We talk about this issue on this site all the time, but I love it when a woman in Hollywood gets down and dirty about how Hollywood treats women.
I love it even more when that woman is Nia Vardalos the keeper of one of the highest grossing romantic comedy of all time — My Big Fat Greek Wedding. She is also in an elite club, her film was in the top 10 in 2002.
She has been everywhere pushing her return to Greece film My Life in Ruins. My Life in Ruins is a bit like Mamma Mia, light romantic comedy that stars women with gorgeous scenery and a vibrant star.
But, it’s not a big budget action flick with commercials everywhere and opened last weekend on just 1,164 screens compared with 3,269 for The Hangover and 3,521 for Land of the Lost which has already been declared a flop.
But it still managed to make the top ten bringing in over $3,233,ooo at the box office.
The thing that we have been discussing on this site was whether the success of Sex and the City and Mamma Mia would change how Hollywood thinks about women. The bad news from Nia is that these successes have done NOTHING to convince Hollywood that women are a market.
Here’s what she writes:
Lately, I’ve been in meetings regarding a new script idea I have. A studio executive asked me to change the female lead to a male, because… “women don’t go to movies.”
Really?
When I pointed out the box office successes of Sex and The City, Mamma Mia, and Obsessed, he called them “flukes.” He said “don’t quote me on this.” So, I’m telling everybody.
This is such blatant sexism and the only way its going to change is for people — women and men — to show that they want to see movies about women. (I have been trying to get the gender breakdown for 2008 in terms of ticket sales but the MPAA is skipping 2008 and will next release data at the end of 2009. I anyone has gender breakdown numbers, please send them my way.)
So give Nia your support and get off your ass out and see her flick. She’s standing up for you and we need to have her back.
“Women Don’t Go to Movies” — Huh? (Huffington Post)
Sitting down with Nia Vardalos (Variety)
Nia Vardalos Gets It Done … and Then Some (wowOwow)
it makes me so angry when they refuse to acknowledge that females are huge audiences. Hello, WTF? Females make up half of the population. If those douche-bags would pull their heads out of the ground, they would see that they can make a LOT of money if they make female-positive films geared for female audiences.
I’m angry that the success of SATC and Twilight have taught those studio executives NOTHING.
Nia Vardolos is great. I want to see more of her works. I’m proud of her. While we’re on this topic, let’s not forget how Bend it Like Beckham was also in the Top 10 a few years ago, written and directed by a woman (Gurinder Chadha), with a female positive storyline, too.
It’s going to be this way as long as men are in power positions in Hollywood. Move over boys, let a WOMAN do the job right!
Females actually make up MORE than half of the population, and I’m sorry–I do NOT buy that women don’t go to the movies. I’m fairly certain MOST people that go to the movies are going on dates or with significant others. Women DO go to the movies, they just don’t necessarily go very often without MEN…which is the problem. MEN are the ones that won’t go see movies with female leads, not women.
My friend and I recently went to see State of Play (very good movie) and afterward there were people standing outside trying to get us to see an advanced screening of that Julia Child movie Julie and Julia starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. They also were giving out tickets to an advanced screening of The Proposal. I’m male–my friend was female, and the woman was trying to push The Proposal on us even though we were interested in Julie & Julia. My friend said, “Well actually I want to see the Meryl Streep movie.” So the woman goes, “Oh, okay. Here you go.” Then turns to me, “You probably won’t be interested in this movie. It’s about women.”
THIS IS SOMEONE WHO’S SUPPOSED TO BE PROMOTING THIS MOVIE!!!
There’s a pervasive idea in our society, that men being interested in stories about women is somehow degrading or slumming. I just wrote an entire 20 page thesis about this because it’s pissing me off. I’m an aspiring screenwriter myself, and because I mostly relate to women best–my protagonists are often women. But it bugs me that many times I’ve considered changing them to male characters or downplaying the women because it means I’ll have more of a chance of my script getting anyone’s attention.
*sigh* To respond directly to Nia’s comment. The problem is NOT that women aren’t going to the movies. The problem is MEN don’t want to see their movies.
AHHHH, I’m so excited that I found your blog today! There are so many wonderful, amazing things on here and I’m just so thrilled that I came across it. Love, love, love it!
Driving through Hollywood this weekend and shot photos of all the billboards advertising movies. Every single billboard, I kid you not, was men only: Hangover, Up, Land of the Lost, Taking of Pelham, Imagine That, Year One. I thought, “Why would I waste my money?” Why would you even drive a female child through this gauntlet?
