Women in Film: Changing the Game 2

Last week I asked you to think about what it would mean if we screenwriters could lead the industry instead of just be followers. To think about what it would be like if we could create the trends rather than just go along with trends we didn’t have a say in.

Bottom line, what if 2018 became that year when you wrote a female-driven screenplay? What if you wrote a script with a female lead—even if you’ve never tried to do that before?

The only way to change what is so clearly an inequitable system where men have close to 4/5ths of the major roles in film is for that change to come from the bottom. And as we screenwriters are told in so many ways, we’re at the bottom of the pecking order in Hollywood.

But the other side of that coin is that the industry comes to a standstill without us—without that script nobody has anything to do.

So why not try it? Why not try changing the conversation from “it sucks that there are so few films with female leads” to “my new script’s going to have a female lead.” And if everybody did that, think of the amazing amount of female-driven product the industry would have to choose from.

Could you? Could you take that challenge?

It wouldn’t be easy. I mean, you’re up against great odds. Even as the supreme movie buff on the planet, you haven’t seen enough female-driven films to give you a body of work to inspire you… alas. So a lot of the creativity in crafting your film with a female lead is going to have to come from inside you.

Give it some thought. Would you write about a figure in history? Would you write about a marriage from the wife’s POV? A woman who runs her own business? A woman who’s a serial killer? A woman who runs a prostitution ring? A woman who becomes the first female president? A woman who’s the first person on Mars? A woman who cheats on her husband? A woman who abuses her children? A woman who’s a great teacher? A woman who runs a truck-driving business? A woman who goes door-to-door selling cosmetics? A woman who’s a Wall Street wizard? A woman who’s a psychiatrist? A girl who’s being bullied in school? A girl who joins an all-male debate team at school? A woman in the mostly male orchestra in New York? A woman who runs a pizza parlor? A woman who’s a stay-at-home mom? A woman who gets lost in a foreign city? A woman who marries a man in Asia and moves there from the U.S.? A woman who designs a controversial new building in San Francisco? A woman who writes crime novels? A woman who joins the Army at 17? A woman in a polygamous marriage in Utah? A woman basketball player? A woman who is stoned in her village in Yemen? A woman who commits suicide? A woman who’s hanged for a crime she didn’t commit? A woman…

There really are so many—half of us on the planet, actually. And we all have stories.

So be brave—choose one… I wasn’t going to play the birthday card, but as today actually IS my birthday, give me a gift… start a new script with a female lead. I will too—and we’ll see where the year takes us!

Copyright © Diane Lake

28Jan18

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com