Women In The Film Industry

(beep)

hello future anna. i hope when you look over this in the future, the world is a more inclusive place for everyone, no matter the job, situation, or person.

I sometimes find it difficult to talk about things like this, as i have been born into an all white family who support what i do. obviously others have been against it, but my family have all been loving and encouraging, so i have no personal experience of the world not being inclusive for me. so far. i am extremely lucky, i know. i was once told that the first thought you have is what you are conditioned to think, and the second thought you have is what you actually think. this is nothing against my family or how i have been bought up, but i guess i am still slightly in the first stage, and still teaching myself that my actual opinion counts. this began, i guess, as something struck me today. i woke up to see all over twitter which nominees had won golden globe awards. i always love seeing awards shows, but as most are hosted in America, it's difficult to watch them live, so i check up on them the next day usually. i saw that one of my favourite tv shows from 2017 'big little lies' won a few awards which makes me happy as the show was amazing (watch it if you can!), and then i went onto the internet to see the other winners. i'll be completely honest, i hadn't seen all the nominees until then. as i want to be a film director, i firstly scrolled to the 'best director' section, but was a little shocked to just see men.

now, i have probably tried to write this next paragraph at least 3 times, but hopefully this is the one!

i have never had a problem with all a certain gender being picked, or all white people. PLEASE LET ME FINISH BEFORE YOU ASSUME!! but that's because other genders, ethnicity's, people from different backgrounds, etc are never given a chance. i saw a few days a go that just 7% of the 250 films the golden globes chose from were directed by women. that's a tiny amount. so if the awards committee were allowed to choose just 6 people to nominate, of course the chances of having a woman on the list is low. I can't talk for groups other than women personally, as i am not part of them, but i try and learn everyday and help people learn about how our world/the film industry needs to improve too.

I think it's wrong to have a go at the men who were nominated as they sometimes can't see the side they aren't part of. it's understandable. they have never been in a position where they are put down because of their gender in the industry, but this means they need to be taught. taught to work with women, listen their ideas, and keep progressing.

It's difficult to explain sometimes. i guess my opinion is this:

for me, film is about telling stories. everyone has stories to tell. some people don't want to tell their stories, others love seeing stories they relate to on screen, and a few want to tell their stories personally. these stories are real, based on others, made up, from someone's dreams or even nightmares. for me, the story is EVERYTHING. it doesn't matter who is predominantly telling the story, as long as it's a story worth telling, and it's told well. for me, everyone who wants to, should be involved with the telling of these stories, and shouldn't be discriminated against.

I think natalie portman got it spot on when she was presenting the 'best director award' and addressed the situation in 2 words: https://twitter.com/sahluwal/status/950239532330369024

what we need to take from this and teach others is that everyone should be respected, no matter who they are. the film industry creates films about so many people, why not have lots of different people involved with the creation of them.

hopefully i've summed this up ok-ish, well, as best as i could at this present moment. like i said, it can be hard to get all your thoughts across like this, especially on such a big topic. i hope you take from this that i am a nice person (unless i'm in a mood, hahha), and when i am/do create films, i do/will include as many people i can, and never ever discriminate. hopefully that 7% can increase, and hopefully one day there isn't a percentage, as the industry includes everyone. thanks for reading, hopefully all your dreams come true (i have said hopefully so many times but like princess leia says, "hope is not lost today, it is found").

(beep)