Reese Witherspoon is speaking out about the inequalities female directors face in Hollywood, pointing out that they are not afforded the same opportunities that their male counterparts are.
In a roundtable discussion with Entertainment Weekly, Witherspoon slammed the film industry’s double standards, saying that female directors “aren’t allowed to fail” as they won’t receive a second chance.
“As a male director, if your first movie out of the gate is not very good, you’re definitely going to get a second movie and a third movie – now you have a reel,” the actress began.
“If you’re a woman and you direct your first movie and it’s not very good, it’s terrifying because you might not work again, and we don’t get that second, third, fourth, and fifth chance to make it right. [Studios are] not plucking women from Sundance and saying, ‘Hey, direct Jurassic [World].”
But the problem is not just in a lack of second chances given to female directors, the actress says, but also a lack of opportunities for women throughout the film industry.
“I feel like there’s a lack of opportunity at a very ground level – interns, getting girls from different walks of life to tell their stories, to write their stories,” she said. “Part of it is they’re not on sets. They can’t see the majority of screenwriters are male. I feel like we need to have more opportunities for young women to see what we do.”
Eva Longoria, also at the roundtable, agreed, saying that the “pipeline” for women wanting to direct in the industry was dry. “If you don’t touch every rung of the ladder in this industry – if you weren’t on a set, if you weren’t an extra, if you’re not a PA – it’s hard to say, ‘I’m going to be a director!’”
“You’ve got to know how a crew works. That’s what we’re lacking with females is a pipeline [in which] they have that first step, where can they become a writing intern, where can they be on a set.”
In 2014, the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University found that 85% of films were not directed by women. It also found that only 20% of films had a female writer credited, only 22% had a female editor credited, and a tiny 8% credited a female cinematographer. 33% of films had no female producer credited, showing that women in the film industry are granted the most opportunity to finance films, in an industry that is otherwise full of men.
Gender discrepancies in Hollywood are not new, but hopefully with actresses like Rose McGowan standing up to sexism in the casting process, Jennifer Lawrence penning essays about the pay gap, Maggie Gyllenhaal speaking out about being “too old” at 37 to star opposite 55-year-old George Clooney, Patricia Arquette calling for equality in her Oscar speech, and Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke calling out double standards in directing, maybe we will begin to see some change.
