Guest Post by Rainy Kerwin
Being on set of “The Wedding Invitation” with my all-female crew was the greatest experience of my life. Nope, we didn’t get into catfights. Nope, no one was bitchy. Nope, we didn’t need help lifting the equipment. And nope, we weren’t all PMS-ing at the same time. These are real questions that I have been asked. And here’s my answer: My set was cooperative, communicative, creative, strong, and just plain fun.
Why did I use an all-female crew? To answer that question, I need to go back to the beginning. The year before “Bridesmaids” came out, I tried to get “The Wedding Invitation” made. The project had grown to be a $10 million dollar film and by no design of my own, it was all women who were attracted to the script. Men didn’t get why it was three female leads and more specifically, the “money men” wouldn’t fund it without a strong male lead. I was told that women meant very little in the foreign market and that foreign comprised 60 percent of sales. The project got shelved. I was devastated.
Three years ago, after some personal sadness, feeling fearless, I took the project back, funded it, produced it, directed it, and starred in it.
I knew that if I was going to be at the helm of this film — I was going to do it my way. Women had rallied behind this project, so it seemed like it naturally lent itself to a predominantly female crew. But even more than that, I wanted to make a small dent in the gender parity gap that plagues our industry. I wanted to be a part of the solution. In the end, I made the decision to use an entirely female crew.
Someone wrote on Twitter that they would never support this film in the way that they would never support a film made by an all-male crew. In a perfect and equitable world that would be a fair statement. In a perfect and equitable world I would agree with that statement. But here’s the problem that I have with that statement: We don’t live in a perfect and equitable world and we don’t live in a perfect and equitable industry.
Predominantly male crews have existed for years. You just don’t have people stating out loud that they are hiring based on the male gender. And to me, that unspoken mandate of hiring mostly men is much more dangerous than my outspoken womandate to hire all women. When the numbers of women behind the camera skew so low and do not show signs of increasing, I think that gives one permission to make a bold move to effect change.
Should I be characterized as sexist? I looked up the definition. Sexist (adjective), as per Google: “relating to or characterized by prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex.” I was shocked to read that “sexism” occurs so often against women versus men, that even the very definition includes the word “women.” So, I’m going to give myself a pass and say that I narrowly skated by in that I wasn’t sexist against women. Phew.
I don’t intend to use an all-female crew on my next film. But I can guarantee that I at least 50 percent of my crew will be women. In order to move the dial forward, sometimes the pendulum has to swing pretty far in the opposite direction. That was my goal with this film. And yes, I’m willing to live on the edge and risk 50 percent of the crew all being on the rag at the same time — I’m a daredevil like that.
“The Wedding Invitation” is now available on VOD. Find more information on the film’s official site.
“The Wedding Invitation” is Rainy Kerwin’s directorial debut. She honed her directing skills during eight years on staff at an acting conservatory in Los Angeles. She’s coached and directed over 1000 actors. Kerwin is the founder of It’s Raining Films, the production company behind “The Wedding Invitation,” and the platform BuyWomen.com — a site dedicated to drive audiences to see more films written and directed by women. You can find her on Twitter @RainyKerwin.
