Storytellers wanted

Some weeks ago, I shared with you my view that one of the best ways to find our voice is to listen to women who have found and expressed theirs. And yet, these women are difficult to find, whether in our circle of loved ones or in the press.

So, as I watched the Academy Awards this past Sunday, my interest was piqued.

Of the stories told through film this past year – stories that were considered the best in the world by their peers, and that over a billion people on the planet were celebrating - what role did women play in telling these stories?

Let’s take a look.

How many of the nominees for best picture (Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen) were produced by women?

One. The Queen had three producers, two of whom were women. If you want to look at this from a statistical perspective, 20% of the films nominated were produced by women vs. the general world population of 50%+ women.

How many nominees for best original screenplay (Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Queen) were women?

Just one. Letters from Iwo Jima was co-written by a woman. At 20%, again under-indexed vs. the overall population. It's also interesting that in neither case was the woman nominated on a stand-alone basis.

How many nominees for best director (for Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, The Queen, United 93) were women?

Zero.

How many nominees for animated feature film were produced by women (Cars, Happy Feet, Monsters)?

Zero.

I could continue, but won't.

I'll just say: Storytellers wanted.

We have a space for women’s voices here.

Please tell us your story.

We want to hear it.

We need to hear it.

Comments

[KIP]

Hear! Hear!

You may find this organization interesting:
http://www.seejane.org/. They just produced a report on gender roles in G rated movies, which can be found here:
http://www.seejane.org/ourwork/research.aspx

[Michael Kopelman]

Whitney - I thought of you and this post when reading this article from the NY Times, which discusses the dearth of Op-Ed contributions from women and how one woman is trying to get others to speak up.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/arts/15oped.html?ref=media