Reed Morano and Kristen Wiig are standing up for every woman’s right to choose. Both women have pulled productions from Georgia to resist the state’s draconian, misogynist “heartbeat bill,” which bans abortion after six weeks — long before most women even realize they’re pregnant. According to TIME, Morano was supposed to begin scouting locations for “The Power,” an Amazon series based on Naomi Alderman’s sci-fi novel, in Georgia. Wiig was set to shoot “Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar,” a feature comedy she’s starring in and wrote alongside Annie Mumolo.
Morano, who won an Emmy for directing the “The Handmaid’s Tale” — a thematically-relevant drama set in a dystopia where women have been stripped of all their rights — called back the scouts already working in Georgia and “shut down any possibility of filming a story arc” there. “We had no problem stopping the entire process instantly,” Morano told TIME. “There is no way we would ever bring our money to that state by shooting there.”
Morano and Wiig’s decision, and the film community boycott of Georgia supported by the likes of Alyssa Milano — whose series “Insatiable” shoots in the state — could have a serious financial effect. Georgia has a booming film industry that employs 92,000 people and “generated $9.5 billion in total economic impact” last year.
“I think this is one of the ways where we know we can hit a state where it hurts,” Morano stressed. In other words, if you cut off our access to healthcare and reproductive freedom, we’ll cut off a tentpole of your economy.
Amy Schumer, Laverne Cox, and producer Christine Vachon are among the other Hollywood figures who have vowed to boycott Georgia. “Ozark” star Jason Bateman has stated he will no longer film that show in Georgia if the ban survives in court. Ron Howard will finish his next film, “Hillbilly Elegy,” in the state but says that will be his last project there if the ban stands.
Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams have not pulled their HBO series “Lovecraft Country” from Georgia, but have promised to donate their production companies’ episodic fees to Fair Fight Georgia and the ACLU of Georgia. “In a few weeks we start shooting our new show, ‘Lovecraft Country’ and will do so standing shoulder to shoulder with the women of Georgia,” they previously announced.
Other companies have chosen to stay silent. Most Marvel films shoot in Georgia, yet Disney has not addressed the abortion ban or the boycott. Netflix, home of “Insatiable” and “Ozark,” hasn’t either.
Meanwhile, the boycott has been the subject of its own feminist backlash. Women of Film in Georgia has argued the boycott will only hurt film workers based in the state, not the politicians responsible for the ban. It has started a petition protesting the boycott and collected over 2,300 signatures so far. State Senator Jen Jordan also weighed in: “If [film workers] stay here and help elect people that really reflect the values of everyone in the state, that’s when you’re going to see real change.”
Morano has explained that she didn’t make her decision lightly and feels for the crew members affected by the boycott, but she has to fight for what is right. “I’m sorry if the work moves away from where you live,” she said. “But having this basic fundamental right for women is more important than anything in this moment in time.”
