Writing Women for Film and Television: A Guide to Creating Complex Female Characters [1 ed.] 9780367254001, 9780367254018

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WRITING WOMEN FOR FILM & TELEVISION

This book is a detailed guide to creating complex female characters for film and television. Written for screen storytellers of any level, this book will help screenwriters and filmmakers recognize complicated portrayals of women on screen and evaluate the complexity of their own characters. Author Anna Weinstein provides a thorough analysis of key female characters in film and television, illustrating how some of our greatest screenwriters have developed smart, nuanced, and intriguing characters that successfully portray the female experience. The book features in-depth discussions of women’s representation both on screen and behind the scenes, including interviews with acclaimed women screenwriters and directors from around the globe. These conversations detail their perspectives on the relevance of women’s screen stories, the writing and development processes of these stories, and the challenges in getting female characters to the screen. With practical suggestions, exercises, guidelines, and a review of tired clichés to avoid, this book leaves readers prepared to draw their own female characters with confidence. A vital resource for screenwriters, filmmakers, and directors, whether aspiring or already established, who seek to champion the development of rich, layered, and unforgettable female characters for film and television. Anna Weinstein is a screenwriter and educator based in Atlanta. She is on the screenwriting faculty in the English Department at Kennesaw State University (KSU), where she teaches and mentors undergraduate and grad­ uate students. Anna is the founding editor of the PERFORM: Succeeding as a Creative Professional book series (Routledge) and the Screen Storytellers book series.

WRITING WOMEN FOR FILM & TELEVISION A Guide to Creating Complex Female Characters Anna Weinstein

Designed cover image: © oxygen / Getty Images First published 2024 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2024 Anna Weinstein The right of Anna Weinstein to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Names: Weinstein, Anna, 1972- author. Title: Writing women for film & television : a guide to creating complex female characters / Anna Weinstein. Description: London ; New York : Routledge, 2024. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2023030286 (print) | LCCN 2023030287 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367254001 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367254018 (paperback) | ISBN 9780429287596 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Motion picture authorship. | Television authorship. | Women in literature. | Characters and characteristics in literature. Classification: LCC PN1996 .W2945 2024 (print) | LCC PN1996 (ebook) | DDC 808/.066791‐‐dc23/eng/20230925 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023030286 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023030287 ISBN: 978-0-367-25400-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-25401-8 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-28759-6 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9780429287596 Typeset in Sabon by MPS Limited, Dehradun

For my children, Abraham and Gabriel

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

viii

Introduction

1

1 She Is on Screen: Women’s Representation in Film & Television

3

2 She Comes of Age: Young Women

25

3 She Falls in Love: Smitten Women

50

4 She Climbs the Ladder: Working Women

73

5 She Cares for the Family: Nurturing Women

97

6 She Doesn’t Play by the Rules: “Mad” Women

120

7 She Sparks Change: Trailblazing Women

143

8 She Is Seen: Developing “Reel” Women

162

Index

180

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My first thanks go to my editors and the entire team at Routledge. My gratitude to Sheni Kruger for seeing the possibility in this book, to Claire Margerison for the numerous Zoom conversations and kind patience, and to Andrew Peart for helping me see this project through the finish line. Thank you also to Sarah Pickles and Rachel Freehan for their dedicated guidance and support. A special thank you to the filmmakers, television creators, and actors who took time out of their busy schedules to speak to me about their work – it was an honor and delight. The many conversations throughout the years have been a major source of inspiration for this book. I am especially grateful to my Film International editor, Matt Sorrento, for always sending me fascinating projects to work on. And to Toni Kalem for the friendship over the years. Thank you to my colleagues at the Screenwriting Research Network, Popular Culture Association, and University Film and Video Association for informal conversations as this book has taken shape throughout the years. My participation in these organizations is a gift, and I am grateful for the comradery. I would like to individually thank my colleagues and students in the English Department and Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences at KSU. My students offer endless inspiration and insight, especially on contemporary portrayals of young women on screen. I would particularly like to thank Dr. John Havard for support and guidance in the English Department, as well as my colleagues in the Gender and Women’s Studies program. I would also like to thank my colleagues and former students in the School of Communication and Journalism at Auburn University, where this book first began. A heartfelt thank you to my KSU students who have

