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Women Directors Talk Permeable Wall

posted by Women & Hollywood
Monday, April 20, 2009 at 7:57pm CDT

Martha Coolidge

A bunch of high profile female directors (Martha Coolidge, Penelope Spheeris, Catherine Hardwicke, Kimberly Peirce) participated in a symposium at Chapman University in CA this past weekend called Women in Focus. They spoke about the difficulties for women directors.

Here’s what Catherine Hardwicke had to say about her post-twilight world:

There are a zillion movies that you feel a woman should direct…But they’re more than happy to let a guy do it.

Some doors opened post-Twilight:

I got sent a zillion scripts…There’s maybe one out of 500 that I’d like to do, but you’re in competition with Oscar-winning directors for those.

Martha Coolidge has been a truth talker on this issue for some time. She’s one of the women with clout to be honest since she was the head of the DGA. (I can only imagine how frustrating it must have been for her since she really has tried to push this issue, and even when she had a position of power things didn’t get better.)

The truth is that there is a permeable wall…We don’t have the club and we don’t have the members that the guys do.

The glass ceiling has become a permeable wall. Now women can’t even see the other side.

I find it hysterical that Penelope Spheeris was thought by Lorne Michaels as not able to direct on her own until her 7th movie the SNL spinoff movie Wayne’s World. The idiots must have thought the film was going to flop cause they gave her 7% of the profits making her a millionaire.

Maybe it will be different for the next generation. Kimberly Peirce is now developing a comedy with Judd Apatow. Hopefully with her at the helm it won’t be the typical Apatow fare and might treat women a little better.

Twilight director still looking for daylight in Hollywood (Orange County Register)