I almost missed the most intriguing story in the October 10
issue of Entertainment Weekly. The
cover drew my attention to Katy Sagal’s “Don’t you DARE!” look. Then, in the
foreground, I stared into the squint in Charlie Hunnam’s eyes and noted the smoke
from the flaming bottle in his hand that appears likely to singe the tattoo off
his arm at any minute. Only then did I notice the letters in large white type superimposed
on their bodies. “Sons of
Anarchy!” it read, with a large exclamation mark after it, although I’m still
not sure why it merited an exclamation mark. It took a second look before I saw
the teaser at the top of the magazine, in smaller white letters, “The Women who
Really Run Hollywood.”
Nicole Sperling, the writer of the story, proclaims that women
producers have been successful in Hollywood. The list of movies made by women
producers is impressive and includes some stars: Kathleen Kennedy, who learned
the business while working with Steven Spielberg, was nominated for an Oscar
eight times; Megan Ellison finances risky projects, like Zero Dark Thirty and American
Hustle; Darla K. Anderson is the highest grossing producer, on average,
among both men and women.
Proclaiming “success” at this point, however, might be
questionable. According to Sperling, although women represent only 18 percent
of producers in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, “since 1973,
65 Best Picture nominees have listed at least one woman as a credited
producer.” I did the math and that means that 28% of the movies nominated had a
woman producer. While this means that the percentage of nominations exceeds the
percentage of women in the business, it is still a dismal statistic. And the
numbers are even worse for cinematographers, writers, and directors.
This makes me wonder. What would happen if women stopped
paying for movies unless women were involved in the production of the film? That
would make the cover of Entertainment
Weekly. Our action could be labeled anarchy and that would indeed deserve
an exclamation mark!
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