- The industry is white. The industry is male.
Period, end of story.
The first time I was on a set as a DGA trainee,
and I walked on, I was like,
"Oh, my, I am the only person of color,"
like, and I will not mention the film that it was,
but, like, I was the only person of color.
And then, in terms of, like, being on the set,
I was the only female.
Hair and makeup was female. Wardrobe, female.
And if I remember correctly, um, I think...
the assistant prop person was a female. That was it.
Below the line is everybody
starting from the cinematographer, below that.
Camera, electric, grip, makeup, hair, wardrobe, props.
We're all below the line.
If we're looking at when the industry really started,
a lot of the jobs...
whether we're talking teamsters or props or anyone,
a lot of them became family businesses.
And you brought your sons into them, and then they brought their friends into.
So, you can start to see how that rolls.
So much of industry is
business as usual.
People would rather hire people
who are exactly like them to not deal with...
the messiness of people's identities.
Or the, you know, the messiness of their own bias.
I started off as an assistant director.
And it wasn't even a glass ceiling, it was a cement ceiling
to become a first AD.
There weren't a ton of female first ADs
that were putting together their teams, and if there were,
they were, again at that point, were relegated to...
soft movies, so to your romantic dramas,
your romantic comedies.
I remember hearing from some VPs of production
at different studios that, like,
"Well, you know, we're not really sure if a woman can handle...
it's 300 people they've gotta corral," and I'm like,
have you seen a mom with kids? They can handle it.
A cinematographer works very closely with the director
in designing the look of the film.
You're doing the lighting
and operating the camera,
and, you know, you're in charge of the grip, electric,
and camera department.
And the interesting thing is, having done commercials
all over the world,
It's happened more here, the pushback.
I didn't have an agent when I started shooting,
But I had a service that sent out
our reels, three-quarter-inch reels.
And the gentleman who was in charge of all that...
said, "Let's try something."
He labeled some of the cassettes "NJ Schreiber"
and the other ones "Nancy Schreiber."
And sure enough...
the ones with my full name had not been watched.
The two times that I've worked on a TV show
and a film project where we had female DOPs,
it has been a whole new different experience.
Uh, the comfort that I feel...
and I'm not saying I don't feel comfortable
with male cinematographers, but there's a different
level of comfort that just gets switched on.
I can just romance the camera
in not a sexual way, but in a way that I completely embody
my sensuality and my power and the flaws of my character
and the strengths of my character in a wholesome way.
It's just so badass when you just watch them...
pull all the stops, know the light, know everything.
I'm like, yes, we need more of this.
I have two words to leave with you tonight, ladies and gentlemen.
Inclusion rider.
When Frances McDormand accepted
her Oscar for "Three Billboards," in her speech, she ended it with,
"Two words, inclusion rider."
Inclusion riders are something that
has been proposed for years.
It started with a USC Annenberg researcher
who proposed a document
that would be attached to the contracts
for all the films and TV shows that would set requirements
for diversity.
GINA PRINCE-We've tried asking, we've tried shaming.
Now... fine,
we will force you via contract
to... you know, to make a set be inclusive.
It's just such an obvious thing.
The thing is, I don't need it, and I think most female directors,
you have your eye out for it already, because you've experienced it.
- After shooting is complete, you then move into post-production.
Post-production is
everything that happens after the set.
The dailies, the editing, all the cuts.
The sound dubbing.
Color timing.
The completion of the final product.
For supervising sound editor--
I'm in charge of the overall sound of a film.
And so I spend time with the dialogue editors,
foley editors,
and sometimes music and effects.
Women were really involved
in the early days of editing because they're in a room somewhere,
and we don't see them.
And they're doing something with their hands.
I don't think anyone really understood
the value of editing for quite a long time.
And once it was understood,
which happened to coincide with men coming back from World War II,
those positions were given to men,
and women kind of lost their-- their foothold.
- Sometimes the producers will-- they just talk over me.
It's almost like I'm not even sitting there.
And so I have to figure out how to interject,
especially if I'm not getting what I know that the film needs.
When I came into the business
in the late '70s, early '80s,
I was often the only woman on any editing crew.
My kids came in rapid succession,
uh, and I was pregnant with my second one,
and I was in an elevator at the Brill Building in New York,
which was where all the films were edited,
and an editor said, "You're having another baby?"
And I said, "Yeah."
And he said, "You must not be serious about your career."
The right to final cut is
one of the areas
where the power structures in Hollywood become really obvious.
Historically, male directors have been much more likely
to get the privilege of final cut.
When you don't have final cut,
you have opened up the door
to any number of...
forces and opinions and agendas
that end up shaping your film.
But I just know that I stand behind
the films in which I've had final cut
with just a little bit more of a sense of...
certainty that it is, one, the movie I wanted to make,
and, two, a movie whose mistakes I can own.
Once your film is completed, it's time to get it out into the world.
But getting people to see it and like it,
critics to respond to it, maybe even get awards consideration,
this is a whole new round of power plays and drama.