The New York Times Sunday Styles lead article was a decent piece on four female screenwriters who are taking Hollywood by storm--Lorene Scafaria, Diablo Cody, Dana Fox, and Liz Meriwether--all the while supporting, inspiring, and boosting one another. An excerpt:
You can find them at work in their Laurel Canyon homes in their pajamas, or sitting next to one another at laptop-friendly restaurants. To see them gathered amid the dinosaur topiary around Ms. Fox's swimming pool with their dogs (they all have dogs) is to see four distinct styles of glamour that bear little resemblance to traditional images of behind-the-scenes talent. Whenever one of them has a movie opening, they all rent a white limousine and go from theater to theater to watch the first audiences react."We're usually drunk by the third theater," Ms. Cody said. "It's super porno and tacky, and we love doing it."
It sounds like fun and games -- the boozy, all-woman answer to those close-knit gangs of Hollywood boy-men captured on screen in "Entourage" and embodied by the real-life Apatown, the industry moniker for filmmaker Judd Apatow's coterie of actors and screenwriters including Paul Rudd, Jason Segel and Seth Rogen. But these women also work hard: Ms. Cody, Ms. Fox and Ms. Scafaria can command seven figures to write a movie that makes it into theaters with big stars. Ms. Meriwether (the others call her "the freshman") is on her way to joining them. That's no small achievement when you consider that among the screenwriters who are in steady demand for major projects, only about 20 are women. Don't even try to credit their bankability to their looks.
There are a lot of exciting things about these four women, who have given us solid (though flawed) films and television with a feminist sensibility: Juno, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist,The United States of Tara, and lots of upcoming projects that I look forward to seeing. At a time when it seems like testosterone poisoned action flicks and sticky sweet, unoriginal romcoms are the movies that get the money, it's critical that screenwriters like these get interesting, complex female characters onto the big screen.
But what's even more thrilling is that they're unapologetically supportive of one another and being recognized for it. Young women in their position are often pitted against one another, deluged with a psychology of deprivation by agents, producers, and mentors who urge them to look out for themselves, first and foremost, in the competitive LA landscape where there are very few spots for women writers. These women are bucking the conventional wisdom of dog-eat-dog and banding together to share the wealth, the networks, and yes, the alcohol.
What would make it ever more thrilling would be if they weren't all white and/or if they managed to claim their feminism more openly. It's clear that they're all down for the cause, so it would be even more lovely to hear them assert that far and wide, and make sure its reflected even more resolutely in their work.
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Yes, this is awesome. I think a lot of people neglect to realize just how male-dominated film is. It never hit me until I took a film studies class and was the only female in a class of around 27. Not that the class represents the industry, but the situation is comparable.
I've worked n the food industry, the fitness industry, theatre and film
film is the most sexist industry have ever worked in. I am not in the make-up, hair or wardrobe dept. and I am not an assistant. I work in a male dominated part of the field and it is a TRIP back to 1958-
very Mad Men like.
ANYWAY
I'm glad these women are getting their work made and getting some recognition.
It's good that they are all young and pretty by Hollywood standards in an "artsy" categorized way-
or we would not see this article and others like t.
in other words-
thank goodness they are so darn marketable.
I LOVE the Fempire! check out Women and Hollywood's thoughts on the article:
http://womenandhollywood.com/2009/03/the-fempire-women-supporting-women/
I couldn't help but chuckle at this comment: "What would make it ever more thrilling would be if they weren't all white..." Last I knew, people were born with the skin they're in. ;)
I don't think that's quite what she meant. What she was getting at, I think, was that it'd be nice if there were more women of color featured as prominent directors.
Wow @ you missing the point.
I was excited to see the article, although I do think the number of references to their appearances was a little absurd. The reporter writes that the women find themselves under considerable pressure to be photogenic, and no wonder -- how many times were their clothing and looks mentioned in this article alone? ("A thinking man's Scarlett Johansson," really?!)
All that aside, I was excited to see the article and I'm glad Feministing covered it. In response to the last paragraph, it's worth noting that in Diablo Cody's EW column this week, she refers to herself as a feminist. (Granted the column is about her love for the VH1 reality show "Rock of Love," but then, we all have our un-feminist guilty pleasures now don't we?)
and wouldn't it be awesome if even one of them was over 35.
And wouldn't it be awesome if when their projects were made, more than 16 out of the 150 or so crew members were female. You know that would mean more than assistants and make/up, hair and wardrobe depts.
maybe more female directors, AD's DPs, etc...
