1 00:00:01,878 --> 00:00:04,714 [E.T. groaning] 2 00:00:04,714 --> 00:00:07,008 REBECCA KEEGAN: Sometimes I think about the first movie I saw, 3 00:00:07,008 --> 00:00:08,760 which was "E.T." 4 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:10,762 I was five. 5 00:00:10,762 --> 00:00:13,014 I saw it in a drive-in with my parents. 6 00:00:13,014 --> 00:00:16,100 And I was the same age as Drew Barrymore in the movie, just about. 7 00:00:16,100 --> 00:00:18,770 And it was very exciting to me 8 00:00:18,770 --> 00:00:20,938 to see a little girl who looked like me 9 00:00:20,938 --> 00:00:22,690 who was at the center of the action. 10 00:00:22,690 --> 00:00:24,567 And I was totally transported, loved the movie, 11 00:00:24,567 --> 00:00:26,778 began to love movies. 12 00:00:26,778 --> 00:00:29,489 As I got older, it was less and less likely 13 00:00:29,489 --> 00:00:31,491 that someone who looked like me 14 00:00:31,491 --> 00:00:33,367 was at the center of the action. 15 00:00:33,367 --> 00:00:36,079 You know, as you become a teenager and a young woman, 16 00:00:36,079 --> 00:00:38,623 the teenagers and young female characters, 17 00:00:38,623 --> 00:00:40,875 it was suddenly about their appearance. 18 00:00:40,875 --> 00:00:43,336 It was about what the men wanted from them. 19 00:00:43,336 --> 00:00:45,463 How they impacted the men. 20 00:00:45,463 --> 00:00:48,007 And that... 21 00:00:48,007 --> 00:00:49,592 annoyed the crap out of me. 22 00:00:56,682 --> 00:01:00,436 MATTHEW BELLONI: The way that a typical movie or TV show gets started 23 00:01:00,436 --> 00:01:03,439 is there's a script, and there's something 24 00:01:03,439 --> 00:01:06,526 that attracts the eye of a taste-maker. 25 00:01:06,526 --> 00:01:10,029 Whether that is an executive at a film or TV company, 26 00:01:10,029 --> 00:01:13,157 whether that is an agent who is influential and says, 27 00:01:13,157 --> 00:01:16,285 you know what, my star client may wanna star in this. 28 00:01:16,285 --> 00:01:18,955 There is some piece of material 29 00:01:18,955 --> 00:01:21,541 that generates interest from someone that causes it 30 00:01:21,541 --> 00:01:24,001 to go from the bottom of a stack 31 00:01:24,001 --> 00:01:26,546 into development. 32 00:01:26,546 --> 00:01:29,090 HELEN HUNT: There is nothing to replace... 33 00:01:29,090 --> 00:01:30,716 brilliant writing. 34 00:01:30,716 --> 00:01:33,094 You feel it more than you think it 35 00:01:33,094 --> 00:01:35,888 or could quantify it, you feel it. 36 00:01:35,888 --> 00:01:39,433 And so you just wanna be part of that. 37 00:01:39,433 --> 00:01:42,728 REBECCA: Hollywood lives and dies by the stories it tells, 38 00:01:42,728 --> 00:01:46,023 but historically the kinds of stories it's chosen to tell 39 00:01:46,023 --> 00:01:48,484 have been very limited. 40 00:01:48,484 --> 00:01:52,488 They have often reflected the power structure of the town itself. 41 00:01:52,488 --> 00:01:55,158 Assertive men, submissive women. 42 00:01:55,158 --> 00:01:59,245 Not a lot of room for gender or sexual diversity. 43 00:01:59,245 --> 00:02:01,122 DIANA WILLIAMS: There was one project I was working on where I said 44 00:02:01,122 --> 00:02:05,710 to the writer, I'm like, if I take out this character, 45 00:02:05,710 --> 00:02:08,462 nothing changes in the script. 46 00:02:08,462 --> 00:02:11,757 So, from a budget standpoint, 47 00:02:11,757 --> 00:02:15,011 great, I was like, but it's actually your female co-lead. 48 00:02:15,011 --> 00:02:18,014 I was like, so this is a problem, 49 00:02:18,014 --> 00:02:21,225 that, if I take out the co-lead, nothing changes in the script. 50 00:02:21,225 --> 00:02:23,728 That means you have not-- you have fallen down on the job. 51 00:02:23,728 --> 00:02:26,814 You've not created a good character. 52 00:02:26,814 --> 00:02:28,816 GABRIELLE CARTERIS: The portrayal historically 53 00:02:28,816 --> 00:02:31,277 of women and men has been very classical. 54 00:02:31,277 --> 00:02:34,155 In terms of, you know, the female, most roles, 55 00:02:34,155 --> 00:02:36,616 um, and I've been the person who's played those-- 56 00:02:36,616 --> 00:02:39,994 the crier, the-- the victim, the person who needs help. 57 00:02:39,994 --> 00:02:43,122 And the man is the savior, you know, my prince. 