Acknowledgments ix

collaborated with me on the Women Writers of Film and Television project, and to Dr. Amy Buddie for providing support and resources from KSU’s Office of Research. Our work on this project has been deeply rewarding and has influenced my ideas about how women and girls are depicted in film and television. I am also grateful for my residencies at the Lillian E. Smith Center and support from Matt Teutsch. I am indebted to Bill Rabkin and Joshua Malkin for their mentorship, friendship, and early reads as this manuscript progressed; I can say in all honesty that most of what I know about screenwriting came from these guys. Bobby Mitas deserves a very special thank you for championing my work over the past decade and serving as my post-graduate teacher; I am forever grateful for the opportunities to tell stories centered on fascinating women. A shoutout to my family – my brothers; my sister for the daily talks (what would I do without them?); and my parents for modeling a dedication to the arts (and for accompanying me via phone on my morning walks as I’ve discussed this project and others). And a big thank you to my people, whose friendship (and moral support) centers me, especially Jody McSweeney, Rachel Zimmermann Smith, Connie Moore, Hilary Wyss, and Chad Parsons. Finally, to the three men who make life meaningful. Chris, Abraham, and Gabriel, thank you for your love, for inspiring me, and for your patience as I’ve run away to write over the years. Boys, I am so proud of the men you have become. I hope you will continue to pursue your dreams with tenacity, enthusiasm, and confidence.

INTRODUCTION

I first fell in love with film my senior year of high school. The year was 1989, and two movies came out that year that forever changed the way I thought about women’s roles on screen. When I saw Sex, Lies, and Videotape, written by Steven Soderbergh, and When Harry Met Sally…, written by Nora Ephron, I remember having the very conscious thought: “If only all films were this good!” It didn’t occur to me at the time why I appreciated these films, what it was about them that made me engage and connect with them so deeply. But in March 1990, when Soderbergh and Ephron were nominated for Oscars for Best Screenplay, I was – for the very first time – actively watching the awards ceremony. I wasn’t a screenwriter back then, and I have no memory of understanding a screenwriter’s role in filmmaking. All I knew was that these female characters spoke to me in a way women on screen had never spoken to me before. This makes sense, of course. Most films and television series in those days were marketed to male audiences, and few stories were written from a woman’s point of view. The landscape in film and television is very different today. Thanks to the activism of so many women and men in the industry, girls growing up in the 2020s have myriad movies and series to choose from with female protagonists. And it’s far more likely they’ll find characters they can relate to than I could when I was coming of age. But as actor and activist Geena Davis says, “There’s still an enormous amount of work to be done in empowering women.”1 Davis founded her Institute on Gender in Media two decades ago to collect data on the lack of representation and misrepresentation of women and girls DOI: 10.4324/9780429287596-1

2 Introduction

on screen. Research from Davis’s institute, and others, has had a significant impact on the films and television shows coming out of Hollywood.2 When we see evidence in the form of statistics, we can confidently acknowledge the problems exists. Still, it takes deliberate action to make change happen. In 2012, Reese Witherspoon started the first iteration of her company Hello Sunshine after seven studio heads told her they weren’t developing any films centered on women that year. They would be happy to buy projects she brought them, they said, but she would have to do her own development. And so she did. As she said, “I thought, ‘If the studios aren’t going to develop complicated, interesting female characters, I will spend my own money doing it’.”3 Representation matters. The films and television programs children watch affect how they view themselves – their value as human beings and what’s possible for their future. So let’s give girls reflections of themselves on screen, both who they are now and the women they aspire to be. And let’s give boys the chance to see girls as they truly are – smart, driven, inspired, competitive, and engaged citizens of this world. Friends today and equal partners tomorrow. It all starts on the page. My goal with this book is to help filmmakers and television creators make conscious decisions as they develop their screen stories, giving careful attention to the complexity of their female characters. Anna Weinstein Notes 1 Randi Mazzella, “Geena Davis Talks About the Impact of ‘Thelma & Louise’,” Next Avenue, May 28, 2021, https://www.nextavenue.org/geena-davis-women-inmedia/. 2 See Dr. Martha Lauzen’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film and Dr. Stacy Smith’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. 3 Lisa Ling, “Representation and Equity: Inspiration from Reese Witherspoon,” Women Amplified, originally recorded at the Massachusetts Conference for Women, December 2022, https://www.conferencesforwomen.org/representation-and-equityinspiration-from-reese-witherspoon/.

1 SHE IS ON SCREEN Women’s Representation in Film & Television

In a 1974 conversation with film critic Arthur Knight, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Eleanor Perry shared her opinion about the representation of women in film. She said, “I certainly feel that perhaps an era of strong women’s roles is approaching.” Perry, who penned the acclaimed film Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970), explained her theory that women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s don’t go to movies because they can’t identify with the female characters. “The movies don’t deal with what they’re interested in,” she told Knight. “If movies were made that could get them into the theaters and we had box office receipts to prove it, then we would enter upon an era of women’s movies.”1 The following year, in 1975, Perry was featured on the cover of Ms. Magazine, standing between Ellen Burstyn and Shirley MacLaine, surrounded by stuffed wild animals, the title boldly exclaiming, “Women in Film: An Endangered Species.” Perry was 61 at the time, Burstyn 43, and MacLaine 41. Perry, along with Burstyn and MacLaine, were pushing for Hollywood to feature women’s stories centered on smart female protagonists, particularly those in middle age. As Perry said, “The industry is convinced that the audience is between 18 and 30, and therefore when an actress reaches 30, in a sense, she’s dead. She’s finished. She’s over.”2 Ellen Burstyn was in the first class of the American Film Institute (AFI) Directing Workshop for Women (1974–1975), and she was instrumental during this period in shepherding to the screen stories with complicated female protagonists. She famously hired Martin Scorsese to direct Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), for which she won an Oscar,3 and over

