting him as saying, ‘well women don’t usually care as much about money as men do…’ to paraphrase. I think that shows the sexism of the producer, whether he has produced works by female directors or not. If that quote does not seem sexist to the men saying them, well that’s just stupidity. AT the same time I’m not surprised by any of this which is a real shame. We women have to keep working smarter and harder to prove what we should not have to prove; that we deserve job equality.
The title of this article automatically really caught my attention. It is a shame that there are people still in this industry who still think that male directors "get the job done" faster and more effectively than female directors. There are numerous female directors such as Kim Fields and Debbie Allen who have taken well know shows and taken them extremely far. In some cases, women do the job a lot better and more effectively than some male directors. Their point of view on things and artistic subjects bring new insight into themes that we are traditionally used to. We are in a day and age where things are moving rapidly and we need to change the traditional face of directors in America and across the world.
So why would you say this in the first place. Why would you ever say this. I do not feel you can say something like this and not believe it on some level. So yet again, WORDS are powerful and watch what you say. I just want to shake my head in disgust and walk way. Just want to walk way from this gentlemen. So to me this article just seems like another glass ceiling that women have to push through.
I also do not understand the last paragraph. What was the man trying to say, it just does not compute in my head. I just do not understand. Really just makes me doubt the quality of a man Charles Gillibert is.
You'd think people (especially agents involved in Hollywood) would think before they spoke in an age where anything and everything is placed on social media. As a woman about to break into the industry, this article reveals to me that in 2014 there are still misogynists at the top of the Hollywood pyramid waiting to shoot me down because my mind isn't geared toward profit. Perhaps it's because I would be more focused on making the film artistically successful. What a shocker, right?
I really wonder why some agents don't believe in female directors, especially when most of the 'big-buck' movies produced today are specifically aimed at pre-teen/teenage girls. I wonder what these people are thinking of when they think of blockbusters. Because, in my mind, the past few years' biggest hit movies have been "The Hunger Games" and "Twilight". Both movies series were aimed at pre-teen girls. Do agents think women can't direct something aimed toward their gender? I'm positively flabbergasted.
From a purely economical standpoint, I see what he was trying to say. I believe he statement is completely unfounded and ridiculous as well as sexist, but I believe it was not intended to be taken maliciously. He simply wants to make money and believes that female directors are more concerned with the product itself than the cash it will put in his pocket.
As a female directing student I am well aware of the difficulties that lay ahead. Many people will not take me seriously. I will be accused of being too emotional, or too young. I will be deemed incapable of leading or doing whatever it is someone else can do simply because I lack a penis.
This can't be disheartening to me, or I will never go anywhere and the world view of female directors will never change. This is a challenge. Challenge accepted.
Simply between this article and the anonymous comment left on the inflatable robot arm article (from a boycottamericanwomen.com. Really disgustingly offensive) It is clear that there is still a pretty huge problem with misogyny in this country. It's easy enough to give this LA agent the benefit of the doubt or pin it solely on economics, but how can that be true? He couldn't possibly believe that women are truly worse at directing and that is why they can't score the big budget films, which would mean the agent is aware of the corruption, yet s doing nothing to stop or improve it. Or perhaps he really does think women are less talented. If that is the case then I have no way to argue against such a stupid and ignorant mindset.
This article is a little hard to digest. On one hand, I understand that the agent wants to make money. On the other hand his comment was highly sexist and misogynistic and should not have been put on the internet. Sometimes it's shocking that for a society that has come so far in equality that we still have so far to go. I think more than anything, the agents comment is a reminder that in the workplace it can still be difficult for women to be treated fairly. I don't think this is an all-across-the-industry thing, but it is definitely something to be careful about.
I cannot believe how real this is, but I can't say I am surprised either. It just goes to show that we as women should never stop working towards equality and asking for no less. It would be silly to feel complacent in a world like this and with people like this feeling how they do. This comment from Mr. Gillibert is an honest and open comment and he said this with such conviction because he honestly believes it to be true. He doesn't feel the need to hide his feelings, however, because nobody is going to tamper with his success unless there is a industry-wide recognition of what is wrong with this mentality. While the argument against this will be strong, it is never going to be an industry-wide recognition because in the end, the men are in charge of being the money makers and the companies are not going to fight back against it. I normally have faith in the world and the humans in it, but until the companies stop caring about the money and start caring about the equality of its employees this will continue to be the industry standard. For now, we women need to continue to settle for nothing but equality and educate these men about what men about what it means to believe in equal rights between genders.
This is so stupid! You would never hear anyone in their right mind say anything like this about any group of people! You would never (well, hopefully!) see someone posting something that said "I don't do Black directors" or "I don't do Asian actors). People just don't get called out on sexism as much as they do for prejudice against other minorities. It is so ingrained in society that people don't notice it when someone says a sexist statement. Now this is an explicitly sexist post, but the fact that people are still having these views, and then publicly posting them is absolutely idiotic. I hardly know how to react to something like this because of how completely sexist and mind-boggling it is. I see posts and statements like this one, and I completely lose my faith that feminist ideals and efforts have had any sort of influence in our modern culture. It is outrageous how much women are still faced with sexism and discrediting in the work place and entertainment industry.
