Women, Men & The Film Industry.

"The statistics of women in film are rubbish across the industry apart from hair and make-up, production assistants, and cinema cleaners! Perhaps one reason why few women move into directing films is that they don't see as many films from a female's perspective or female directors as role models."
-Rachel Millward
Our industry favors men more than women. This is indisputable. In Hollywood, 94% of films are directed by men. At Cannes this year, out of the twenty Palm D'or nominees, none of them are women. This is one element of the problem.

Here's something else. Nearly all actresses I know have had an experience where they've turned up at an audition, only to find out it's in some guy's apartment, and as it turns out; the scene she has to read is a little more sexual than expected. That's one example. There are many that are far worse. Of all the male actors I know, none have been presented with this problem. I have talked about this before, in my article 'Something All Young Actresses Should Be Aware Of'. "There is one magic way to meet women. And not just any women, but the most beautiful women you could find. It's a very simple sentence, "I'm casting a movie."" Absolutely anyone can hold auditions for a film. Anyone can register on Mandy.com, Casting Call Pro or Talent Circle - and there are people who abuse this.

Immediate thoughts come to mind such as 'This is a problem with society, not with the film industry' or 'I am a good guy, I don't do anything wrong.' This is a very convenient position to take and one that I, as a male in the film business, have often taken. When a newspaper reports that women are not getting their films funded, or that there are no meaty acting roles for them, I use my privilege as a man to disregard the matter; to not see it as my concern. By using this privilege, by not being accountable for it, I am becoming part of the problem. I'm being a bystander; ignoring a very real and very pressing problem in our industry.

Bringing awareness to this topic is new to me, and there is so much to be looked at, discussed, and processed. A good way to start would be to hear more. In what ways is the film industry unfair/prejudice? (i.e. acting roles, directors, etc), and in what ways are women potentially manipulated and put in danger? (i.e. unprofessional auditions, nude scenes, etc). I'm sure there are many, many things that I am not aware of -- and that's exactly why I'd encourage you to share them with the readers here.

I'd really like to hear from you all - men and women, on this topic. By hearing more around your concerns and issues, we can then go deeper into them. This is a discussion that needs to happen more in our industry, but generally doesn't. So let's start.

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Want Friends, Will Write

This blog has grown steadily and quietly over the last year-- it's been really exciting for me. The industry is full of fiery film geeks who can name the budget of Transformers 2 and can list the entire crew list of Pulp Fiction-- but it's hard to have a nice conversation about Billy Wilder, or a space to delve into deeper issues like creativity (or lack thereof), blocks/inner critics, and other inspirational things.

This site has given me the privilege of being able to focus on those things, and have you all along for the journey. You are all, it seems, very much like me. I am not the only one who spends sleepless nights watching Jimmy Stewart films from 1938 (or your own equivalent)-- we all do. There's something really powerful in that.

But I'd like there to be more of us. Part of that is the achievement driven side of me wanting a more successful blog. But far over-riding that is the part of me that feels more people would value this if only they knew about it. It's been great recently to have numerous guest bloggers, as well as interviews with some of the professional I admire the most, such as Joshua Malina, Scott Rosenberg, etc. I'd love their inspirational words to reach bigger audiences.

So I'm asking for a small favor. I'd really appreciate it if you could email five of your friends, and tell them about this blog and why you think they might appreciate it. Invite them to look at the site, or maybe even recommend a few particular articles on it.

Many of you already do this, and share articles on your Facebook walls, and for that I am extremely grateful. If you could personally recommend and invite five of your friends to come here; and others do the same, I think it would really add something to what we have here. It's strange how I get to know you all through the comments and emails. I look forward to more of it.

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Review Of A Film

A film is a form of entertainment whereby a person, or people, watch a story take place on a screen. Dogs and cats also watch them but are less likely to pen a review.

Films tend to begin with opening credits, which I find very impressive as they enable you to find out the name of the film as well as who starred in it.

The majority of a film tends to be a mix of audio and visual - allowing an audience to both hear and see. This is a fantastic idea which I find to be wonderful, although only if I have a screen and speakers. Many people prefer audio only, so I will be reviewing 'radio' in the future.

Films sometimes tell a story, which is fabulous. Rumor has it that after the invention of film many people thought that instead of telling stories they should instead tell instructions, or perhaps even tell the time. Luckily they settled on stories but this has been abandoned by Hollywood in recent years.

Films last for two hours, except for really bad ones which run closer to three. Films have also introduced the world to radical ideas not seen in real life such as: competent lawyers, happy endings, and women who return phone calls.

Films are let down by a strange thing at the end, where lots of names scroll up a screen for seven minutes, although this is said to be preferable to watching an Eddie Murphy movie.

Overall I give films four stars out of five. They can be very entertaining and original, although some things are terrible, such as their influence on gun crime, the pressure they put on women to be beautiful and Brett Ratner's filmography.

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Film Scraps.

