DIANA WILLIAMS: People talk about how there's a fear of change.
I disagree. It's not the change
that people are fearful of, it's the actual transition,
because that transition is muddy,
it is opaque, it is scary, it is messy.
And right now, we're in scary, messy, opaque period
before we get to change.
REBECCA KEEGAN: As the international box office has gotten more important,
as movies based on preexisting intellectual properties
have gotten more important,
the movie business-- and it is business, you know--
the movie business, it's still in these big tent-pole movies
that cost more than 200 million dollars.
[roaring]
It's important, though, I think, that women participate
in those big, expensive movies,
because they are such a central part of the business.
REPORTER: It was a wonderful weekend for "Wonder Woman."
The superheroine shattered the box office,
raking in 223 million dollars in the U.S. and foreign markets--
the highest opening weekend ever for a movie
made by a female director.
REPORTER: It's a huge win for women in Hollywood
who can now hang their hat on a multipronged victory--
female director, female protagonist,
big-budget superhero film,
a genre always reserved for the boys.
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: I will always give praise to Patty.
The amount of pressure she was under to get that right.
Like, she absolutely opened the doors.
It's on us now. When you get through that door,
give it everything you have,
because that keeps that door-- it keeps it open
and maybe pushes it open even a little wider for the next one.
NISHA GANATRA: Movies are judged by their opening weekend
and how economically successful they are.
And I always said that I go to movies
and I look at it like voting.
You know, so if I go opening weekend,
of course I want to see, you know, the big "Avengers" movie.
But I'll always go opening weekend to the smaller indie film,
because then I'm telling Hollywood, basically,
please make more movies like this.
Otherwise, it's gonna be all big superhero movies all the time,
which, I love a superhero movie,
but we need some other movies too.
MINNIE DRIVER: Movie studios always say
they're only giving people what people want.
I fundamentally disagree with that.
I believe if you feed people subpar stuff,
they'll get used to it, and they'll say that's what they want.
If you start offering up things that require a level
of intellectual connection,
that people will want more of that, but you gotta offer it up.
And I think that women are a key to that.
NISHA: There are so many stupid committees,
and conversations, and initiatives,
and fucking, like, all this bullshit talking.
Just hire women. Just, that's it!
Like, you want to make it 50/50?
Give us a job, and that's it, done.
And you might screw up. Like, guess what?
David Fincher had some shitty films in the beginning too that bombed.
But you kept hiring him.
So, like, give some women some chances.
REBECCA: Some people got used to having, like, the whole cake.
And now, they're slicing more pieces for more people,
and it just, I think to some people, it's like, "Wait, wait, whoa!
I used to get this whole cake, and now... that little piece?"
RACHAEL HOROVITZ: Men have the cake because men were given the cake.
Women baked it and gave it to them.
And that's, you know, that's gonna be a while
before, like, men figure out
that, you know, somebody baked that cake.
MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ: When women throw away the idea
that has been perpetuated by men
of what they're supposed to be as women,
and discover for themselves,
because they're allowed to discover for themselves,
what that truly is,
I think women are gonna get in touch
with something very powerful
that they haven't been able to get in touch with
because they've been too busy trying to survive.
KARYN KUSAMA: The model in a typical hierarchical,
patriarchal system,
is that women who ascend to places of power
have to naturally be more competitive with each other.
And then, I think there's this whole other kind of woman
who works in the business who is like,
"I'm gonna make more room for not just myself,
but for all these other women."
ADELE LIM: We are all we have.
If we don't fight for ourselves, who's going to fight for us?
It's not going to be on the good will
of some white knight who's gonna come to our rescue.
We have to-- we have to fight for it,
like every inch of the way.
MAHA DAKHIL JACKSON: In a town that used to blacklist people,
you cannot underestimate the courage it takes
to take that platform and put it on the line
for feminism, for equality.
ZACKARY DRUCKER: It takes all of us doing our part.
This is my one life to live,
and I got things to do, I have things to say.
I want to be out there, I'm not gonna wait.
MATTHEW BELLONI: There is a culture of fear throughout Hollywood right now.
And I've heard it from many, many men in power.
They know they are being scrutinized.
Abuse has not gone away,
and inappropriate and harassing behavior has not gone away.
But there is a sense that there will be accountability now,
and people are less afraid to speak up.
Until we stop expecting men to behave in a certain way--
on movie sets, in board rooms--
until they stop believing they have to behave that way,
I don't know that it changes.
We can carry on our evolution as women
in the way that we want to behave and move through the world.
But it's so interesting how men feel like that if they admit
that change is due or needed, it's an admission of guilt,
as opposed to just seeing it as an evolution.
Like, I don't think it's wrong that I don't have a tail anymore.
Like, just my spine evolved on. I don't need it anymore.
Don't mourn it, just get on with it.
Get on with it being different.
KIERSEY CLEMONS: I think about leaving the business all of the time
in terms of not just the microaggressions
and violence against me as a woman,
but also as a Black person, and as a queer person.
And I always go over in my mind, like, oh, that's what the system wants.
So, I have to continue to tell my stories
in whichever way possible.
ADELE: Here's the paradox of Hollywood,
which is, it can be such a complete nightmare behind the scenes,
but it's magic.
It's still magic, and you wanna be part of it.