I female crew member can dream....
"What would make it ever more thrilling would be if they weren't all white and/or if they managed to claim their feminism more openly."
Mahahahahah! Too bad for those women and their damn white skin color. They're good but WOULD BE BETTER if they were, Asian, African American, you know, something else. (I know what you're trying to say, but the wording doesn't sit well with me.)
I applaud them for what they did, and if anyone else comes on the scene that's 50, more than a size 10, black, white, purple, openly feminist, non-feminist, whatever, I'll applaud them too for their artistic efforts. I won't complain that the aforementioned women are or aren't any of these things, but applaud that they've done it in a male-dominated world.
noone is saying these women shouldn't be applauded. But we need to remember that true equality for women can never be achieved if only white women are the faces of success. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that while still being excited for those that have succeeded so far.
What bugs me is that it almost makes it sound that the acheivements of these women would be overshadowed if there were minorities in the mix. Because they're "majority" and probably "priveleged."
If I identified as a radical feminist and I always had to keep these thoughts in my mind, I wouldn't get anywhere, because I'd have people telling me that I'm still half-white and MORE priveleged, and that it's great that I broke through in politics, now too bad that I'm not ACTUALLY a feminist, and I'm only there because the "patriarchy permitted me"...and that my parents happened to be mid-upper class...I understand promoting female equality across the board, but gosh, way to bring down the accomplishments of these women with that sentence.
White women will always be awarded with a "congrats for your efforts, but..." And that's a shame, regardless of skin color, political affiliation, etc.
ahh- sorry for the spelling mistakes! Typing before I run to class isn't a good idea.
I guess I don't understand how their achievements would be overshadowed if there other women. All Courtney did was say: This is awesome, this is how it could be more awesome.
Obviously we want equality for all women and we also want women in power and who are being rewarded for their success to also have feminist cred. What good would it be too women if all of the female directors put out sexist crap movies. Just like we can be proud that women like Sarah Paline can govern but not forget that just because she is a woman doesn't mean she's going to be good FOR women. I don't know. I just don't understand why we can't mention that success is great and still make sure people understand how far we still have to go without it being seen as diminishing those who have succeeded.
I guess I don't understand how their achievements would be overshadowed if there other women. All Courtney did was say: This is awesome, this is how it could be more awesome.
Obviously we want equality for all women and we also want women in power and who are being rewarded for their success to also have feminist cred. What good would it be too women if all of the female directors put out sexist crap movies. Just like we can be proud that women like Sarah Paline can govern but not forget that just because she is a woman doesn't mean she's going to be good FOR women. I don't know. I just don't understand why we can't mention that success is great and still make sure people understand how far we still have to go without it being seen as diminishing those who have succeeded.
Without commenting on my opinions on the original statement (because I'm not really sure to be honest, though I agree that it wasn't worded in the best way)...
I also am half white, and you sound a lot like me before I came to terms with the concept of privilege. I'm not sure if I'm to take from the quote marks that you don't believe it exists, but I know I railed against the idea with similar arguments: being white doesn't make me a bad person, white women are still oppressed, etc etc etc.
It took me a while to realize two things: one, that the parts of white privilege that I DO have a 50% share in don't mean I'm a bad person or spoiled... just that I have to take other people's situations into account and not make senseless comments like "it's easy to...", "why can't they just...", "when I was there, people never...", etc. And two, that there are many many aspects of white privilege that I do NOT share in, and therefore was wasting my energy defending. It's not absolute; you can be privileged in some ways and oppressed in others. (In fact, that's how it is for most people, I think.)
Depending on what your other ethnicity is (I'm Japanese), your mileage may vary, but it's food for thought, anyway. Sorry for the OT comment.
I definitely do believe that privilege exists....what my point about this is that a white woman, in many ways, cannot win. Her accomplishments always have to end with a, like I said, "congrats, but..." As if it is HER fault that she is white, and that her white accomplishments will be overshadowed by accomplishments by minorities, because of a position she may have largely been born into.
Does this specific female community of screenwriters NEED to incorporate someone of a different race to make sense, to be somehow better, more thrilling? What if the personalities don't get along with a certain screenwriter who happens to be Hispanic (I am just being hypothetical here)? Where does equality stop and tokenism begin?
Like I said, I understand the sentiment, but I think we're walking on thin ice with the wording sometimes.
Diablo Cody has openly called herself a feminist in an interview with BUST magazine.
