Educational Media Reviews Online

Women Producers of Hollywood can be thought of as a sequel to Janis Cole and Holly Dale's 1989 in-depth feature documentary Calling the Shots (Direct Cinema). It picks up where the earlier film left off, and bridges the nine-year gap with some women featured in the earlier work, like Barbara Boyle and Sherry Lansing, commenting on the same issues.

Documenting the working lives of several well-known producers like Lauren Shuler-Donner (X-Men, You've Got Mail, Free Willy), and Debra Hill (Escape from L.A., Halloween, The Fisher King), as well as the lesser-known Peggy Chane who works on low budget films, we get a picture of the types of difficulties and triumphs each encounters daily. Chane freely admits to taking up golf only because it is the pass-time of the influential men in Hollywood with whom she must deal. Hill, who is supervising the shooting of Crazy in Alabama, makes sure that her director, Antonio Banderas can work under ideal conditions. She gives her input before shooting and then stands back to allow Banderas to create. His comments, although intended to be positive, reflect the reality of attitudes based on gender stereotypes, "She's a very tough girl, actually, (…) and we need that push from a woman." Christine Vachon (Happiness, Velvet Goldmine) is used as the New York counterpoint to the Hollywood scene. Finding financing outside the studios gives her freedom of choice in terms of the types of projects and ways of working she selects. The consensus among the women interviewed appears to indicate that although many conditions have changed over the years, they still feel the influence of the Hollywood "boys' club". Statistics from the Employment and Equality: Assessing the Status of Women in the top 100 films of 1987, 1992, & 1997 report published by the Women in Film association, confirm that although there has been an increase in the numbers of women working at all levels and positions in the film industry, there still is only 1 woman for every 8 men in film credits. Less reliable however, is the information provided on ranking and earnings as the various sources quoted, Vanity Fair, Premiere and Entertainment Weekly are erroneously ascribed the label of trade publication. What then is the situation for women producers in Hollywood since the insightful Calling the Shots? To say that not much has changed would be incorrect, but in view of the corporate world outside the film industry, the changes we see correlate with women's advances outside the film world. Some women, like Sherry Lansing, appear to have achieved the recognition and respect they fought very hard and long for, while others still feel the discrimination of the wall of invisibility.

Although somewhat superficial in scope and depth, this video should be useful as a discussion starter for such post-secondary academic areas as Women's Studies, Communication Studies, Film Studies and Journalism. While this program is ironically in itself an illustration of insensitivity in its decision to use a male narrator, I would recommend the use of this video as an addendum to, or in conjunction with, Calling the Shots. In addition, for an examination of the pioneering work of women behind the camera, seek out Anthony Slide and Jeffrey Goodman's 1993 video, The Silent Feminists: America's First Women Directors (Direct Cinema)