This morning I watched twenty minutes of HIGH FIDELITY. A few days back I watched about half of SOME LIKE IT HOT. Earlier in the week I watched six minutes of an episode of ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE and I even watched all of IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS apart from the last fifteen minutes. I never plan to do this -- and of course, many of you will be like "Dude, I'm like-- oh my god, what the hell? You're meant to be a film dude but real film dudes watch all of each film dude what the hell dude, really, what the hell?"
And of course, I agree. I never plan to not watch all of a film. I'm not really sure what happens, or why it happens. There are two factors that I can think of. One, my attention always drifts. Maybe I have Attention Deficit Disorder; but unfortunately it wasn't invented back when I was a kid, so I never had it. My mind drifts. Sometimes it's thinking about girls, "oooh, I wonder what Mandy Frumpton looks like naked." Sometimes, it's more creative thinking, like "oooh, I wonder if I creep down Brownhurst Avenue late at night, maybe I could sneakily see Mandy Frumpton naked." Sometimes my mind just drifts off and dreams of nonsensical things, like "ooh, I wonder if I asked Mandy out, and she said no, maybe I'd bump into her in the store, and she'd be buying beans, but they'd have no beans, and I'd steal some cheese. I'd steal the cheese and everyone would be running after me...." Then I snap back. I missed a bit of dialogue from the movie I'm watching. I get grumpy. Then I go for a pee. Then there's someone at the door. It's Mandy, she says to stop fantasising about her because she's trying to get some work done. Then I get a phone call. Then I come back to the movie but I quickly check my emails, and there's an email from a disgruntled blog reader saying "Your blogs are crap man! Don't you ever blog about important film stuff!?" and I say, "I do. Didn't you read the one about Mandy Frumpton?" and then I start the movie again-- but now I've lost it. Or rather, the film has lost it. Lost its flow. I decide to make a cup of tea then come back to it.

The problem that happens when I come back to it is part of the bigger problem. Namely that, my moods swing erratically when it comes to movie watching. I really have to be in the mood to watch a film. Often, when I stare at my DVD's, wondering what to watch; it's not so much about what is a good movie but 'what is it that I need?'. I need the drug of film, and I need the right prescription. For example, the other day; I was in a flighty, happy, Billy-Wilder-is-God mood, so I put in SOME LIKE IT HOT. But as it was playing, I got a great idea for a film. I paused the DVD and began frantically writing. Twenty minutes later I realized my idea; about two men who dress as women to make some money and avoid criminals was hardly original. I shut down my laptop and returned to the movie. But now I was angry at myself for starting a crap script, and this comedy nonsense was clearly not what I wanted to be watching.

This morning, I was in the mood for HIGH FIDELITY. I'd been avoiding it for about four years-- ever since I lent it to a girl called Gemma who decided to let her cat have a three hour disco on the data side of the disc (I can only assume). I decided to risk it, hoping the disc would work. It did, and the film was good. Just as I remembered, scenes in order and everything. But after a short break because of a work matter, I couldn't get back into the movie. I've seen it a heap of times, and it's slow and predictable and blah de blah, la la. I won't be going back to it any time soon.

I have these scraps of movies everywhere. It can't be good for me to be watching random bits and pieces of films. Am I the only person who does this? I suspect you are all good film-people who would never ever even pause a film or even stop for fires, but maybe someone can relate.

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The Writer Who Never Wrote About The Things He'd Never Written.

There was a writer, a great writer, although he never wrote, because he didn't have time to. This is what he wrote about in his memoirs, or at least he would have, if he had found the time. You see, the writer was unfortunate in that every time he went to write he would have something more pressing to do. Like pressing clothes, pressing a button on a microwave and pressing people's patience.

The writer's creativity was a strange and complex thing. His imagination would create wonderful ideas, which he would then sit down to write. As soon as he did - another wonderful idea would enter his mind, meaning the other one seemed less important, meaning he returned to pressing.

The depressing nature of his natural inclination to press, rather than write, was repressed and oppressed, causing much stress, a complete mess. Often, he would be just about to write his masterpiece when he would get an unexpected call at the door. On days it didn't happen, he would call up friends and demand they call round unexpectedly. When they did, he would curse at the Gods for making him so busy.

The writer was a remarkable fellow in that he could never find the time to write but he could always find the time to Google the symptoms of his ever changing illnesses. And when truly frustrated by his inability to find time to write, he would shoot off a ten thousand word email to friends moaning about how busy he'd been. He couldn't understand why all the successful writers weren't busy, when he was extremely busy. He thought he got to the bottom of this when he got two extra shifts tending bar and two extra nights tending a hangover but unfortunately this failed to materialize in the written word.

Many nights he pondered over why he had never made it in the industry and why nobody had ever noticed the genius of his writing. For years, he struggled to figure it out. This struggling made him consider writing his first novel but he felt bitter about all the times the works he had never written had never been published. The bitterness grew and grew, until it was the size of a small goat which is actually quite big in terms of bitterness. The bitterness grew and he got angry towards all the publishers he'd never met and all the readers who had never enjoyed the work he had never written.

He finally decided to quit after many years of not achieving what he wanted with the books he'd never written.

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