women in film inching forward

USA Today

HOLLYWOOD—“We’ve come a long way, but ... we're not there yet, baby.” So says Harriet Silverman, executive director of Women in Film, a group devoted to the advancement of women in “the industry.”

WIF is celebrating its twentieth anniversary, at a time when women working in a system dubbed the old boy's club are reassessing their position and renewing a commitment to make that nickname obsolete.

“We really are accepted now,” agrees Sherry Lansing, chairman of Paramount and former mogul at 20th Century Fox and Columbia. “Twenty years ago we were a lot of onlys, you know? Now we’re a lot of us.”

But producer Peg Yorkin emphasizes the work ahead, citing a 1990 Directors Guild of America study that found “five percent of feature films were directed by women and ten percent of television. I mean, it’s ridiculous ... we’re half the population.”

But whether one sees the glass as half empty or half full, most appreciate WlF’s role in any advances. For many, the organization serves as a support group. Actress/producer Donna Mills recalls her first encounter with WIF.

“It was so inspirational, so energizing,” she says. Mills and others say the industry’s tendency to condemn aggressive women as “bitches” has been divisive. So by simply bringing women together, WIF has an impact. Mills recalls her initial surprise: “Hey, this is a great group! These women are smart and funny. They’re not bitchy; they’re nice!”

At the same time, says Kay Koplovitz, president of USA Networks, the group has earned the old boys’ respect through its practical programs “about the real business.”

WIF is creating a kind of old girl’s club via a mentoring program and efforts to launch training programs at studios and networks. Koplovitz’s USA Networks now has a women’s apprentice program covering all areas of the business.

Eventually, we’ll see the results onscreen. Says Yorkin: “We need enough women in positions of power ... to create a critical mass which can then impact programming.” The idea is that when enough women have the power to green-light projects, depictions will go beyond what Silverman calls the “token twenty-eight-year-old who’s naked or in a bikini.”

And women aren’t the only ones who’ll benefit. According to M*A*S*H star Mike Farrell, one of about two hundred men actively supporting WIF here, men can’t help but gain from a stronger feminine perspective.

“What we have to do,” he says, “is recognize what women have to offer ... and stop insisting that we have all the answers and that male virtues are the only virtues.”

But perhaps a woman should have the last word. Says WIF’s Silverman: “We'd like to see a yin and yang of male/female involvement in creative expression.” +