This week the Hollywood Reporter released its list of the 100 most powerful women in Hollywood. While there are women in power all across Hollywood, especially in the executive suites, one place that still is very difficult to penetrate is the directing ranks.
The Hollywood Reporter list confirmed that fact. Only one woman director– Kathryn Bigelow — made the list and she was at number 53.
If we created a list of most powerful men in Hollywood (like we need to do that) I would venture to say that there would be several (ok, a lot) of male directors on the list. Here are just a couple who have the clout to get films made: Tim Burton, James Cameron, Michael Bay, John Favreau, Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Judd Apatow, Todd Phillips, JJ Abrams, Roland Emmerich, Tyler Perry… and I know I am leaving out many. These are the guys that regularly get gigs at the studios and make millions each year (Perry does work with Lions Gate and yes he still makes millions and that he got to direct For Colored Girls.)
Who are the women who are the most powerful directors?
Nancy Meyers, Nora Ephron, Anne Fletcher, Betty Thomas, Catherine Hardwicke…and now Bigelow herself. And let’s be honest none of these women makes money anywhere near the guys on the list.
So could winning awards help women get more clout? Sure. The prestige factor is a big deal. That’s how Bigelow got on the list. Everyone want sto work with an Oscar winner.
But really, does the Oscar nomination help? I looked at the list of people nominated for an Oscar last year to what life has been like for them since their nomination.
- James Cameron made a fortune from Avatar and has announced that he will next direct two sequels to Avatar.
- Quentin Tarantino was recently roasted at the Friar’s Club but has not yet picked his next film.
- Lee Daniels has been trying to raise funds for Selma a civil rights drama and signed a deal to write and direct The Butler for Laura Ziskin.
- Jason Reitman is back behind the camera directing Young Adult written by Diablo Cody and starring Charlize Theron.
Kathryn Bigelow — the winner — did a pilot for HBO, The Miraculous Year, which did not get picked up for series and is now shopping an thriller to be written by Marc Boal before she directs Triple Frontier in 2011.
Let’s look at the last couple of winners:
Danny Boyle – 2008 winner – is back in the running with 127 Hours and is also the artistic director for the London Olympics opening ceremony.
Joel and Ethan Coen – 2007 winner – are back in the running this year with True Grit.
Martin Scorcese – 2006 winner – released Shutter Island this year
There are two women still in the major discussions for possible Oscar nods — Debra Granik and Lisa Cholodenko. Though it would be another huge deal if another woman gets a nomination for best director this year, the truth is that women directors still have little commercial power. As LA Times said: “nearly all of the beloved indy female directors are unemployable at major studios…”
That is beyond depressing.
Guess who’s missing from Hollywood Reporter’s most powerful women in showbiz list (LA Times)
Best Director: Fumbling Towards Five (Awards Daily)
* This is another in my ongoing series of pieces attempting to analyze if anything has changed since Kathryn Bigelow won the Oscar.
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Hi melissa – I think one thing to take into consideration about Bigelow, and she’s the first to talk about it, is that she’s never directed a studio film. She’s always had to find financing outside the studio system. Although her films have been distributed by studios she’s yet to have had a studio actually hire her. I think that one of the more depressing aspects of this story isn’t just the high roller male directors whom you mention but the guys who don’t have a real name but keep getting work. The yeoman of feature film directing. There isn’t a chance for a woman to even join those ranks. A working director, in film OR tv, who may not have a big name nor make movies that will end up in Oscar categories but still manages a real career. There are virtually none. I’m not sure what can be done…it would be great if some of the female stars who have power insisted on trying out a woman director. But they don’t. And of course having women in power on the studio side doesn’t really make a difference — once you’re inside that system all you care about is making money and saving your ass.
Activism is definitely needed inside and outside the industry.
Thanks, Melissa!
As an infrequent movie-goer I look for women directors, sure, but even more important for my appreciation of a movie is a woman writer. Otherwise it’s a woman trying to merely humanize a story a bit which is still from a man’s view.
On the movie posters the writer’s name(s) should be more prominent (not in those ridiculously tall, skinny letters), but if the woman is named, for instance, “Sam”, I’m still going to be lost.
Maybe show her talking in the trailer. Perhaps I’m biased, being a writer and editor (not in movies, though).