58 00:02:43,122 --> 00:02:46,042 The prince will wake me up from my sleep. 59 00:02:46,042 --> 00:02:48,044 ROBIN WRIGHT: I was always typecast, 60 00:02:48,044 --> 00:02:50,296 in my 20s and 30s, 61 00:02:50,296 --> 00:02:53,049 being the soulful, 62 00:02:53,049 --> 00:02:58,179 understanding, um, sad wife. 63 00:02:58,179 --> 00:03:00,598 - The kind of roles that you start chasing, 64 00:03:00,598 --> 00:03:02,099 and you're hungry and you're thirsty for 65 00:03:02,099 --> 00:03:04,268 are not really even there. 66 00:03:04,268 --> 00:03:07,563 You've played the damsel in distress, and you did not like that experience. 67 00:03:07,563 --> 00:03:09,732 So, you-- I'm sorry, I just don't wanna play that anymore. 68 00:03:09,732 --> 00:03:11,943 But when I say no to that, 69 00:03:11,943 --> 00:03:13,861 I'm basically saying no to a hundred of those scripts 70 00:03:13,861 --> 00:03:16,113 that have been sent to me, and there is nothing. 71 00:03:16,113 --> 00:03:17,865 Absolutely nothing. 72 00:03:17,865 --> 00:03:19,867 - It's still not an equal world 73 00:03:19,867 --> 00:03:21,369 for men and women. 74 00:03:21,369 --> 00:03:23,955 And I-- I don't understand that. 75 00:03:23,955 --> 00:03:24,914 I really don't. 76 00:03:27,583 --> 00:03:30,544 REBECCA: There has been this assumption in Hollywood 77 00:03:30,544 --> 00:03:33,673 that movies fronted by women 78 00:03:33,673 --> 00:03:35,508 are going to be less successful. 79 00:03:35,508 --> 00:03:39,387 That men won't be able to lose themselves 80 00:03:39,387 --> 00:03:41,055 in a lead female character 81 00:03:41,055 --> 00:03:43,933 the way women have become accustomed 82 00:03:43,933 --> 00:03:47,687 to losing ourselves in a lead male character. 83 00:03:47,687 --> 00:03:50,398 - Patriarchy does a very effective job 84 00:03:50,398 --> 00:03:52,441 at silencing women. 85 00:03:52,441 --> 00:03:54,568 And it's through representation. 86 00:03:54,568 --> 00:03:57,655 There's been a full century of negative representation. 87 00:03:57,655 --> 00:04:00,658 Of trans people being villains 88 00:04:00,658 --> 00:04:02,618 and victims and... 89 00:04:02,618 --> 00:04:04,453 uh... 90 00:04:04,453 --> 00:04:08,416 just incidental to storylines. 91 00:04:08,416 --> 00:04:10,710 I mean, we've always been around. 92 00:04:10,710 --> 00:04:14,005 We have always been on-screen. 93 00:04:14,005 --> 00:04:17,925 Yet, we are just gaining 94 00:04:17,925 --> 00:04:19,969 the kind of tools of cultural production 95 00:04:19,969 --> 00:04:22,888 to tell the stories that we wanna tell. 96 00:04:22,888 --> 00:04:25,933 - If you're underrepresented, then all of a sudden 97 00:04:25,933 --> 00:04:27,852 we have to do all of the-- we have to do 98 00:04:27,852 --> 00:04:30,062 all of the bottom of the barrel stuff. 99 00:04:30,062 --> 00:04:32,106 And I always wondered, all right, well, 100 00:04:32,106 --> 00:04:33,941 if I'm gonna carry this kind of torch 101 00:04:33,941 --> 00:04:35,901 because I'm the only, like, Latin person 102 00:04:35,901 --> 00:04:38,404 who's not a stripper, who's not playing a drug dealer, 103 00:04:38,404 --> 00:04:41,032 who's not out there doing the stereotypes, 104 00:04:41,032 --> 00:04:42,658 then I'm gonna carry that sucker hard. 105 00:04:44,744 --> 00:04:47,038 - Some people have the idea that, you know, 106 00:04:47,038 --> 00:04:51,584 we wanna have these strong, empowered women characters. 107 00:04:51,584 --> 00:04:53,836 And I mean, I'm all for that, that's cool. 108 00:04:53,836 --> 00:04:57,048 But what we need more is 109 00:04:57,048 --> 00:04:59,633 fully-lived human characters. 110 00:04:59,633 --> 00:05:02,261 Complex women characters 111 00:05:02,261 --> 00:05:04,388 having complicated relationships 112 00:05:04,388 --> 00:05:07,808 and complicated transformations 113 00:05:07,808 --> 00:05:09,727 within their own consciousness. 114 00:05:09,727 --> 00:05:11,729 - When you just make them likeable, 115 00:05:11,729 --> 00:05:13,773 because they're women, 116 00:05:13,773 --> 00:05:16,108 that's not real. 117 00:05:16,108 --> 00:05:18,694 That's what I find most offensive. 