All of the billboards for animation movies are about lead male characters too. Even animated characters who have, really, no sex, are identified as boys. Girls must have a dress and have long eye lashes. Women lead movies are all about having a baby or getting married. Nothing else is interesting about us, apparently. There is no compelling story that a man would be interested in, and they get dragged to the movie. Although, there was a high number of men that went to sex in the city and to see Tomb Raider and even, Silence of the Lambs. Films with women leds where they don’t get raped or have no reason to exist except as girlfriend, mother, wife can compell men to go to them.
But I work in the software business, some gaming, and I promise you, this is all about a few guys sitting around and deciding what’s cool and it is done on man crushes, where they throw out ideas that please the alpha dog only and they one up one another like it’s a frat meeting. This is not even coldly about the money, it’s about pleasing their man crushes. In the past, feminists were upset about exclusive men’s clubs, like golfing clubs and some women now think, what’s the big deal? You don’t want to be strident about demanding. Yet, this is where deals and alliances are made, and men know it. That cluster of guys who go for drinks and shut out the woman production worker is more of a problem for her career than she may realize.
They lock women out of the decision making, and, in animation, there are few to none women animators. Women need to get right in there in the creative seats and the deal-making seats in power roles and more to risk “unlikablility.” Young women like Drew Barrymore have their own production companies, which is the way to courageously go. There needs to be a microloan and capital program to women projects online. Perhaps this blog could actually form some ventures.
I’ve been reading a conversation about women as leads in http://kidinthefrontrow.blogspot.com/. And struggling a little because as a screenwriter who’s just finished a script about women who want to make movies of course I think The Kid is wrong, but there’s also a little truth hidden in there somewhere. Is it only about who makes decisions about which films get made, and mistaken beliefs about women as audiences? Or is there also something else going on, some mix of nature and nurture that is useful to think about? (Thinking here about recent research into fairy tales from many cultures by Gottschall—an academic interested in evolutionary literary theory. He found that an under-representation (3:1) of prominent female folk-tale characters is the rule across cultures, that the percentage of active male protagonists significantly exceeds that of active female protagonists, and that there are almost always more references to female than male attractiveness).
I was talking with a friend about the topic of the low visibility of women in Hollywood films – other than the disposable girlfriend, crime victim, or background eye candy.
It’s been mentioned many times before, but the best roles for female actors has been on television for quite some time.
You have better writing and characters and projects are developed specifically around female leads. Whether it’s Nurse Jackie, In Plain Sight, The Closer, Damages, Weeds, etc – I’d rather watch these shows than subject myselft to much of the dumberer buddy comedies that clog up my local gigantaplex.
And it’s not just women watching these shows – men are tuning in too.
I wanted to see Away We Go in a theater near me- it opened to so few-
but, alas, the only showing was at MIDNIGHT!
so add to that small number of theaters the fact that they are in the little room at odd hours.
I almost got talked into seeing a film I didn’t really want to see, but, prevailed and we spent our money on coffee and drinks instead.
“Although, there was a high number of men that went to sex in the city”
Was there? I just did a thesis about the term “chick flick” turning men away from movies and I cited an article that mentioned the overwhelming majority of the audience for SATC was women.
Don’t even get me STARTED on the sexism in Hollywood. I’ve been in the biz my entire life and have been the victim of it many times.
Someone once told me that if you look at animated films or kid’s films, the lead is always a male voice because the mother has died (Bambi etc.) and ONLY the father can save the day.
Wish I had seen this post a few days sooner. I just had a discussion about women and movies this past weekend that resulted in my husband piping up with “Well, you don’t even watch enough movies to comment and anyway women don’t go to the movies that’s why they are directed more at men.”
I won’t share all of what happened after that, except to say my “death ray eye” shot, and an intelligent comeback was not deleted from the scene. Needless to say it may be a common thought that women are not into movies.
William Goldman famously said that in Hollywood nobody knows anything. I think that statement should be qualified: it should be men don’t know anything.
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Wish I had seen this post a few days sooner. I just had a discussion about women and movies this past weekend that resulted in my husband piping up with “Well, you don’t even watch enough movies to comment and anyway women don’t go to the movies that’s why they are directed more at men.”
I won’t share all of what happened after that, except to say my “death ray eye” shot, and an intelligent comeback was not deleted from the scene. Needless to say it may be a common thought that women are not into movies.”
Did it occur to him to examine the cause and effect? Maybe women go to the movies less BECAUSE movies are directed at men.