Tina Fey Stands Up for Working Moms (and Working Women) in Hollywood

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• Akiva Penaloza | February 23, 2011 11:32 AMReply

  I would like to see a movement where established female filmmakers band together to create funding and coalitions for emerging female filmmakers. I am one of those emerging writer/directors who cannot get a directing gig because male development staff do not trust me (even though they love my script.) I have been told to "make the short version and then we'll see" more than a few times. So I'm going to make the short. But finding funding just to make a short has proven difficult. If a grant or scholarship existed for emerging female filmmakers from established ones, I could be funded to create and show these bastards how good I am. Funding and support of women's films needs to come from a full-on grassroots female-based campaign where people like Tina Fey and Meryl Streep and Barbra Streisand turn around and lend us all a hand. The money is there. Only by harnessing our collective monetary muscle can artists like me get a fair chance in the male Hollywood. It's not going to come from men. It has, and must, come from women themselves. I hope Tina Fey can put her money where her mouth is. I will be writing her a letter!

• sandy | February 23, 2011 1:19 AMReply

  You could call it The Femme Five...

• Sandy | February 23, 2011 12:53 AMReply

  Akiva, I agree the single biggest problem for female directors is getting the money. I'm having the same problem, they love the script, but want someone else to direct. I have a bunch of shorts and other experience, so they don't dare tell me to make a short. They keep telling me, you can direct the next one. Bullshit! Established women directors and producers could help. Here's my idea. If a group of them banded together, they could pool a pot of money. say a million dollars, which they could raise or get by directing some commercials or some other high paying gig. Then choose 5 female filmmakers, give them $200,000 each to direct their first feature film and make sure each has an established supervising producer attached. My guess is that a couple of the films won't be good, but at least one or two will be successful and they might make money or break even. It's not alot to risk and it starts getting women into the directing pool. Plus you could get tons of companies to do sponsorship, product placement. The big challenge would be limiting the applicants (to actual directors, not famous actresses) and choosing the women based on talent, not nepotism or connections.

• Amber | February 22, 2011 5:44 AMReply

  Thanks for sharing this, Melissa. I haven't yet read the article, but will look for it. I'm particularly struck by Fey's definition of crazy (in show business): "a woman who keeps talking even after no one wants to fuck her anymore." This seems to describe perfectly the backlash against women in media. I immediately thought of the Joan Rivers documentary, which was an amazing film about Rivers' drive, and about how she refuses to fade away. There's a lot of hatred out there for women who do that, and the simplest thing for mass culture to do is to label them "crazy."