A man tired of men’s points of view dominating,
Korky
Did anyone see the New York Times article about the “director” Joseph Kosinski getting 160 million dollars to make his first film Tron:Legacy? I nearly fell off my chair, because I constantly have meetings where I’m told my script is great, but the problem is me directing (I have a bunch of shorts). Now apparently Joseph was a commercial director. Do you know how much experience he had when Anonymous Content signed him…None, Nada, Nothing…just some computer renderings of where to put the camera. Guess how many female directors Anonymous Content has on their roster? They have just one lone female director, Vicky Jenson who has 25 years of film experience. And I bet money they still didn’t sign her until she directed Shrek (a 60 million dollar film).
The article mentioned that despite his almost total lack of experience, Joseph is very confident. I’d be confident too, if I got those kind of breaks.
I remember reading an Entertainment Weekly article about Tron Legacy a few months ago and was surprised that someone as novice as Joseph Kosinski got the gig. Also, Guy Ritchie has had a number films that flopped yet he’s been entrusted with the Sherlock Holmes franchise.
And yet when was the last time you saw Penny Marshall direct a movie?
I see that even when a woman gets the chance to direct the subject is so often male, explosions and hardly a liberated woman in sight. All to appeal to the money powers that be. I’m sorry to say that I saw that even in AWD’s trailer. From a woman who has been in this field for a very long time I find this oh so very very depressing .
Penny Marshall is not directing because she is struggling with a fight with cancer.
Hey – how about that woman director who directed the first Twilight? Hmmm…. There’s a yummy Little Red Riding Hood coming up.
Hey – how about the Monsoon Wedding woman director?
Hey – how about the reliable Nora Ephron?
Hey- how about Drew Barrymore and her company?
Hey – how about the director to Winter’s Bone?
There are a few “heys” out there.
I agree that the situation is effed up, though. Even with the “heys.” A Mr. Awesome who did some work on a couple of music videos can come along and get funding. This is all about the “man-crush” that men have towards each other. They want to be the man-crush so they fund the man-crush. But again, what happened on the Twilight movie series was a crime.
It’s also a huge problem that women aren’t given the commercial and music video jobs (because the agencies won’t sign them). Those gigs allow directors to develop their talent and provide the cash to live on while chasing the feature film dream…
In my opinion, a lot of this has to do with marketing and works back from there. Surprisingly, even with their stable of marketers, studios have yet to capture the female audience (Twilight being an exception). The studios know this, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense for them to make as many films geared towards women.
I know, a woman director doesn’t have to make a female-oriented film. There are plenty of films that are fantastic and appeal to both men and women, but are still considered masculine and therefore more appropriate for men, experienced in a similar genre, to direct. I’m not saying this is MY opinion, I’m saying this is how an executive approaches it. And think about it, the Director of Development, the gatekeeper of the scripts that get passed to higher execs, just wants to keep his/her job in this cut throat business. Do you think they’re going to go against business as usual and suggest an “out of the box” idea like having a woman direct something that doesn’t seem to be in their “wheel house?” Very rarely…even though there are a lot of female DODs.
So, women directors are often cut early on in the hiring process because women in film school, or anyone in film school, are encouraged to write what they know. Thus, we get more “female stories” from in the early work of women directors (their sample work). This puts them at a disadvantage when “common knowledge” in the film industry is that women’s stories don’t sell. And, of course, very few people are willing to take a “risk” and hire a woman for something other than “what they know.”
It’s institutionalized! It won’t change until execs wake up and realize women’s directing experiences can be transferred to other genres.
Yes, even men get pigeon-holed in the business—but there are usually more options in their supposed genre. And, yes, there are many exceptions to what I’ve said above. And many other factors that play into the lack of women directing, BUT in my opinion it has a LOT to do with it.
Lastly, I also think that the women directors who do make it, are much more likely than men to be careful about their next project because they’re less likely than their male counterparts to get a second chance. Thus, we see fewer films from them.
Sorry this was so long, but I wrote a whole dissertation on this topic, so this is actually very short ☺
P.S. Totally agree with Deb about the commercials and music videos– great place to develop skills, and work with emerging technology, too. Alas, very few women on the rosters of agencies/production companies.
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