Would you say that to a guy? Would you do that in front of a guy? That’s the basic sexism litmus test, and it was definitely a major influence on the Women in Film (WIF) web series “Flip the Script.”
Written and created by Ally Iseman (“American Housewife”), “Flip the Script” is a series of shorts that gender reverses the bullshit women have to put up with in the workplace. One episode follows a sensible, even-tempered director (Rob Huebel) who has been labelled a diva. Meanwhile, his female colleague (Lake Bell) yells at everyone and storms off the set for no reason and is considered a genius. Another short sees a bunch of female film execs passing on a film pitch because the male lead is past his “shelf life” — i.e. he’s old and no one wants to have sex with him anymore. The blowhard studio head (Amy Landecker) also smacks the younger, male producer (Ian Harding) on the ass and ignores him when he flinches.
Each of the four episodes is inspired by a true story and depicts an actual interaction that’s happened between a woman and man and simply switches the gender roles.
“Our aim is to empower and educate, not point a finger. Many people do not even realize they are a part of the issue,” Iseman said in a statement. “We want to encourage them to emulate and celebrate advocates who are taking public action towards change. The goal of this series is to make itself irrelevant. Progress only occurs when the needle is pushed from sympathy to empathy.”
“Flip the Script” premiered at WIF Los Angeles’ Crystal + Lucy Awards earlier this month. The series is produced by Meredith Riley Stewart (“Scandal”) and exec produced by Tessa Bell (“Life Inside Out”).
Check out series’ teaser below. Go to YouTube to watch the entire first season.
