Women Who Run The Show By Molillie Gregory

The search for equality within the film industry has been very much a subject of contention over the years, and even now, is still a source struggle for all women within the industry. Whether women are actors or producers, directors or screenwriter, behind-the-scenes or talent, they knew that their dream of making it in the world of filmmaking will come with many obstacles. They would have to work twice as hard as men, only to be payed less than the majority of them.

In her book, Women Who Run The Show: How a Brilliant and Creative New Generation of Women Stormed Hollywood, Mollie Gregory tells the story of women, who, despite the knowledge that their path would be an arduous one, did everything in their power to accomplish their dreams, fought

to get what they deserved, and helped each other along the way rather than tear each other down. This is a series of interviews between Gregory herself, and women holding various positions within the entertainment business, from the producer of Pretty Woman, Laura Ziskin, to Paramount Pictures chairman Sherry Lansing, to Barbra Streisand. With this truthful coverage of female experience of the film and television industry, organized chronologically by decade, Mollie Gregory offers her reader a comprehensive, if not encyclopedic, account of the struggle women wen through.
Before talking about the content of the book, it is important to shine some light as to who the writer is. Mollie Gregory, as the inside of the dust jacket informs the reader, is "a writer and producer of documentary films [who] has written a variety of novels, and nonfiction books" about the world of filmmaking, and the business of the movie industry. Gregory is also a "member of the Writers Guild of America, and a past President of both PEN Center USA West" and WIFTI, Women In Film & Television International. Mollie Gregory is a writer, a producer, a film consultant, and a frequent lecturer who guides her book Women Who Run The Show around the very first sentence of the introduction: "What we failed to say yesterday, no one will know tomorrow." Gregory here reflects on the past, the accomplishments made by female trailblazers of the film industry in the early twentieth century, and wonders how the industry has changed since women were considered pioneers.
Through the compilation of interviews and anecdotes, Mollie Gregory creates a book resembling an oral history of the condition of women within the entertainment industry, and the changes that have occurred over the past decades. She introduces the concept of "the long desert" that she refers to throughout her book, which is the period Gregory defines as that in which the influence of women in the industry began to diminish. In fact, Mollie Gregory started to compile interviews back in 1997. These stories are about life struggles, achievements, deceptions, fights, recognition, paths taken or discarded, those of nearly one hundred and thirty women put together to create a first person narrative of the influence of women in Hollywood, and their individual and societal hardships.
Mollie Gregory, not the first to write a book about women's developing influence in the entertainment business, decided to take a new approach to its structure.

She decided to organize the accounts and observation, not by area of influence or the various work positions of the women, but rather by decade, in a chronological order, to highlight and emphasize the changes made, or not made, through the years. Every single account is told honestly, and from a voice, conscious that they'd never been truly ask to share their experience. The idea that these incredible women have paved the way for generations to come, suffered though sexual harassment, pay inequality, lack of recognition, false reputations, erroneous perceptions and expectations, and overall obstacles in their paths, only to find that they are their stories are not worth sharing was shocking to the writer of Women Who Run The Show, as it most likely was for every reader. She therefore set out to remedy this, and give these women back their voices, and the recognition they deserve. Mollie Gregory did so by highlighting both the strength and the weakness of these women, making the telling of the stories at time unsettling, and at times hopeful and

inspiring.
"Back then, it was catch-twenty-two: you wanted women to do well because if they messed up, they messed up for everybody.

But if they did well, it as an exception" (Gregory 136). Brianne Murphy was a cinematographer, in the 1980s, becoming the first female director of photography to work for a major studio motion picture, the film Fatso, which came out in 1980. She went on to be the first woman admitted to the local cameraman's union in 1975, the first woman to be a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) in 1983. In 1982, Murphy won an Academy Award for Scientific and Engineering Achievement, and was nominated for four Emmys for cinematography. And Brianne Murphy was on the women interviewed by Mollie Gregory, a woman who's name is unknown by most of the people actively working in the industry, or taught to film students who are hoping to join