DOI: 10.4324/9780429287596-2

4 She Is on Screen

the past few decades, she has continued to champion projects that feature mature women. “I love it when the movie industry shows women past 60 still having interest in life and not retiring,” Burstyn said. “I read so many scripts from the time I was 50 that were all about: Should we put grandma in the nursing home? And how do we tell her? It was always like putting her out to pasture.”4 In 2015, Meryl Streep was in the headlines for funding The Writers Lab, which provides women screenwriters over 40 the opportunity to work with industry professionals to develop their projects. “When I was 40, I was offered three witch [roles],” Streep said. “I was not offered any female adventurers or love interests or heroes or demons. I was offered witches because I was ‘old’ at 40.”5 This connection between screenwriters and women actors is critical in thinking about the depictions of women that wind up on screen. No matter their gender or age, actors are looking for characters rooted in the vastness of the human experience. If you listen to actors talk about the roles they play, they describe their characters with words like smart, layered, juicy, compli­ cated, complex, genuine, alive, deep, and authentic. They discuss the desire to explore characters who live in the gray area, who are vulnerable, who have hidden worlds within. Streep has said she looks for writing that is “pungent,” for writers who aren’t “afraid of contradictions and mess” in their creation of women characters.6 Real life is messy, and real-life people are made up of all sorts of con­ tradictions. Which is exactly why it’s so compelling – and cathartic – to watch screen stories with worlds and characters that inhabit the messiness of the human experience. Fortunately for viewing audiences, there’s been a major shift in the film and television industries in the past decade, specifically in its treatment of female characters, and most significantly after 2017. A NEW ERA FOR FEMALE CHARACTERS

In November 2020, Netflix reported that in the first 28 days on air, The Queen’s Gambit (2020) had been consumed by more than 62 million viewers worldwide. It made the top 10 lists in 92 countries and hit number one in 63 countries.7 The limited series, created by Scott Frank, is based on the book of the same title by Walter Tevis and starring Anya Taylor-Joy as chess prodigy Beth Harmon. Chances are, if you’re an aspiring or already-working screenwriter, you’ve watched this limited series along with the rest of the world. There’s been

She Is on Screen 5

widespread discussion about the recent trend of building television series around troubled female protagonists that inhabit an interesting space. Particularly after the explosive success of The Queen’s Gambit, for a minute there it seemed everyone was talking about this revolutionary method for creating a blockbuster television series. Start with a sexy intellectual property or true story people are familiar with, one with a central female character that lives in an enticing setting we haven’t seen much of before, and make sure to highlight her painful flaw. Want a pilot script that’s sure to get attention? There’s your formula. It worked for The Handmaid’s Tale (2017—), Big Little Lies (2017–2019), Feud (2017), Sharp Objects (2018), The Act (2019), The Morning Show (2019—), Ratched (2020), Little Fires Everywhere (2020), WandaVision (2021), The Dropout (2022), and Daisy Jones & the Six (2023). Except, of course, this isn’t exactly how it works, is it? We can all imagine bad pilot scripts inspired by the strangest true stories or the greatest novels ever written with complicated female protagonists. The question is: What does a well-drawn flawed protagonist look like, and how do you successfully build a story around this protagonist? Notice I’ve excluded the word female in the sentence above, because all protagonists will be flawed, regardless of gender. We’re only recently beginning to see female protagonists explored with any regularity on screen. What’s interesting about this trend and the flurry of excitement around it is that it seemed so progressive. The only thing that happened, really, is there was a switch from male protagonists to female protagonists. The television industry realized that viewing audiences worldwide are itching to watch series with engaging women characters. USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, led by Dr. Stacy Smith, reported in 2021 that films and series produced by Netflix in 2018–2019 reflected gender equality in leading roles, with 48 percent in film and 55 percent in series.8 This inclusion was undercut by a lack of representation of women and girls of color, LGBTQ+ characters, and characters with disabilities – but in looking at women’s roles as a whole, Netflix approached proportional representation with the U.S. Census. That’s Netflix. Across all films coming out of Hollywood, we’re not seeing equal representation of gender. In a sampling of 2022’s 100 highest-grossing films in the United States, SDSU’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, led by Dr. Martha Lauzen, found that men out­ numbered women onscreen by a factor of 2 to 1. In other words, only 33 percent of protagonists in the top-grossing films in 2022 were women.9 Still, this number is significantly higher than it was just a decade ago. In fact, the numbers have been steadily ticking up.