I actually had to read the comments on the original articles to form a strong opinion on the piece. First, yes the comment was sexist. Majorly so. This person sees women as not talented enough or focused enough to make the kind of money he'd like to see come out of the businesses. While this also points to the mans greed and shortsightedness, it was indeed a sexist statement. Secondly I feel I should applaud the tweeter for posing this without saying who the quote belongs too. Good for you for not seeking to start a scandal sir. And thirdly, this only speaks to the short comings of society that we are so willing to TALK about the issues and comment on the people who talk about the issues, but not actually deal with them. Come on people.
We live in society where it all about profit and sticking to the system that gives us the most profit. So it's sad to say but the big budget movies with their special effects and major leading roles won't matter when we look back in time because they are a waste of time. They lack the thing most women are associated for bringing to a movie, heart. This article basically points out how this stereotype of sexism still thrives in modern society and it's very sickening. To blatantly state that women are to wrapped up in the emotions and the art of the movie that what they create wont turn a profit is a horrible excuse to continue to let the man be the dominant gender in society. It's the standardization of the movies that come out every year that is causing profits to plummet because as a society we are tired of what is being produced for our entertainment. We want change and so if a women can bring on the change to what gets put on the big screen so be it.
Before even reading the article and just by seeing the title I was able to determine that this article would be filled with sexist comments and obscenities that are derogatory towards women. Upon reading it I discover that I was right, there's so much sexism involved in theater as a whole and sometimes that's good sometimes that's bad but in this case it's definitely aimed negatively. Contrary to the article, I have actually had better experiences with female directors and with males directors.
This makes sense. It’s not right, but it makes sense. The director is a pivotal member of the team, and they need to be someone who the creative team can respect and trust, who has a strong presence on set, and most importantly in Hollywood (or even small budget stuff) who can pull their weight against studio executives and impress and gain trust from potential financial backers.
In business as well as everyday life, women are second-guessed, doubted, overlooked in favor of their male counterparts and forced to advocate for themselves and their ideas more than men would have to. This is because of a history of thousands of years of women being treated as inferiors, and more recently because despite the advances made by the feminist movement, men are still given preferential treatment over women in most companies. A lot of people do this subconsciously, because of societal standards and institutionalized prejudice, but that doesn’t make it okay.
This is why women directors are not given the chances they deserve: people don’t want to “bet” money on putting someone in a leadership position when it’s likely that many members of the team will distrust and second-guess their leader because of the sexism that pervades so many aspects of our culture.
I want to make it clear that I’m not excusing that agent’s comment, but simply unpacking and explaining the completely illegitimate and discriminatory reasoning behind the comment. People, attitudes and standards need to change, and soon would be best.
Bravo to Charles Gillibert (who didn't actually SAY THIS people!) for putting the anonymous agent on blast. This article completely lost all credibility however, with its last paragraph. "Just another piece of the sexism puzzle for women directors to keep in mind." Really? That isn't something for the directors themselves to "keep in mind", many of whom aren't making enough money to BEGIN to turn down a project on the basis of its artistic integrity or whatever bullshit this agent is using to justify his misogyny.
Sexism isn't some mystical puzzle made up of magic and unicorns and gender roles. It's pretty simple. Society believes that men are worth more than women by virtue of the fact that they are men. That is sexism. That is real. In what way are the artists whom society already feels are second class citizens equipped to fight statements like this by "keeping it in mind?" I guarantee it is already very much on the mind of any female professional in this industry who wants to write, direct or produce. This isn't some unicorn opinion that has just been discovered...
The novelty isn't that some people feel this way. it's that the movers and the shakers in the industry feel comfortable enough to SAY IT OUT LOUD, and then, a liberal-leaning magazine trying to celebrate its gender-equality stance has, consciously or no, played along with the trope by placing responsibility for change on the victims. If this is what our supporters look like, we have very far to go indeed in the journey to equality.
From the moment I read the title of this article, I suddenly felt embarrassed and naive to have once believed that women have made immense progress in this industry. If true progress were being made in large strides, Agents would not feel comfortable producing this kind of message to other industry professionals, for it might tarnish their name and professionalism. However, agents do not seem to care whether or not they openly disrespect females in the business, specifically female directors in this instance. The LA Agent who made a blanket statement about all female directors exhibits such a backwards and archaic way of thinking. If this problem persists, it will only contribute to the vicious cycle of women not being considered for large feature films, which in turn further contributes to them making less and less money than that of male directors. I hope that Agents and other professionals in the industry begin to look at this situation through the eyes that see hope for a better and more equalized world, and not the eyes that merely see wealth in the form of dollar bills.
Abby Jackman
Cameron Knight
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