|
 "I got the request 'do you think we could change it? Maybe she
could be a kindergarten teacher,'" Rukeyser said at a recent
Producers Guild of America conference.
She resisted and she prevailed. Like her, an increasing number
of women in Hollywood, boosted by the #MeToo movement, are
starting to exert influence behind the TV camera and to break
on-screen stereotypes.
Nearly a year into the #MeToo movement, networks are mandating
women in the director's chair, studios are running mentoring
programs, and actresses are insisting on producing roles to have
more control, according to early evidence and interviews with
more than a dozen industry players.
"We are amplifying the voices that have never been allowed to
soar in our culture," said Melissa Silverstein, founder and
publisher of the Women and Hollywood blog. "That is going to
make our culture, our TV shows, our movies, better and stronger
and more relevant."
#MeToo and the Time's Up campaign emerged in response to
accusations of sexual harassment and abuse by powerful men in
Hollywood starting last October. But it also spotlighted the
lack of women shaping female characters and storylines.
To help change that, Susanne Daniels, global head of original
programming at Alphabet Inc's YouTube, told Reuters she requires
that all of the platform's original series employ some female
directors each season.
In the past, she had to fight, calling and demanding that
producers hire female directors, often meeting resistance. Since
the #MeToo movement began, they have been more receptive.
"I'm finding I have to fight a little less hard," she said.
Producers often argue that there are too few experienced female
directors to choose from. Comcast Corp's NBC moved to increase
the talent pool with "Female Forward," an initiative that lets
women shadow a director of an NBC show and direct at least one
episode.
There is early evidence that the gender diversity push is making
a difference. Fourteen of 42 drama show pilots ordered by
broadcast networks in the spring were directed by women, up from
just one last year, according to trade publication Deadline
Hollywood.
And producers are seeing interest in more complex female
characters, with writers relishing the freedom to depict women
outside stereotypes, said Nina Tassler, the former head of CBS
Entertainment who started a production company aimed at telling
stories from diverse voices.
"Having a great female villain is as interesting and as
important as having a heroine," she said.
[to top of second column] |
A LONG WAY TO GO
Still, consensus is that Hollywood has a long way to go.
In the 2016-17 TV season, women filled just 28 percent of
behind-the-scenes roles such as creators, directors, writers and
producers, according to San Diego State University's Center for the
Study of Women in Television and Film. Forty-two percent of speaking
roles were female.
Both figures are roughly unchanged from four years earlier. Full
data on the upcoming fall season are not yet available.
Actress Alison Brie, who stars on Netflix Inc comedy "Glow" about a
group of women wrestlers, said it is refreshing to work on a show
with two female showrunners, several female directors, and a cast of
diverse women and multi-dimensional characters.
But when she's not filming "Glow," the Golden Globe-nominated
actress finds the range of available roles disappointing.
"A lot of the characters I read are unflawed, really likeable gals,
with lots of gumption," Brie said at a Netflix event. "They really
want a man in their lives, and that's their biggest goal."
Brie said she is responding by joining future projects early in
development and asking to work as a producer, a role that typically
affords more creative input.
"In theory, it will empower me to make sure the characters I'm
playing are a bit more well-rounded and compelling," she said.
Rukeyser said Lifetime executives came to embrace her vision for the
feminist character on "Unreal." A Lifetime representative did not
respond to a request for comment.
She also told Reuters that she and others are promoting the social
media hashtag #ShowUsYourRoom, in a push to provide visual proof of
diversity in writers rooms.
Although too early to declare victory, she has seen the beginning of
change.
"I have pitched shows in the past where executives will say 'it's
too female,'" she said. "I don't know that any one of them would
have the guts to say that today."
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Bill Tarrant
and Marguerita Choy)
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