6 She Is on Screen

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

33% 24% 11%

2011

2017 Male Protagonists

FIGURE 1.1

2022

Female Protagonists

Male vs. Female Protagonists in the 100 Highest-Grossing Films, 2011–2022.

Created with data published by SDSU’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film.

Turns out Eleanor Perry was correct in her theory. Women do want to see intriguing female characters on screen. Even better, men do too. It doesn’t take hard-hitting investigative research to unravel what happened in 2017 and why shows like The Handmaid’s Tale were so timely, kicking off this upsurge of smart television series centered on women. Couple pussyhat marches across the globe with the internationally reported takedown of the most powerful Hollywood producer of the last three decades, and it’s no surprise audiences are tuning in to see shows with “strong but flawed” women. DON’T JUDGE THE FLAW!

As a screenwriting teacher, one of the most important aspects of my job is to create a classroom environment where all students feel comfortable telling the story they want to tell. If a student wants to write about an abandoned dog on a mission to find a new family, the class and I provide support, criticism, and suggestions so the student can tell the very best version of that story. If a student wants to write about a woman suffering from heroin addiction who sells her body to support her habit, we help the student tell the very best version of that story. What we won’t do is judge a character based on ethics. As storytellers, we don’t burden ourselves with the responsibility of depicting “positive” or “heroic” characters. We are not in the business of policing content or the types of characters we create. We’re also not in the business of putting value judgments on our characters and their choices.

She Is on Screen 7

Our business is storytelling – creating scripts for films and television shows that generate emotion in the readers. There are other people whose job it is to judge the works screenwriters create. Producers evaluate scripts to determine whether they want to attach themselves to a project. Actors, directors, financiers, studios, and so forth, they too review the work and decide whether they want to commit the time and resources to bring the stories to the screen. Once films and series are released, critics publish their reviews of the work. Audiences serve as judges as well and either rec­ ommend these screen stories to their peers, or not. And as these films and series find their place in history, scholars reflect on the works in their criticism. But we screenwriters have one primary job: to create the very best stories we can. THE EVOLUTION OF WOMEN’S ROLES ON SCREEN

So much has changed in the past 10 or 15 years. Blockbuster is a thing of the past, ordering DVDs from Netflix has all but disappeared, and we’ve recently become accustomed to getting our cinematic fixes from the comfort of our living rooms. And finally, women are beginning to hold prominent positions in the screen stories we consume. For young people growing up today, it’s difficult to comprehend how significant this change is. It wasn’t long ago there were so few depictions of women on screen researchers and journalists began documenting and re­ porting on the relevance of female characters through the “Bechdel-Wallace test,” a measure of whether female characters in a story are there merely to serve the male protagonist.10 In the 2010s, research through the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and other research centers was widely dis­ tributed, and the shockingly low numbers of women characters on screen became a very public discussion. And that discussion has led to change. Between 2016 and 2020, female characters’ screen time increased by 8.4 percent, and speaking time increased by 7.0 percent.11 Screenwriting software programs have even begun to incorporate functions that enable writers to analyze their scripts for gender representation. But we screenwriters know it’s not as simple as including women in our stories or ensuring our female characters talk about something other than men. Nor is it as simple as creating narrative arcs for our female characters. In fact, nothing about screenwriting is simple. It’s complicated. And the most engaging and memorable characters are also complicated. Regardless of how many or how few scripts you’ve written, you are experienced enough as a consumer of film and television to know you respond to screen stories with intriguing characters. These characters are a delicious dichotomy of parts. They reflect the complexities of the human experience.

8 She Is on Screen

They have traits that hide and also reveal a mix of strengths and weaknesses. They take actions in contrast to what they say. They don’t speak when they want to. They say things they don’t intend to. They make choices they regret. Their choices have repercussions. Those repercussions lead to further complications. And those complications are what make up the building blocks of an engaging and entertaining story. It all comes back to character. And this book is about creating female characters that entice, engage, and compel viewers to continue watching as the story unfolds. Will these characters anger some viewers? Perhaps. Will these characters represent all women? Certainly not. Will they challenge viewers to think about women’s experiences navigating the many complexities of life? Absolutely. Will they make morally sound decisions? Sometimes, sure. But why would they? Women Screenwriters & Media Responses There’s been a backlash in recent years against many representations of women on screen, often female characters written by women. Though contemporary screenwriters such as Diablo Cody, Lena Dunham, Gillian Flynn, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge have won awards and are widely praised for their writing, they have also been attacked by the media for their portrayals of women. Their characters have been labeled “narcissistic,” “unlikable,” or “bitter” – with accusations ranging from stereotyping women to oversexua­ lizing women to criminalizing women. 12, 13, 14 These are trailblazing screen­ writers, bringing to the screen female characters that audiences have never seen before. They develop their characters with substantial skill and talent. Their films and series are crafted with complexity and nuance, and the fact that they’re reaching wide audiences is surely, in part, because of these writers’ attention to the women in their stories.