it.
And the issue of anonymity within the industry is not so much a question of knowledge, but rather that of gender. Such an incredible figure is remembered by the people who strive to remember, and give these women all the respect they deserve. Nowadays, women still strive to find a place within a world that is categorically male, and therefore find a way to celebrate themselves and each other. The Women In Film and Television International corporation has a long history of trying to advance the professional achievements of women in all types of media, and celebrate their accomplishments. They therefore present annual awards at their Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Award, Dorothy Arzner Directors Award MAXMARA Face of the Future Award and Kodak Vision Award ceremonies, where deservingly outstanding women in communications and media are honored for their endurance and the excellence of their work, and their part in expanding the role of women in the entertainment industry, whether as filmmakers, actors, directors, cinematographers, talent agents, or others. Mollie Gregory, who once was President of this corporation, knows the importance of such work as women are often discarded in more mainstream award ceremonies.
Mollie Gregory therefore explains in Women Who Run The Show, that Martha Lauren, PhD, dedicated her life to bringing to light the discrepancies and inequalities in terms of number "women's employment on the top grossing films for the [past] 18 years" (Lauzen 1). As Lauzen's recent statistical studies, which were published in 2015, show, out of the 250 top-grossing films that came out in 2015, only 9% of the directors were women. And while this number has increased by two percent from 2014's statistical studies, the 2015 figure is sill no better than the one achieved in 1998. In addition, over a third of the films released that year employed zero or just one woman in the writer, cinematographer, director, executive producer, producer, or editor positions. In contrast the number of film which only employed zero or one man was 1%. As Mollie Gregory states, "Changing Hollywood is going to be like turning around a battleship" (Gregory 362). In fact, the reluctance to do more to change these shocking numbers it palpable within the industry, and very little amount of people are pushing to encourage these changes. Even when, this year, the Directors Guild of America and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences both responded to controversies about the lack of diversity within their corporations, they are not taking actual steps towards increasing these numbers, but rather encouraging their members to hire, mentor, and promote talent." In the same manner, major studios try to use the small amount of women who succeeded in making a name for themselves within the patriarchal world of filmmaking as example that it is possible and that there is no "woman problem" and most importantly, that it is not their fault.
But in addition to the lack of opportunity comes with a bigger problem: the condition of women once they are within the sacred walls of the entertainment world. In fact, sexual harassment is a problem that comes back throughout the book, and throughout the decades. In the 1970s, Mary Ledding, a former senior VP in motion pictures business affairs at MGM, and at the time the book was written, a senior VP in legal affairs at Universal Pictures, recounts tales told to her and her own experiences:
I never went through anything like that. […] I was very lucky. I got my break from a woman, and second, I was always chubby. Overweight women are treated differently. Third, I was married. Married women are treated differently. I know single women really, really had problems. One woman in business affairs told me about being accosted by a star when she too him a contract to sign. In seconds, he had her against the wall. That's what many women went through every day. […] Being married protected me. (Gregory 78-79)
Unfortunately, the fact is that not much as changed in terms of the perception of women, within in industry, and outside of it. Women are put in situations they did not ask for, and where they have no recourse. Recently, in the entertainment industry, a major American singer, Kesha, came out as a survivor of years of rape at the hands of her producer. When she sued her studio to finally be freed of her contract with her aggressor. Unfortunately, the courts did not grant her her freedom and forced her to continue her work with him. This brave declaration lead many other actors and artists to come out as rape survivors, such as Lady Gaga, Jaime King, or AnnaLyne McCord. But the public can be harsh at times, and these types of declaration are often followed by public shaming.
Hypersexualization of women through the means of media have lead the entire industry, and the world to raise and raise their intentions and expectations of women, to the point where women are scared to be themselves, and actresses are forced to become the most sexualized versions of themselves. In an interview for the What's Underneath Project, a documentary series meant to brings to light the stories of men and women who felt objectified and sexualized to the point that they were not comfortable in their own skin. By interviewing them as they take off pieces of clothing one by one until they are in their underwear, the creators of the What's Underneath Project hope to give their audience, and their interviewees, the empowerment that they deserve. "By featuring the diverse stories of unapologetic individuals who are true to themselves and comfortable in their skin, you will be empowered to discover that same sense of freedom and comfort in your own skin."
Caitlin Stasey, actress in Hollywood, recognizable for her roles in the TV series Reign (2013-2015), or Tomorrow When the War Began (2010), took part in the project and shared stories of objectification and hypersexualization she experienced since she started acting at age 13. She recounts how her manager controls her image, and forces her to send her pictures of her outfits before she steps into an audition, all because she dared to wear high-waisted jeans at an audition, and was deemed "not sexy enough." "I kind of, maybe foolishly felt like, 'I'm that good. It won't matter.' [But] this town considers women to be nebulous things that can be sanded down until they resemble everyone else" (What's Underneath Project). The systematic sexism of the film and television industries made her into a force of uncensored activism and feminism, rebelling against an industry where women "have to be cool with anything" such as objectification, sexual harassment, daily humiliation, and complete loss of freedom over their bodies. She has begun her own project where women are immortalized through nude photographs, where their beauty is reveals, and where their experiences are shared with the world. "Herself is […] a chance to witness the female form in all its honesty without the burden of the male gaze, without the burden of appealing to anyone […] in the hopes of encouraging solidarity – that maybe we as women will take comfort in the triumphs of others rather than revelling in each other’s defeats.”
And the story of Caitlin Stasey or Kesha are just examples of how such a patriarchal industry, and much of the time, community, has betrayed women to a point where they feel cornered. The stories in Mollie Gregory's book resemble that of Caitlin Stasey and all the other participants of such forward-thinking projects. The main difference here is the means of communications used to push back the boundaries set by the men who control the industry. In the twenty-first century, women who feel exploited can come out and share their experience, unlike the women in Mollie Gregory's book. Not necessarily accepted or publicly acclaimed for such bravery yet, the women who stand up for all those who feel their voices are drowned in a sea of voices, are able to support one another, and continue to walk the path taken by Mollie Gregory's interviewees.