118 00:05:18,694 --> 00:05:21,989 And that's what I find is persistent 119 00:05:21,989 --> 00:05:24,492 in, like, it will not go away. 120 00:05:24,492 --> 00:05:27,620 'Cause guys are not likeable. 121 00:05:27,620 --> 00:05:29,330 A lot of 'em aren't. 122 00:05:29,330 --> 00:05:31,540 And they can be fascinating characters. 123 00:05:31,540 --> 00:05:33,793 DIANA: If we only show 124 00:05:33,793 --> 00:05:35,669 one type of image, 125 00:05:35,669 --> 00:05:38,964 that image goes out and feeds someone's bias. 126 00:05:38,964 --> 00:05:41,592 It feeds whatever "-ism" they have. 127 00:05:41,592 --> 00:05:43,511 Racism, sexism. 128 00:05:43,511 --> 00:05:44,512 It feeds into it. 129 00:05:48,182 --> 00:05:49,892 GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: The negative images that they've put out 130 00:05:49,892 --> 00:05:52,686 for decades... 131 00:05:52,686 --> 00:05:54,647 that have absolutely weaponized our blackness 132 00:05:54,647 --> 00:05:58,109 and-- and has been dangerous, 133 00:05:58,109 --> 00:06:01,529 but equal to that is the invisibility. 134 00:06:01,529 --> 00:06:02,947 Of us and certainly of black women. 135 00:06:04,949 --> 00:06:06,826 ADELE LIM: When you talk about representation, 136 00:06:06,826 --> 00:06:09,161 I don't think there is this Hollywood 137 00:06:09,161 --> 00:06:11,205 racist Illuminati that's saying, 138 00:06:11,205 --> 00:06:14,333 "We don't want the stories of women or people of color," 139 00:06:14,333 --> 00:06:16,669 but the way the system is set up, 140 00:06:16,669 --> 00:06:19,755 if the shot-callers are, let's say, a white man, 141 00:06:19,755 --> 00:06:23,050 the stories he is going to respond to will feature 142 00:06:23,050 --> 00:06:25,219 a white male lead, 143 00:06:25,219 --> 00:06:27,596 a white male story where he is the hero. 144 00:06:27,596 --> 00:06:29,765 If you're a woman, or if you're a person of color, 145 00:06:29,765 --> 00:06:31,976 all your life experience, when you are writing 146 00:06:31,976 --> 00:06:35,438 for network television or... a major Hollywood movie 147 00:06:35,438 --> 00:06:37,982 has to be pushed through this prism. 148 00:06:37,982 --> 00:06:40,151 So, you have to translate your experience 149 00:06:40,151 --> 00:06:42,486 and make it directly relevant to a white man. 150 00:06:42,486 --> 00:06:45,531 But, with "Crazy Rich Asians," for the first time in my life, 151 00:06:45,531 --> 00:06:47,366 I didn't have to do that. 152 00:06:47,366 --> 00:06:51,454 I could just write the voices of my mother, my aunts, 153 00:06:51,454 --> 00:06:56,041 and it was joyful, and it was... it was exhilarating. 154 00:06:56,041 --> 00:07:00,421 ZACKARY: Today, people are coming to grips 155 00:07:00,421 --> 00:07:02,631 with storytelling that 156 00:07:02,631 --> 00:07:05,217 is more universal in its specificity. 157 00:07:05,217 --> 00:07:07,636 Trans folks are, like, 158 00:07:07,636 --> 00:07:10,264 living breathing examples 159 00:07:10,264 --> 00:07:14,101 of the destruction of patriarchy. 160 00:07:14,101 --> 00:07:17,480 Of, like, masculinity being transformed into something 161 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:21,484 and really revealing it as... malleable. 162 00:07:21,484 --> 00:07:24,028 GINA: We need parity with male/female, 163 00:07:24,028 --> 00:07:26,405 and we need parity with women of color, 164 00:07:26,405 --> 00:07:28,908 and it's not a PC thing. 165 00:07:28,908 --> 00:07:31,494 It makes the whole process better 166 00:07:31,494 --> 00:07:33,954 to have different voices in the mix. 167 00:07:35,414 --> 00:07:37,833 Different experiences. 168 00:07:37,833 --> 00:07:41,128 It's just so obvious, and it makes you more money. 169 00:07:41,128 --> 00:07:43,172 Everybody wants the opportunity 170 00:07:43,172 --> 00:07:46,717 to see themselves reflected on-screen. 171 00:07:46,717 --> 00:07:48,886 - You've gotten to the point where the script is ready, 172 00:07:48,886 --> 00:07:51,639 uh, say you're a writer-director. 173 00:07:51,639 --> 00:07:53,933 Now you need actors. 174 00:07:53,933 --> 00:07:56,602 If you're set up with a company that's going to finance the film, 175 00:07:56,602 --> 00:08:00,314 they wanna have a lot of say in which actors get cast.