The 2010s and 2020s aren’t the first time in film and television history we’ve seen controversial women screen characters engaging in behaviors outside societal expectations. Consider the films coming out of Pre-Code Hollywood, with women protagonists embracing their sexual desires and career ambitions, questioning their role as mothers and wives, and even committing violent crimes to achieve their goals. For more than 30 years, there were laws in place, governing the stories that made it to the screen, and since the late 1960s women characters have slowly been making a comeback in film and television. Today, we see a wide

She Is on Screen 9

range of representation of the female experience, some artfully crafted and others not so much. AN INTRODUCTION TO THIS BOOK

My goal with this book is to help you learn from some of the great screen storytellers who have created riveting films and television series with memorable female characters. I address the many challenges asso­ ciated with writing characters that inhabit certain roles in screen stories, such as “wife,” “mother,” or “boss,” and I also unravel the intricacies associated with developing nuance and depth in female characters regardless of the position they hold in the story – whether at the center or sideline. I explore well-drawn female characters of all ages, including adolescents and mature women. I examine characters navigating the various difficulties women contend with in the real world, including obstacles at work, with mental health, and in their love lives. And I also address challenges in cre­ ating characters whose racial, ethnic, or ethnoreligious backgrounds differ from that of the screenwriter. Hollywood Films & Television Series

For the most part, my focus is on contemporary U.S. films and television series, particularly those made after 1970. At the end of Chapters 2–7, however, you will find a list of international films centered on female characters positioned in the category or role discussed in each chapter. Because I am especially interested in highlighting the work of women film­ makers, I include in these lists only films directed by women. Also at the end of Chapters 2–7, you will find a section titled “International Women Writers & Directors,” spotlighting an acclaimed female writer or director working in the United States or around the globe. These spotlights include an interview with the writer-director, our conver­ sations circling topics such as the relevance of women’s screen stories, the writing and development processes of these stories, and challenges in getting female characters to the screen. Media Responses & Historical Influences

I am committed to positioning my analyses and recommendations alongside a discussion of media responses to women characters and the social-political climate when the films and series hit the screen. These are important consid­ erations as we reflect on our own responses to female characters. Cultural influences as well as critics who hold particularly prominent voices in the media often have the power to affect our opinions. So as we consider

10

She Is on Screen

the stories we want to tell, it’s crucial to be aware of the many threads of influence on our decision-making. Men in Support of Gender Diversity in Film & Television

Throughout this book, you will also find discussions of significant male producers and directors who have supported not only women screenwriters but also the creation of female characters. Judd Apatow, for instance, has been intentional in making opportunities for new female voices in screen storytelling, including Lena Dunham’s HBO hit series Girls (2012–2017), Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig’s Oscar-nominated Bridesmaids (2011), and Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck (2015). You will notice that I am particularly interested in influential male voices from the 1970s and 1980s, whose work opened doors for women’s repre­ sentation both on- and off-screen. For example, in developing The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977), James L. Brooks and Allan Burns were the first male producers in Hollywood to create a writers’ room staffed with women writers. Brooks is also widely known for centering many of his films around complicated female leads, including Terms of Endearment (1983) and Broadcast News (1987). Mike Nichols was another staunch supporter of both women writers and women’s stories, bringing to the screen several of Nora Ephron’s early screenplays, as well as directing women-centric films such as Working Girl (1988) and Postcards from the Edge (1990), written by Carrie Fisher. His collaboration with Elaine May in the 1950s and 1960s was also a mon­ umental contribution to opening spaces for women comedy writers. DISCUSSIONS AROUND GENDER REPRESENTATION

Though this book is about female characters specifically, I am sensitive to the binary nature of this discussion. Today we see a range of nonbinary and transgender characters in mainstream film and television coming out of Hollywood. These representations stand on the shoulders of early works by filmmakers whose movies reached global audiences thanks to their nuanced explorations of gender fluid and transgender characters. International films from the 1990s and 2000s such as Mary Harron’s I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), Alain Berliner’s Ma Vie en Rose (1997), Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother (1999), Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game (1992) and Breakfast on Pluto (2005), Agnieszka Holland’s A Girl Like Me (2006), and Céline Sciamma’s Tomboy (2011) laid the groundwork for contemporary larger-budget screen stories to examine gender identity or simply include nonbinary and gender fluid characters without any mention of their gender.

