1
00:00:09,469 --> 00:00:14,849
As a woman who's
working in a traditionally male
job,

2
00:00:14,849 --> 00:00:20,188
you're always
trying to be enough.

3
00:00:20,188 --> 00:00:21,606
You're trying to be
good enough.

4
00:00:21,606 --> 00:00:26,402
You're trying to
fulfill that schema

5
00:00:26,402 --> 00:00:27,570
that you're not really sure
who created.

6
00:00:29,655 --> 00:00:31,699
You have this archetype

7
00:00:31,699 --> 00:00:34,619
of the obnoxious
Ari Gold figure,

8
00:00:34,619 --> 00:00:36,704
who's the agent
who's really aggressive.

9
00:00:36,704 --> 00:00:38,706
So, as you're becoming an agent,

10
00:00:38,706 --> 00:00:41,793
you need to navigate,
who am I gonna be?

11
00:00:41,793 --> 00:00:45,379
And I didn't
necessarily have that...

12
00:00:47,381 --> 00:00:49,175
that icon on TV to look to.

13
00:00:58,351 --> 00:01:02,063
The gatekeepers
manifest in many different ways.

14
00:01:02,063 --> 00:01:04,690
At the bottom level,
it's the representatives.

15
00:01:04,690 --> 00:01:06,234
In order to be successful,
you have to have an agent.

16
00:01:08,069 --> 00:01:10,613
You can think of an agency
like the top of the funnel.

17
00:01:10,613 --> 00:01:13,825
There's the entire universe
of creative people,

18
00:01:13,825 --> 00:01:17,578
and they all want to get an
agent, they want to get into
that crowd.

19
00:01:17,578 --> 00:01:21,207
The agencies take those people
and funnel them through

20
00:01:21,207 --> 00:01:24,502
to where only a few
are then presented

21
00:01:24,502 --> 00:01:27,380
to the decision-makers
for who gets hired.

22
00:01:27,380 --> 00:01:31,175
And the agent can
make a difference.

23
00:01:31,175 --> 00:01:32,885
If you're in an agency,

24
00:01:32,885 --> 00:01:34,345
you know everything that's
happening at every production
company

25
00:01:34,345 --> 00:01:36,055
and at every studio.

26
00:01:36,055 --> 00:01:37,974
Therefore, you
have information.

27
00:01:37,974 --> 00:01:40,351
And information is power,
knowledge is power.

28
00:01:40,351 --> 00:01:43,396
And when that information
is harnessed correctly,

29
00:01:43,396 --> 00:01:46,482
that's when we can get creative
and put projects together.

30
00:01:48,818 --> 00:01:51,821
So, the agent's
job is primarily information--

31
00:01:51,821 --> 00:01:54,740
who's got what,
what's hot, what's not,

32
00:01:54,740 --> 00:01:57,660
who's hot, what the
studios are looking for,

33
00:01:57,660 --> 00:02:00,121
and try to assemble the pieces
and sell them to somebody.

34
00:02:00,121 --> 00:02:02,707
The lawyer's job
is primarily the negotiation

35
00:02:02,707 --> 00:02:05,668
of those deals in combination
with the agents,

36
00:02:05,668 --> 00:02:07,795
and then the documentation
of those deals.

37
00:02:07,795 --> 00:02:12,008
There are so many things
that keeps this job so exciting.

38
00:02:12,008 --> 00:02:14,760
You're a little bit of a
manager, you're a little bit of
a lawyer.

39
00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:16,804
You're a little
bit of a therapist.

40
00:02:16,804 --> 00:02:19,223
You can be a little bit
of a stylist at times.

41
00:02:19,223 --> 00:02:21,225
It's like
being on a rollercoaster, right?

42
00:02:21,225 --> 00:02:23,394
Like, it's exhilarating.

43
00:02:23,394 --> 00:02:25,521
I think as women, we've
always just had to work harder.

44
00:02:27,398 --> 00:02:30,318
Um, we don't get things
handed to us.

45
00:02:30,318 --> 00:02:33,821
You are always showing people
that you're good at your job.

46
00:02:35,740 --> 00:02:39,202
I made a
huge error very early on,

47
00:02:39,202 --> 00:02:41,495
in being swayed
by the voices of men

48
00:02:41,495 --> 00:02:44,457
to leave a female agent

49
00:02:44,457 --> 00:02:46,792
and to go over
to their side.

50
00:02:46,792 --> 00:02:49,378
And I thought that--

51
00:02:49,378 --> 00:02:51,214
and this happens
I think with so many women.

52
00:02:51,214 --> 00:02:53,549
We throw other women
under the bus

53
00:02:53,549 --> 00:02:55,968
in order to feel
that we will be protected

54
00:02:55,968 --> 00:02:58,137
by those men,
and then, of course,

55
00:02:58,137 --> 00:02:59,764
was utterly discarded
not long after that.

