Features, Films, News, Women Directors

Dudeocracy Alert: Female “21 Jump Street” Written and Possibly Directed by Dude

We’re just as confused as Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, “21 Jump Street”: Sony

Again?!? In today’s case of “Are you fucking kidding me?” yet another guy with absolutely zero directing experience may be tapped to helm a franchise film, and a female-centric one at that.

As Deadline reports, “22 Jump Street” co-writer Rodney Rothman will write the script for a spinoff movie where the lead cops are women. Sony Pictures is also considering Rothman for the director’s chair as well.

So much for the “Broad City” writers taking the reins on this one. Earlier reports indicated that series writers Lucia Aniello and Paul Downs (the latter also co-stars on the Comedy Central series) were set to write this script. But that seems to no longer be the case.

Before diving into the ludicrous idea that Rothman may direct this film, let’s point out that it’s a total shame that Sony Pictures didn’t feel the need to hire a women to write this movie either. Of course, not every female-centric film needs to be written or directed by women, but until we reach gender equality in Hollywood, that’s what we have to push for. And we’re not there yet. As Vanity Fair reminded us, the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism “analyzed over 100 of the top films released in 2014 — and found that only about 11 percent of them were written by women. The disparity exists even before movies get made: female screenwriters accounted for just 17 percent of the scripts that appeared on the 2015 Black List, an annual rundown of the best unproduced scripts as chosen by Hollywood insiders.”

Now on to the directing issue: Though Rothman has experience writing this kind of over-the-top comedy (his screenwriting credits include “Grudge Match” and “Get Him to the Greek”) he has absolutely zero directing experience. We already know that female directors aren’t getting hired. And we know that experienced female directors are getting passed over in favor of male directors with little to no experience. That Sony is willing to take the risk and give Rothman a shot at directing over a woman (experienced or not) is incredibly telling of an industry that doesn’t trust women.

This keeps happening. Earlier this week we updated the news that Jodie Foster is starring in “Hotel Artemis,” a most likely big-budget sci-fi movie, for a male director with very little experience. And last week Kathleen Kennedy explained that she wants to groom an up-and-coming female director for a “Star Wars” gig, but used the excuse that no female directors are ready for the job. We call bullshit. Plus, this sentiment completely ignores the fact that plenty of male directors are given the chance to direct big budget films without such grooming, or are fresh off of helming smaller indies. Rothman here is just another example.

There’s likely a contract in place for Rothman to pen this film, but since his directing duties are still speculative, there may be still time for Sony to change its game, hire a woman to direct, and take the initiative that so many of us are calling for.


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