She Is on Screen 11

In the United States, it’s important to recognize early works of writerdirectors such as Kimberly Peirce, whose critically acclaimed Boys Don’t Cry (1999) brought Brandon Teena’s story to an international audience, for which Hilary Swank won the Oscar. Jane Anderson’s television movie Normal (2003), starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson, was nominated for three Golden Globes and multiple Emmys. And Joey Soloway’s Transparent (2014–2019) was the first broadly celebrated U.S. television series with a trans character in the leading role, winning eight Emmys between 2015 and 2017. Much like Brooks and Burns in the 1970s, Soloway went to great lengths to create a diverse writers’ room for Transparent. Soloway has said they wanted a “trans-feminine perspective” for the series but were unable to find television writers with that perspective, so they re­ cruited trans women writers they could train to write for television.15 Most of the conversations I’ve had with women writers and directors over the years have included discussions about gender representation in their films and series, as well as their perspective on gender fluidity. France’s acclaimed director Anne Fontaine’s films often explore and challenge conventions of gender, including Coco Before Channel (2009), Adore (2013), and the more recent Reinventing Marvin (2017). She shared with me, “… to be a director, it’s a way to be almost transsexual, to be inside both sexes. And for me, it’s interesting to work out this ambiguity in my films.”16 Oscar-winning Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy had a similar perspective. She told me, “… the kinds of stories I’m telling, they’re never black and white. There’s always a grey area, and we need to look at this area to understand the big picture.” Most of Obaid-Chinoy’s films give voice to Pakistani women who rarely have an opportunity to tell their stories. Her film Pakistan’s Open Secret (2011) follows three transgender women and their struggle to find employment and acceptance in Karachi. “… in a society where you would think that women would want to become men, instead you have these men who want to become women,” Obaid-Chinoy told me. “You never get that perspective … it’s unusual for them to be allowed to speak and have the luxury to tell their story in their own words. So that has a lot to do with the stories I think are worth telling.”17 Mary Harron’s films and television series also challenge gender conven­ tions and societal expectations for women and men. Best known for her award-winning films I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), American Psycho (2000), and the more recent limited series Alias Grace (2017), Harron told me her interest is in creating flawed characters regardless of their gender. “I don’t feel I have a responsibility to present noble female characters, or role models,” she said. “I do think I have a responsibility to present all of my characters as truthfully as I can. I’m just presenting my perspective, which happens to be a female perspective.”18

12

She Is on Screen

Anne Fontaine echoed this sentiment. “What’s important for me is to have the dimension of character. The opacity, the mystery, the things you can’t explain but can feel – a complicated, complex character,” she said.19 In considering the complexity of gender representation in film and tele­ vision, it’s noteworthy that many women’s studies programs in higher education have in the past few decades changed their program titles to include the word gender. Dr. Alice Ginsberg, Senior Research Specialist for the Samuel D. Proctor Institute at Rutgers, told Inside Higher Ed: Perhaps the most compelling argument for changing the name to gender studies is that it invites men to look at their experiences in American culture, as well as how they may be complicit in the continuation of systems of power and privilege. It also compels men to see themselves not as the ’norm’ but as gendered human beings.20 I appreciate this concept of inviting men to reflect on their experiences both in life and in viewing representations of women on screen. We all approach screen texts with the full history – and in many cases, baggage – of our personal experiences. As we put thought around gender as a socially con­ structed category, we recognize that human beings and their relationship to gender is by no means straightforward. As a woman who has long reflected on my place in the home, in the workplace, and in the way I do and do not see myself reflected in the characters I see on screen, I began this book project more than a decade ago when I first began discussing onscreen representations of female characters with promi­ nent women filmmakers. I’ve published these interviews in Film International and in several volumes in my PERFORM book series, also with Routledge. I was concerned about my own depictions of women in my screenplays. Were they overly interested in finding love? Were their career ambitions too light or inconsequential? Did I, as a woman screenwriter, have a responsibility to create woman characters who represent what society wants to see for women – that they are strong, brave, confident, capable, and successful? What I took away from my many conversations with women creators over the years is that my responsibility as a screenwriter is to create complicated characters and to craft engaging stories around those characters. That’s it. I do not shoulder the weight of decades of misrepresentation or lack of representation and try to make up for it by creating female characters who are good or heroic or morally sound. And you don’t either. If you feel that weight, this is your invitation to let it go. My hope is this book will help quash your worries about what’s “appropriate” so you can focus your energies on the complicated nature of your female characters.

