That is the quote Meryl Streep uttered Tuesday night at the annual Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards. She was onstage to present Viola Davis with her Crystal Award for Excellence in Film.
Here’s what she said via Vanity Fair’s website:
In this room, we are very familiar with these dreadful statistics that detail the shocking under-representation of women in our business. Seven to ten percent of directors, producers, writers, and cinematographers [are women] in any given year. This in spite of the fact that in the last five years, five little movies aimed at women have earned over $1.6 billion: The Help, The Iron Lady believe it or not, Bridesmaids, Mamma Mia!, and The Devil Wears Prada. As you can see, their problems were significant because they cost a fraction of what the big tent-pole failures cost. . . . Let’s talk about The Iron Lady. It cost $14 million to make it and brought in $114 million. Pure profit! So why? Why? Don’t they want the money?
Here are Meryl and Viola talking to Access Hollywood
https://medium.com/media/4d27489cc07caf17804240a953eb5868/href
More accounts of the evening:
Meryl Streep Scolds Hollywood Studios for ‘Big Tentpole Failures’ (The Wrap)
Streep Lays Out Women’s Pic Studio Stats at Women in Film Awards: “Why Don’t They Want the Money?” (Thompson on Hollywood)