#FemaleFilmmakerFriday – Is Film Fair?

Well this is an easy blog post!

Is the film industry fair?

No!

*dusts hands, closes book*

Oh. Okay.

No, of course it’s not fair. Nothing is fair. People get hand outs in this industry just like in every other industry. Men are trusted with blockbusters, women aren’t. Women direct one bad film and never work again, men have stinkers up and down their IMDB pages. White applicants are hired, trust fund babies can hang onto their assistant jobs, and this industry is absolutely not fair.

I think the work that people like my friend Liz Alper are doing is extremely important and I applaud how much the dialogue about how cosmically, ridiculously unfair our industry is has opened up. But the meat and bones is that no, it isn’t; nothing really is; I have to find a way to power through anyway while change turns its slow ass wheel.

For me, that has meant making my own shows, like Classic Alice, and stuffing my reel full of self-produced material. It has also meant staying in class, learning to write and produce, taking more and more on myself, crowdfunding, AND working as much as I possibly can at my day job to help fund future productions. It absolutely is hard and I wish the dam would break a little more than it has, but I have to believe that if I just keep knocking steadily, things will give. I don’t think concentrating on how unfair the industry is is productive for me. What IS productive is for me to keep moving.

When I joined Patreon, that was a big help; I’ve since moved to my own Patronage model, which is kind of the same thing, and it helps me manage my day to day so much more. I honestly wish I had done it before Classic Alice ended; I think a lot of the fans of that show don’t know I’m on there.

I’m not sure Patreon totally sucks away the unfairness of Hollywood. I don’t think anything can. I just carve a little space out for me and invite people in; when they join me, great. Until then, I’ll keep struggling to save a few bucks to shoot something new and keep elbowing my way forward.

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