She Is on Screen 13

Amid the flood of recent discussions and often polarizing opinions in the media about representations of gender on screen, writers can quickly become paralyzed with fear that they’re getting it wrong. And this apprehension can have the very unfortunate effect of writers inadvertently creating female characters that do not actually represent women. When we write with this heavy burden of responsibility, the women characters we create don’t reflect the intricacies of women’s experiences. It’s an unachievable goal to please everyone, and so we must trust our intuition in crafting nuanced stories centered on women. If you want to write about a 50-year-old woman who juggles disturbing, conflicting profiles on multiple dating apps because she’s on a mission to find a husband, go right ahead. Your goal should be to develop that character with love and com­ passion and integrity. She hurts. She’s lonely. She feels bad about herself. She wants to feel better. She’s trying to find a way to present herself to the world so she can prove she’s worthy of love. She sounds like a compelling character, particularly if her extreme choices put her in tricky situations so we’re in the uncomfortable position of wor­ rying what will happen. But of course, we need to fall in love with her first. We can only root for this character if we believe her. If she’s not just searching for love and acceptance. She needs to have a full life outside of this pursuit. A full history that led up to this narrative moment. As Linda Seger describes in her seminal book, Creating Unforgettable Characters (1990), research is key to discovering who your character is. “The depth of a character has been compared to an iceberg,” she writes. “The audience or reader only sees the tip of the writer’s work – perhaps only 10 percent of everything the writer knows about the character. The writer needs to trust that all of this work deepens the character, even if much of this information never appears directly in the script.”21 DEVELOPING WOMEN CHARACTERS

Conducting research through observation – including self-observation – is the very first step in creating memorable women characters. We observe the women in our lives. We watch and learn, noticing how they engage re­ lationally with family, friends, colleagues, and strangers. Creating memorable women characters is much like developing memorable relationships. The only way to have meaningful relationships is to be real. Be willing to share. Be honest. Listen with an open heart. Love without judgment. This is all very easy to say and much harder to do. But it’s what’s necessary if we want to have rewarding and lasting friendships and partnerships. And the same is true if we want our female characters to connect with audiences.

14

She Is on Screen

To succeed in crafting women characters with layered depth and complexity, we must have compassion for them. Our characters aren’t infallible. They may even make terrible decisions that lead to tragic consequences. But we must delight in getting to know them, understanding why they do what they do, and loving them in spite of their mistakes. This is what we do as writers. And it’s what actors do as well. Listen to Women Actors

Have you ever listened to interviews with women actors talking about the roles they play? It’s particularly interesting to hear them speak about char­ acters living in a morally gray area, or who are forced by their circumstances to make unthinkable choices. Interviewers often ask these actors if they were uncomfortable with the optics of the role, or if they questioned the char­ acter’s morals. And for most of the interviews I’ve watched or listened to over the years – and even those I’ve conducted myself – the actors are quick to say that a character’s morals isn’t something that concerns them. Their job, they explain, is to find a connection to their characters, to get in their heads and figure out what motivates them. In Natalie Portman’s MasterClass on acting, she explains that she doesn’t judge her characters. She’s looking for reasons her characters behave the way they do. She looks for their justifications, how they rationalize their choices. Because in real life, she says, few people think of themselves as bad people. They may do “bad” things, but they always have what they believe are reasonable explanations for their actions.22 Ellen Burstyn told me she looks for characters that are multilayered. She doesn’t like portraying characters that are “just one thing.” “I don’t ever believe it,” she said. “Even the toughest characters are going to have their tender sides, and I think everybody’s trying to do the best they can.” She said she prepares for her roles by asking herself questions about the characters. “Sometimes I go to work on a part, and then I start to think, ‘Why does she do that? That’s a funny thing to do.’ And once I start asking those questions, those questions will lead me deeper and deeper into the character,” she explained. “And I find there are always surprises. Everything that I didn’t know, that I didn’t understand about the character – that becomes my creative process. The answers to those questions become the character that I’m building.”23 Jessica Chastain has had similar reflections on the questionable choices her characters make. During a 2018 roundtable interview for The Hollywood Reporter, she responded this way when asked about considering the morals of a character before agreeing to play the part: “For me, I actually feel more sorry for people who are making mistakes. I have more empathy for the characters that do the wrong thing.”24 Chastain has spoken publicly numerous times about the representation of women on screen. Her commentary at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival went

She Is on Screen 15

viral on social media after she shared her thoughts about how women are depicted in cinema. She said:pt This is the first time I’ve watched 20 films in 10 days, and I love movies. And the one thing I really took away from this experience is how the world views women from the female characters that were represented. It was quite disturbing to me, to be honest – with some exceptions. But for the most part I was surprised with the representation of female characters on screen in these films. I do hope when we include more female storytellers, we will have more of the women that I recognize in my day-to-day life. Ones that are proactive, have their own agency, don’t just react to the men around them. They have their own point of view.25 A BRIEF HISTORY OF WOMEN’S SCREEN STORYTELLING

