July 7, 2008

Women Directors Meet and Organize

Any regular reader of this blog know that lamentable pathetic statistics of women directors in Hollywood. The women directors have been trying to organize for years to get same movement in these numbers. Now that the numbers are continuing to go backwards, I think they're really pissed and are organizing again. Veteran TV director Rachel Feldman held a meeting in her home last week and submitted this report.

On July 2, 10 women met at the home of Rachel Feldman, DGA director and WGA writer, to discuss changing the world for woman in media in several different ways. Undaunted by 30 years of things only getting worse for women behind the camera in Hollywood and the issues that their employment disparity breeds, these ten women from a variety of perspectives; academic, creative and non-profit, put their heads together. Crystal Allene Cook who runs the the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media suggested examining the similarities between our issues and connecting our struggles under an umbrella alliance. Actress and activist Susan Davis, spoke about her documentary “Invisible Women” - which highlights the age discrimination issue for actresses. Lindsay Horvath from NOW would like to put some muscle behind our issues and help to create a media event making our struggles loud and clear to the industry and to world, who don't yet seem to hear, care or want to understand the relevance of our issues.

We represent 53% of the population and 65% of the financial resources in the US. By 2010, women between the ages of 40-60 will be the largest demographic in America. We are tired of being underrepresented, misrepresented and discriminated against. Our goal is to flood mainstream media with our brilliance and do nothing less than change the society we live in. Soon, we will figure out our next step.
Stay tuned.