If The World Was A Fempire
May 19, 2009
If you were wondering when I would write a blog that might piss a bunch of people off…wait no longer. For those of you who missed it, there was an article published in the New York Times Fashion and Style Section on March 20 (yes I realize this was a while ago) about the female Entourage-type group of writers self-nicknamed The Fempire. Its members are the insanely successful, insanely hip, and insanely hot foursome of Diablo Cody, Dana Fox, Liz Meriwether and Lorene Scafaria.
For those of you who have been living under a rock, these four distinguished ladies have taken Hollywood by storm the last few years having collectively (though separately) written the Academy Award winner “Juno,” “27 Dresses,” “What Happens in Vegas,” “The Wedding Date,” the Showtime Series “United States of Tara,” the upcoming “Jennifer’s Body” and one of my personal favorite comedies of last year, “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.”
And before you get all in a huff, this is not a hate piece about them at all. In fact, I have been a fan of Cody, Fox and Scafaria for a long time and Meriwhether who is the baby of the group, I’m sure will live up to their high standards. I loved the pilot she wrote titled “Sluts.” I would absolutely love to work with any of these writers and I think male, female, robot, whatever – these women are at the top of their game. I am in awe of their talent, their work ethic and their ability to stay friends in a business where friendships are qualified by how much you can do for each other. I wish I had real friends that were as supportive as these women are for each other. Well – I do – but they all live in New York and none of them are really in the film business. Oh well.
And while their movies haven’t made the box office coinage that the Apatow/Rogen/Rudd movies have grossed, they have made a statement – women are no longer second to men in this industry. Which brings me to the point of this blog…If women are no longer second to men…perhaps they could stop complaining about how they are?
The article points out that “among the screenwriters who are in steady demand for major projects, only about 20 are women.” But how many writers out there (other than actor/writers like Jonah Hill and Jason Segel) are really in steady demand? 50? 60? Twenty of them being female isn’t that bad of a ratio. Yes, most writers’ rooms on TV shows are filled with Harvard-educated men, but I think that says more about the division in this industry between Ivy League vs. Non-Ivy League, than it does about men vs. women. Does anyone think Tina Fey isn’t the funniest writer in the room?
Are there more male producers and writers than female? Yeah. But why does every woman in this industry have to point out that they are a “woman in a man’s job.” Don’t they know how insulting that is to women? You’re not doing a MAN’S job. You’re doing YOUR job which MEN also happen to do. As far as I can tell, the only MALE job out there is being a FATHER. Maybe if they stopped referring to producing, writing or directing as being a “male world,” it would increasingly stop seeming like one.
There are two companies in the last few months that were looking for a new executive. Want me to name names? Here you go…State Street Pictures and Underground Entertainment. And no matter how many qualified male candidates there might have been, they were set on hiring females. And this happens all the time for one reason or another. Companies say they want minorities only or females only or USC grads only. It’s their prerogative and while it sucks, I accept it. I just can’t stand when I hear that companies are only looking for women, and at the same time, I hear how women are treated unfairly. I’m officially calling bullshit.
While I have not done the empirical research, it has been reported that there are now more women going to college than men. Far more women move to LA every year than men. And looking around, I think there are more female assistants in Hollywood than male, which would reason that there are probably more low level female executives than male – or at least a pretty even number. So why are there more higher-level male execs than women? It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. Around the ages of 27-33, the prime age for promotion to that cushy VP job, most women start hearing that ol’ biological clock and they choose to get married and start a family instead of continuing to pursue their career. Is that fair? I don’t know — I don’t have ovaries. But I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t be blamed for that. And I’m definitely sure the industry as a whole shouldn’t be blamed for it either.
It’s pretty well known that there are some women in this industry who have chosen not to have children and have instead decided to make their companies or their movies their babies, which I completely respect. However, when a young, hot new female assistant starts at their company, instead of trying to take them under their wing, the female bosses usually try to devour them and spit them out. Men seem to like having protégées, while women seem to enjoy being the only Queen Bee in the hive. Perhaps if more women were like those that inhabit the Fempire, more of them would get ahead.
I’ve worked for both men and women, and while the men I’ve worked for were constantly trying to prove they could do the job better and become more successful, the women were constantly trying to prove they could do their job better than men. Perhaps if women tried to drop that chip from their shoulder, they’d be able to get ahead without having to undermine every man with whom they work. I’m actually a feminist in that I want real equality. I want the best person for the job to be hired – and if that’s a woman – fantastic! I want women to make equal pay. I want men to be able to get a sick day every month because sometimes we feel bitchy too. I want men to get paternity leave just like women should get maternity leave. I want women to get hired and promoted because they deserve it – because they are smart and have a great personality - not because they wear short skirts and have great…assets. Because as sexist as women might find that, men trying to get hired for the same job - hate it even more.
So let’s all (men and women) take a lesson from the Fempire. Do great work, be smart and savvy and unselfish, and let’s forget about the differences in our pants and get the job done!
Great post. I’ve been working below-the-line for more than 30 years, and in that time have seen women make enormous strides in the Industry. When I started out, women were rare in the production offfices or on set (except for those in front of the camera), but now they’re everywhere. Women have achieved more than full equality in most production jobs, although men still dominate the physical crafts — set construction, grip and electric. That said, I’ve worked with lots of female set painters, and several kick-ass female grips and juicers. They work hard, do a good job, and have earned the respect of all but the most hopelessly sexist Troglodite co-workers..
All is not perfect, though, and you put your finger on some of the remaining issues. The time for the Culture of Victimhood is over. Let’s all move on.
I agree that women have totally risen to powerful positions. In conversation numerous people have told me that their female bosses are sometimes more driven and intense than their male counterparts. As a woman myself, women bosses sometimes make things difficult because of that exact point you made, that women tend to be brutal to other women. I hate the Culture of Victimhood, and a world where we can get by a bouncer just by wearing a low cut shirt still has its perks, but my big issue is in the creative…
There are so few women directors, so few parts for older women, and so few (smart) movies made for women. I sometimes feel that certain types of women are chosen, cast, for these things so that the woman “commodity” is formed. This woman likes pink, wears stilettos and makeup, and only has conversations about boys. Why did the biggest insipid teen-girl hit of the year had to be directed by a woman (and Catherine Hardwicke, you could do better!), and a great actress like Meryl Streep has to comment that even she can’t get work because there’s nothing written for her type? I’ll know we’re closer to equal when a woman director is considered for Tranformers 3. And I know there are lots of women directors now than in previous decades, but they still aren’t high profile enough to change a public stigma. I still don’t think women have really kicked off equality in the creative realms (but we do seem to be great with money). It seems we’re starting the motor with the Fempire, but culturally It just all seems so lopsided.
Maybe I’m overthinking it, but I hope I’m not out of line.
The pilot script “Sluts” is awful and that you loved it makes me question if you even have a brain. It was barely a script. “What Happens in Vegas” was awful. It may have made money but it was structurally and comedically barren. And “United States of Tara” is the very definition of average. Cody may have a somewhat unique voice but she hasn’t written enough to know what she’s doing yet. “Tara” was terribly plotted with at least two scenes an episode that were completely pointless. That article was a puff piece about writers who don’t know enough to know they don’t know enough. No one cares if a good script comes from a man or a woman or an alien. There aren’t as many good female screenwriters because there aren’t as many female screenwriters at all. “Juno” was solid but if you read Cody’s version of it you’d know how much Jason Reitman reigned it into a coherent, sharp story. Would real writers wear stupid necklaces and nickname themselves? Lets all calm down.