Wondrous women
Director confronts gender problem in Hollywood by hiring all-female crew
When it comes to addressing the gender discrepancy in Hollywood, there’s been a lot of talk, but not a lot of action. Men still get hired for jobs, especially behind the camera, more frequently than women. In 2016, for example, only 17 per cent of directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors and cinematographers for the top 250 domestic grossing films were women.
When Zoe Lister-Jones decided to direct her first movie, Band Aid, she hired an all-female crew, from the cinematographer to the boom operator to the grip, because, as she says, “there’s something amazing that happens when women are alone together.”
In certain departments — lighting and electric, for example — some positions were a challenge to fill.
“It’s not because there aren’t a lot of women who have the skill set,” Lister-Jones said recently via phone. “It was more because even my female department heads were afraid to take a risk on someone who might not have as much experience as her male counterpart.”
Ah yes, the familiar catch-22: Women don’t have the experience to get hired, and since they never get hired, they can’t get the experience.
“I just knew that I had to push back against those fears,” she said.
There appears to be movement in a more equitable direction. Band Aid hits theatres just as Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman has become the highest grossing debut for a female director ever.
Band Aid, the small budget Sundance favourite stars Lister-Jones and Adam Pally as a married couple who find a unique solution to their constant fighting: They start a band, along with their neighbour (Fred Armisen), and turn their bickering into songs. The movie is charming and funny, but also poignant at times, especially when the story delves into the topic of miscarriage — a theme that doesn’t pop up much in movies, probably because of the people creating them.
That’s one benefit of diversifying the field of those telling the stories we see on screen. We get more authentic portrayals. Television has leapfrogged ahead of movies in this department, resulting in such acclaimed series as Transparent (Jill Soloway), Queen Sugar (Ava DuVernay) and Insecure (Issa Rae). Thanks to a diverse slate of writers and directors, there are more realistic depictions of what it’s like to be many different types of people, including a transgender woman and a black millennial. .
“I hope that when we include more female storytellers, we will have more of the women I recognize in my day-to-day life,” she said. “Ones that are proactive, have their own agency, don’t just react to the men around them. They have their own point of view.”
Does working on a movie where the entire crew is female feel different?
“Yeah,” Band Aid producer Natalia Anderson said. “There’s been many times where I’ve been on sets or in meetings or some form of interfacing about a project, and I’m either the only female or one of few in the room, and to be involved in something where that’s completely flipped and you’re only with other females who have had that same experience made it that much more special.”
Anderson said the atmosphere was collaborative and welcoming. “The beauty of women — and of course I’m speaking generally, there are exceptions to every rule — my experience at least is that there’s a consideration that goes into decision-making,” ListerJones said. “I think women tend to view the world with a lot of periphery in their viewpoint and kind of like to consider things and talk things through and so it felt like there was a really amazing lack of ego, which was something I’d never experienced before.”
There was also none of that unwarranted apologizing, a tic of the female worker that’s become a meme.
That doesn’t mean that differences between female and male filmmakers are always what you’d expect. During an interview for Meera Menon’s movie Equity, which was written and directed by women, actress and co-writer Alysia Reiner said gender has little bearing on a director’s temperament. Having worked with two high-profile directors, one male, one female, she said, “the man was more gentle and more traditionally feminine than the woman. So, isn’t that interesting?”
I hope that when we include more female storytellers, we will have more of the women I recognize in my day-to-day life.