56
00:03:02,099 --> 00:03:04,018
I have had nothing
but the loveliest experiences

57
00:03:04,018 --> 00:03:05,853
with my agent.

58
00:03:05,853 --> 00:03:08,231
The issue isn't with
my specific agent.

59
00:03:08,231 --> 00:03:10,191
I think it's more of a
systemic industry thing.

60
00:03:14,737 --> 00:03:16,948
When I first started
as a lawyer,

61
00:03:16,948 --> 00:03:18,866
I was the first woman
they had ever hired.

62
00:03:18,866 --> 00:03:21,244
I was a creature
from another planet.

63
00:03:21,244 --> 00:03:25,539
I was somebody they did not know
how to relate to in many ways.

64
00:03:25,539 --> 00:03:29,377
My supervising partner
had assigned me this client

65
00:03:29,377 --> 00:03:31,921
to do work for,
and the client called him up

66
00:03:31,921 --> 00:03:34,048
and said, you know, "I must
not be a very important client,

67
00:03:34,048 --> 00:03:35,091
because you gave me the girl."

68
00:03:37,093 --> 00:03:39,428
And he had take--
he took the client away from me.

69
00:03:41,639 --> 00:03:44,642
In the very first
staff meeting we had,

70
00:03:44,642 --> 00:03:46,769
the other senior partner
went around the room

71
00:03:46,769 --> 00:03:49,063
and introduced the new lawyers
that had just joined the firm.

72
00:03:49,063 --> 00:03:52,400
And, "Here's this guy, here's
where he went to law school.

73
00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,945
"And here's Linda Lichter,
here's where she went to law
school.

74
00:03:55,945 --> 00:03:59,073
Linda, why don't you stand up?"

75
00:03:59,073 --> 00:04:04,870
And I said, "Can't everybody
see me? Here I am."

76
00:04:04,870 --> 00:04:08,666
And Monty said, "No, we wanna--
we wanna take a look at your
legs."

77
00:04:08,666 --> 00:04:10,418
And there was like
this intake of breath...

78
00:04:12,503 --> 00:04:14,880
And in that silence, I said,
"Monty, in order for you to do
that,

79
00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:16,257
I'd have to stand on my head."

80
00:04:18,175 --> 00:04:20,678
And the whole place--
I shut the whole place down.

81
00:04:20,678 --> 00:04:24,640
They were all hysterical.
Monty turned bright red.

82
00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:26,058
And I was in, right?
I was cool.

83
00:04:30,229 --> 00:04:32,857
It's hard to be left out

84
00:04:32,857 --> 00:04:34,900
when men are getting together,

85
00:04:34,900 --> 00:04:36,902
because so much of business
gets done

86
00:04:36,902 --> 00:04:38,904
in social environments.

87
00:04:38,904 --> 00:04:41,866
There have been times
where all my male colleagues

88
00:04:41,866 --> 00:04:45,161
go to dinner
and they don't invite the women.

89
00:04:45,161 --> 00:04:48,497
I remember an executive
producer telling me early on,

90
00:04:48,497 --> 00:04:51,417
they want to hire
who they want to sit at the bar

91
00:04:51,417 --> 00:04:54,170
and have a beer with.

92
00:04:54,170 --> 00:04:56,672
And I think that was what
planted that seed of like,

93
00:04:56,672 --> 00:04:57,965
oh, I need to learn
how to play golf.

94
00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:01,510
That didn't really work out.

95
00:05:01,510 --> 00:05:04,597
It was way harder
than I thought it was,

96
00:05:04,597 --> 00:05:05,973
and I knew I wasn't gonna be
any good at it.

97
00:05:08,184 --> 00:05:12,813
It's all about attraction
and leverage, really.

98
00:05:12,813 --> 00:05:16,650
Because the leverage is,
I can give you this.

99
00:05:16,650 --> 00:05:19,195
What can you give me?

100
00:05:19,195 --> 00:05:23,282
Not everybody can pull off
the charisma part of it.

101
00:05:23,282 --> 00:05:26,702
And that's where key machines
come into play.

102
00:05:26,702 --> 00:05:28,829
That's where producers
come into play.

103
00:05:28,829 --> 00:05:33,000
That's where, you know,
agents come into play.

104
00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:37,171
And the individual desires
of each gatekeeper

105
00:05:37,171 --> 00:05:39,548
are the desires
that control the abuse.

106
00:05:42,009 --> 00:05:43,552
Everyone you're dealing with

107
00:05:43,552 --> 00:05:47,098
has got an agenda
for themselves.

