What it's like to be a woman in Hollywood | Naomi McDougall Jones

TL;DR

Being a woman in Hollywood means confronting stereotypical roles, limited opportunities, and pressure to accept the system as “just the way it is,” according to Naomi McDougall Jones. After competing with 300 women for one-dimensional parts, she co-created an $80,000 film about two complex female characters with an all-female production team. She ends with a four-point plan for audiences, filmmakers, investors, and entrepreneurs. Read on for the specific actions she recommends.

Transcript

Reviewer: Camille Martínez I'm going to begin today with a story and end with a revolution. (Laughter) Are you ready? Audience: Yes! Naomi McDougall-Jones: Here's the story. All my life I wanted to be an actress. From the time I was very small, I could feel the magic of storytelling and I wanted to be a part of it. So, at the ripe age of 21, I grad... Read More

Key Insights

• 🎭 Naomi McDougall-Jones shares her experience of facing gender inequality in the film industry, where women are limited to stereotypical roles and are often not considered for leading roles.
• 🎥 Movies have a significant impact on society and influence our perceptions, choices, and identities.
• 💰 Films by and about women are profitable, as they make more money and have a larger audience.
• 👭 Only a small percentage of films are directed by women, highlighting the need to increase opportunities and representation for female filmmakers.
• 📽️ Viewers can support the revolution by watching movies made by female filmmakers and paying attention to the representation and roles of women characters.
• 🎞️ Female filmmakers are encouraged to be brave and not wait for permission to tell their stories. They should explore alternative methods of funding and distribution.
• 🤝 Collaboration and investment from audiences, businesspeople, and entrepreneurs are crucial to disrupt the existing system and make significant social change.
• 🌍 The revolution is not just about improving the film industry but about creating a better world with diverse perspectives and stories.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is it like to be a woman in Hollywood, according to Naomi McDougall Jones?

Naomi McDougall Jones describes encountering female roles that were one-dimensional, stereotypical, or defined mainly by their relationships to men. She also faced people who treated these limitations as “just the way it is” and warned women to be careful about challenging the system.

Q: What acting roles were available to Naomi McDougall Jones?

She found casting notices for women with no dialogue, a hero’s flirtatious “prize,” a wife whose purpose was tending to her husband, and a character subjected to sexual violence. These parts did not match her goal of playing smart, willful, confident, and complex women.

Q: What did Naomi McDougall Jones’s agent tell her about her career prospects?

Her agent said she was too smart for the roles written for women in their 20s and not pretty enough to be “the hot one.” He predicted that she would work when she was 35, even though she believed actresses that age were often relegated to playing mothers of 20-year-olds.

Q: Why did Naomi McDougall Jones decide to make her own movie?

About a year after speaking with her agent, she and an actress friend discussed the lack of worthwhile female roles and decided to create their own film. Jones would write a story centered on two complex female characters.

Q: How was Naomi McDougall Jones’s film made?

The project developed into a film about two women with an all-female team of writers, directors, and producers. They scraped together $80,000 to make it despite being told that audiences did not want films about women and that they needed a male producer to gain investors’ trust.

Q: What happened after Naomi McDougall Jones completed her film?

Jones says the movie entered many festivals, won numerous awards, and performed well. Its screenings also gave her opportunities to discuss gender inequality through audience Q&As, industry panels, and conferences.

Q: Why does Naomi McDougall Jones believe sexism persists in Hollywood?

She argues that sexism often continues casually or unconsciously because people try to succeed within the existing system. Advice to remain quiet or avoid “playing the woman card” teaches younger women to accept current conditions instead of changing them.

Q: What is Naomi McDougall Jones’s four-point plan for changing the film industry?

First, audiences should watch films by female filmmakers and examine how women are represented. Second, women should tell their stories without waiting for permission; third, investors should fund female filmmakers; and fourth, entrepreneurs should disrupt Hollywood’s traditional model with new business approaches.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The speaker, Naomi McDougall-Jones, discusses the lack of diverse and complex female characters in the film industry and the limited opportunities for women in the field.

• She emphasizes the need for more films made by and about women, as they have proven to be profitable and resonate with audiences.

• McDougall-Jones proposes a four-point plan for change: watch movies made by female filmmakers, encourage and support women in making their own films, invest in female filmmakers and disrupt the current industry with new business models.