Female filmmakers exchange views on sustaining ‘Time’s Up’

Creators of some prolific Hollywood productions such as Glow, Orange Is the New Black and Jessica Jones recently participated in two panel discussions that revolved around women in Hollywood. The first panel, titled ‘Leading the Charge’, featured actors Alison Brie (Glow), Danielle Brooks (Orange Is the New Black), Sarah Gadon (Alias Grace) and Regina King (Seven Seconds). The major points of discussion included fighting for their roles, working with female creators and whether there are better roles for women now than there were before, with “not really” seeming to be the consensus on the last topic.

Speaking about working with her diverse group of costars playing complex characters in Glow, Alison Brie noted, “I’m like, ‘Everything’s changed, and this is the future.’ And then we finish production and I’m released back out into the wild of the industry, I’m very disappointed. [We’re] paving the way for that to be a more constant reality. I don’t know that we’re there yet.”

However, Sarah Gadon, featured in Mary Harron-directed Margaret Atwood adaptation Alias Grace, was of the view that there have been some changes lately.

“People, who were never able to create [or] work with these resources, are being given a platform,” she told Hollywood Reporter prior to the panel. “People like Sarah Polley, people like Mary Harron, were never allowed to create content of this scope so I think it’s really impressive that those women are being given resources from companies like Netflix, [who] are saying, ‘Go ahead and make whatever you want to make.’ It’s really exciting.”

Moving on, the second panel, ‘Shot Callers’ featured Glow creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, Grace & Frankie creator Marta Kauffmann, Seeing Allred subject Gloria Allred, Seven Seconds creator Veena Sud, Jessica Jones showrunner Melissa Rosenberg and Netflix VP original content Cindy Holland. It focused on breaking into Hollywood and advice for other women, aside from exchanging thoughts on how to sustain the ‘Time’s Up’ movement momentum. They also talked about what they learned from their failures and what they would advise their younger selves.

“Being that champion for other women is very, very important because if we’re not, who will be?” asserted Veena Sud while Melissa Rosenberg was of the view that though it is “wildly unfair”, the key to achieving parity in Hollywood is “to keep picking ourselves up”.

– With information from Hollywood Reporter