108
00:05:47,098 --> 00:05:50,017
So, your agent has a
career that they're managing

109
00:05:50,017 --> 00:05:52,978
with much more focus than
they're managing your career.

110
00:05:54,855 --> 00:05:56,816
I specifically
had managers that were acting

111
00:05:56,816 --> 00:05:58,984
as kind of these gatekeepers.

112
00:05:58,984 --> 00:06:01,278
And so, the people on my
team that wanted to help me

113
00:06:01,278 --> 00:06:03,197
couldn't really access me.

114
00:06:03,197 --> 00:06:05,199
It got to the point
where they were just like,

115
00:06:05,199 --> 00:06:07,159
"You're too good for this,
and you're too good for that."

116
00:06:07,159 --> 00:06:11,038
And it would be things I wanted
to do and things I liked.

117
00:06:11,038 --> 00:06:13,457
But then, the stuff
that I specifically said

118
00:06:13,457 --> 00:06:16,585
I don't want to do,
if it involved a lot of money,

119
00:06:16,585 --> 00:06:19,088
all of a sudden,
that's what I deserve,

120
00:06:19,088 --> 00:06:20,005
"That's what you want."

121
00:06:22,883 --> 00:06:26,262
We are, in fact,
presenting artists.

122
00:06:26,262 --> 00:06:28,431
We're not presenting
insurance policies.

123
00:06:28,431 --> 00:06:30,474
It's not one size fits all.

124
00:06:30,474 --> 00:06:32,726
So, I think an agent
has to be creative

125
00:06:32,726 --> 00:06:34,478
on behalf of the client.

126
00:06:34,478 --> 00:06:37,148
Turn male roles
into female roles,

127
00:06:37,148 --> 00:06:40,192
roles that are written white,
make them someone of color.

128
00:06:42,445 --> 00:06:44,321
When you get
that list from that agent

129
00:06:44,321 --> 00:06:46,657
that only has white
male names on it,

130
00:06:46,657 --> 00:06:48,451
you pick up the phone
and you call that agent,

131
00:06:48,451 --> 00:06:50,453
you say, "This
is unacceptable."

132
00:06:50,453 --> 00:06:53,497
It is ridiculous
that there are so many people

133
00:06:53,497 --> 00:06:56,876
in hiring positions,
people who are gatekeepers

134
00:06:56,876 --> 00:06:59,128
who are quite limited
in their vision.

135
00:06:59,128 --> 00:07:01,046
And those are the people
that need to be out.

136
00:07:01,046 --> 00:07:03,716
How can Hollywood be progressive

137
00:07:03,716 --> 00:07:06,427
and talk about
paying women fairly,

138
00:07:06,427 --> 00:07:08,429
when you don't
talk about equity,

139
00:07:08,429 --> 00:07:11,307
or talk about paying, you know,
Black and brown folks
appropriately

140
00:07:11,307 --> 00:07:13,100
when you don't talk
about reparations?

141
00:07:13,100 --> 00:07:15,227
How can you be progressive
and be an ally,

142
00:07:15,227 --> 00:07:16,937
and I never hear you
speak of equity?

143
00:07:19,023 --> 00:07:21,358
There's a reason
why the State of California

144
00:07:21,358 --> 00:07:25,571
has now passed a law that says
you cannot ask people for
quotes.

145
00:07:25,571 --> 00:07:27,573
Because what that did,
is that if somebody

146
00:07:27,573 --> 00:07:29,825
was at a low level
because they hadn't negotiated

147
00:07:29,825 --> 00:07:33,579
or they hadn't been able
to get the kind of fee

148
00:07:33,579 --> 00:07:36,540
that they should have gotten,
they're not stuck at that level
forever.

149
00:07:36,540 --> 00:07:39,668
They can go in and say,
"Pay me what I'm worth."

150
00:07:39,668 --> 00:07:44,757
Part of what I see as my job is
to say, "This is what you
deserve.

151
00:07:44,757 --> 00:07:47,384
"This is what you should get
because of who you are.

152
00:07:47,384 --> 00:07:50,471
"And let's go for it,
let's not be afraid to ask

153
00:07:50,471 --> 00:07:52,973
for fear of getting smacked."

154
00:07:55,434 --> 00:07:58,521
We need to
bring up voices

155
00:07:58,521 --> 00:08:02,358
that haven't had the same
opportunities of entry.

156
00:08:02,358 --> 00:08:06,195
And that's on me,
that's my responsibility.

157
00:08:06,195 --> 00:08:07,905
Once you've
made it through the gatekeepers,

158
00:08:07,905 --> 00:08:11,951
the next battle is getting
your script into development,

159
00:08:11,951 --> 00:08:14,203
and that's a whole new
kind of struggle.