‘First Match’ offers a case study in inclusion
What does a movie look like when filmmakers use the “inclusion rider” that has become a Hollywood buzzword of late?
Exhibit A: First Match, the film festival hit now streaming on Netflix.
“Apparently we did have an inclusion rider, but we didn’t know that was the term,” first-time writer/director Olivia Newman says. Her coming-of-age drama is about a teenage girl, Monique (played by Elvire Emanuelle), who joins the all-boys’ wrestling team as a way to connect with her father.
Inclusion riders, which entered public discourse after Frances McDormand’s pointed Oscar speech this year, refer to contractual requirements that a production’s cast and crew be diverse and representative. In recent weeks, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Michael B. Jordan and Paul Feig have announced they’re formally adopting inclusion riders in projects going forward.
But Newman, a self-described “bigtime feminist,” was ahead of the curve. The filmmaker has a degree in feminist studies from Vassar, volunteered at the Créteil International Women’s Film Festival in Paris, worked for film distributor Women Make Movies and earned her master’s degree in screenwriting and directing at Columbia.
“I know how important it is to offer opportunities to women,” she says.
So for First Match, Newman and her producers required that there be an equal number of men and women on any list of potential hires. “It’s not as easy as it sounds, because there’s less women working in all roles in film, so you have to dig a little deeper,” she says.
She wound up with a crew made up of 60% women, who filled roles including production designer, editor, costume designer and cinematographer.
“It was crucial to me that I hire a female (cinematographer), because this is a really intimate story about a young woman, with so many complex emotions,” Newman says. This year, Mudbound’s Rachel Morrison became the first Oscar-nominated female cinematographer.
“In the end, I ended up with the best crew possible, regardless of gender,” Newman says. “I just want to shine a light on women’s stories, and I want to portray women in all of their complexities and nuance.”