"It's clear that they're all down for the cause, so it would be even more lovely to hear them assert that far and wide, and make sure its reflected even more resolutely in their work."
Does their work need to be politically "on-message" to foster and encourage feminism? I think it would be just as powerful if they weren't defined in their work as women, but as great screen-writers who happen to be women/feminists.
Incidentally, the Lord of the Rings screenplays were written by two women along with the (male) director.
"What would make it ever more thrilling would be if they weren't all white and/or if they managed to claim their feminism more openly."
Ugh. As a "ethnic" (Chicana) woman I'm annoyed to the tenth power about THAT sentence. I understand that you're rooting for the "ethnic" crowd, but by presenting that commentary- you're really just pointing out that we haven't broken into that league. You're not proposing to do research to find these "non-white" women and promote them. You're just... mentioning that they're not being promoted.
And I'm offended on behalf of white women screenwriters. As if the color of their skin and the level of their comfort self identifying as a feminist should have ANYTHING to do with their level of success.
You know what's super thrilling? That anyone would have talent of this degree, and that four women have maintained this talent worthy of nothing but praise.
I'm offended too (as an Indian Muslim playwright/screenwriter). There are many successful female directors/screenwriters of color (Gurinder Chadha, Mira Nair, Deepa Mehta), but that's another day for another article. The focus here is on the FEMPIRE, period.
Perhaps I didn't make myself very clear.
I would love to see young women writers, producers, directors creating alliances across ethnic and cultural lines. I recognize that there are great women filmmakers of color, and I hope they too are creating communities to support one another, but I would also love to see some of these "fempires" cross racial boundaries. Is that still offensive?
As if the color of their skin and the level of their comfort self identifying as a feminist should have ANYTHING to do with their level of success.
But, it does. It always does.
I wrote about the article last night (http://www.btchflcks.com/2009/03/big-wtf-to-nyt.html), and am deeply disappointed by it. Perhaps we should be grateful for the crumbs thrown to us by the Fashion & Style section, but I can't get past the way the writer objectified these talented and powerful women. When an improved version of this story shows up in the Film section, I'll be happy.
I know, I'm VERY OFFENDED that this article was put under Fashion/Style. I checked another article from last year about a L.A female screenwriting duo and it was filed under Movies/Art. WTF?
It sounds like Courtney's never heard of a little thing called Photoshop! Bam! There's Kasi Lemmons instead of Diablo Cody!
WAIT A MINUTE! Why isn't anyone talking about how insulting this article was? I couldn't get past the first few paragraphs of titillating glimpses of Cody's thighs and descriptions of what they were wearing and how they were sitting. "Oh! Sexy women-- AND they make movies!" This was just obnoxious.
Pinkpicnic, I am stunned that I had to read through dozens of comments to find yours (which I wholeheartedly agree with).
I do not consider a female writer who gushingly embraces patriarchal objectification - because of her subjects' blessed good looks - to be any kind of a feminist revelation.
I don't know... just because Diablo Cody is a woman doesn't mean I don't reserve the right to think that "Juno" was a God-awful, smug, cliche little hipster movie.
Not least of all, its portrayal of the women's clinic, I felt, provided a sad message to teenage girls.
Despite what reservations the feministing community may have about "Juno" (I think there's a very valid point in the "if she got an abortion, there wouldn't be a movie" argument), I've really been admiring the way Cody and her writers have treated the women and homosexuality on "The United States of Tara" thus far, avoiding the cliche character traits and plot mechanisms that usually go along with what usually passes on tv shows. Tara's son in the show, Marshall, is gay and it isn't even refered to directly in the show for a few episodes because it's not the only thing that defines his character, as it would be on many other shows. What's established first are his interests, and the way he's affected by his mother's dissociative identity disorder. Once it is apperant he's homosexual, the only discussion about it is the same kind of discussion you usually see between parents and sons in tv if he were heterosexual.
There are flaws in the article, and heaven knows there are flaws in the entertainment industry - But I just love that the article, despite all of this, still managed to be about four friends who've come together to support each other in this way. It really spoke to me, because as an aspiring director in L.A. I've found that my "Fempire" has been one of the most important things to my - painfully slow - progress towards success.
I believe that many of us have Fempires! And I bet our fempires come in all types. I "Flashed my Fempire" today on my blog, and I hoping that other people will, too.
http://everydaygoddess.typepad.com/everyday_goddess/2009/03/flash-your-fempire.html