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Thursday, October 15, 2020
The Success of Margot Robbie's Screenwriting Lab Is Just the Beginning
Collider: It’s a feat worth popping the champagne for: All six female-identifying screenwriters who participated in the screenwriting lab co-founded by Margot Robbie have sold their scripts. That’s five feature films and one television series from a group of experienced female screenwriters graduating from the inaugural lab and making an impact in an otherwise tumultuous year in movies.
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6 comments:
I think that what Margot Robbie has accomplished is pretty impressive. Even with her status and recruiting other similarly known artists it is still difficult to get around the industry as a woman. It relies so heavily upon the connections that are made and who you know. Margot Robbie using her status to uplift the voices of newcomers makes me feel hopeful for the stories we may hear in the future. Specifically in film, I have been noticing a more and more prevalent pattern of the same tropes being used in the same ways creating an overall sense of monotony. However thanks to the efforts made here, and I am sure but many others, perhaps these new voices will be heard creating a more diverse storytelling. If there is something I advocate for is diversity behind the table, since ultimately they are the ones making the final calls. So making these strides of making a more varied creative force will, again, be hopefully noticeable in years to come
Ah!! So many people on my Twitter timeline were talking about this during this past week. This is truly wonderful to see: a truly forthright effort to get more female-identifying writers into Hollywood, and then actually get them on screen. Margot Robbie is an incredibly talented and versatile performer and artist, and it is so encouraging to see her using her platform and connections to help support other women. I am even more pleased to see that they were all picked up by major production companies, and that the genres the pieces were in are typically male-dominated. They also all just sound totally badass, so I am excited to see them on screen one day. And going forward, it will be interesting to see what other writers and pieces come out of the Lucky Exports Pitch Program. I hope Margot Robbie continues to push this forward, because it could really make an impact in redefining the position of a screenwriter in Hollywood.
This is exciting news. I really enjoyed Birds of Prey, and I think Christina Hodson did a fantastic job of making the team-up superhero movie which has had a few recent iterations feel fresh and interesting, with each character getting a unique personality and time on screen without being too much of a hot mess. If Hodson is responsible for these six screenwriters and their new work, then I have no doubt they will all be fantastic projects. The article also speaks to the fact that all the projects are very action oriented and in what are typically though of it as masculine genres. I think Birds of Prey did a great job of setting some action scenes that were excellent spectacle, without worrying too much of the story, and had the right amount of self-awareness for a superhero action movie. Hopefully, that has been imparted on these projects, they will be groundbreaking work, and the screenwriters can really bust down that any genre should be male-driven.
This is so exciting to hear!! I love hearing about new projects- especially ones that are not entirely white male dominated in the entertainment industry. Every script got a deal and is in development of some kind; I truly cannot wait to see what comes of all of these. Seeing actual efforts to bring new artists into the industry- specifically the prominent companies- is really good. I look forward to seeing what else the Lucky Exports Pitch Program does in the future; Margot Robbie’s ability to use her own power and resources to uplift others talents and artistry is amazing. I think we need to start seeing more of this, and putting a conscious effort into uplifting more artists. So often we see the entertainment industry dominated by white men and the same “classic” stories; this has to change, and that change starts with programs like this.
After the last article I read about underrepresented playwrights and their experiences in the entertainment industry, this is a great bit of news! I said in my last comment that the “gatekeepers” of the industry need to be more diverse, because right now they are not giving underrepresented or young people chances for their work to be produced. I love that Margot saw that issue and found a way to help. I am so excited to see how The stories we see in theater, movies and television will change as we let people with great new perspectives and experiences take over. It’s going to be a whole new world, and one not filtered by old white men. This makes me hopeful for my future as well, hopefully people will be more likely to take a chance on young creators because at the end of the day, great ideas and creative talent are more important to create good art than “experience.” I hope other celebrities follow her example as use their platform to uplift those talented, underrepresented creators.
This is really amazing! I have really enjoyed Margot Robbie’s works as an actress, producer, etc. I had no clue that behind many of these works was this lab and that Margot Robbie had been working as a head over all of this in the way in which she has been. It is truly amazing and worth commending over. More importantly, it is worth commending how Margot Robbie has used her ability and talent to bring out female screenwriters and I am sure many other female voices, talents, and expertise to the industry along the way. Clearly, based on how well these movies have been doing, it was an important step and a step that shows just how valid and powerful these voices really are not only to the quality of the movies, but to the industry as a whole. Hopefully, this sparks something much greater and brings forth many, many more talents to the industry.
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