Chastain had an important point. Including female storytellers in film and television is a critical piece of the puzzle when it comes to diversifying rep­ resentations of women on screen. By no means is it necessary for writers to be the same gender as the characters they create. Nor is that possible. Or even desirable. Some of the most remarkable screen stories ever told about women were written by men. But there’s a reason for this: the vast majority of historical and contem­ porary films and television shows were written by men. Let’s just take the last two decades, when more women screenwriters have been working than ever before. Here’s a comparison of the statistics on women writing for film and television in the United States from 1998 to 2022.26 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 36%

40% 30% 20%

29% 20%

18%

13%

19%

10% 0%

TV Writers 1998

TV Writers 2021-22

TV Creators TV Creators Film Writers Film Writers 1998 2021-22 1998 2022 Men

Women

FIGURE 1.2 Women vs. Men Screenwriters, 1998–2022. Created with data published by SDSU’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film.

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She Is on Screen

Relatively substantial increases in two decades, particularly in television. But clearly the numbers are far from equal. Women make up 50 percent of the viewing audiences, and yet an average of 75 percent of all screen stories they watch on film and television are written by men. Here’s another way to think about women screenwriters: since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences first began presenting awards in 1929, of the 1,632 writers nominated for Oscars for Best Story, Best Screenplay, or Best Adapted Screenplay, only 171 have been women. Of the 300 Oscars awarded to writers for Best Story, Best Screenplay, or Best Adapted Screenplay, only 24 went to women. 1600

1461

1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 171

200 0

1,632 Total Nominations Men

Women

FIGURE 1.3 Oscar Nominations for Screenwriting, 1929–2022.

300

276

250 200 150 100 50 0

24 300 Total Awards Men

Women

FIGURE 1.4 Oscar Awards for Screenwriting, 1929–2022.

In the past 25 years, 58 women have been nominated and eight women have won. By comparison in the past 25 years, 381 men have been nomi­ nated and 70 men have won.

She Is on Screen 17

500 381

400 300 200 100 0

58

70 8

439 Total Nominees Men

FIGURE 1.5

78 Total Awards Women

Oscar Nominations and Awards for Screenwriting, 1998–2022.

What about diversity? The numbers are appalling. Only two nominations for Black women screenwriters in the history of the Academy Awards: Suzanne de Passe in 1973 for Lady Sings the Blues, and Dee Rees in 2018 for Mudbound. Three East-Asian women have been nominated: Taiwanese screenwriter Wang Hui-Ling was nominated in 2001 for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Japanese American screenwriter Iris Yamashita was nom­ inated in 2007 for Letters from Iwo Jima, and Chinese writer-director Chloé Zhao was nominated in 2021 for Nomadland. (Though Zhao didn’t win for screenwriting, she did take home the Oscar for Best Director.) Only four openly LGBTQ+ women writers have been nominated for screenwriting: Lisa Cholodenko for The Kids Are All Right in 2011, Phyllis Nagy for Carol in 2016, Emma Donoghue for Room in 2016, and Dee Rees for Mudbound in 2018. A woman of color has never won an Oscar for screenwriting, and neither has a queer woman. One more bit of trivia while we’re at it: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for A Room with a View in 1986. This was the first film with a solo female writer to win an Academy Award since Frances Marion’s win for The Big House in 1930. That means six decades of award ceremonies without independent female winners in the screenplay categories. This says a lot. Not just about how the Academy views and respects women writers, but also how many women writers are working. When we discuss representation on screen, questions about off-screen representation linger. The people doing the storytelling impact viewing audiences. And it’s not just writers. There are countless individuals involved in bringing stories to the screen – producers, directors, editors, cinematographers. Here are the most current statistics for women working behind the scenes in the top-grossing U.S. films from 2022.27

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She Is on Screen

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

31%

25%

21%

19%

18% 7%

Men

FIGURE 1.6

Women

Women Working Behind the Scenes on the Top 250 Films in 2022.

Created with data published by SDSU’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film.

Not very attractive numbers, no doubt. But better than the numbers from the year before #MeToo. Here are the statistics for the top-grossing U.S. films from 2016.28 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

24%

17%

17%

Men

FIGURE 1.7

13%

7%

5%

Women

Women Working Behind the Scenes on the Top 250 Films in 2016.

Created with data published by SDSU’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film.

She Is on Screen 19

You can quickly see that women directors have had the most significant increase. This jump of 11 percentage points for women directors in the past six years isn’t by chance. Besides the social-political climate changes begin­ ning in 2017, women directors have for years been making substantial efforts to achieve parity and gain access to industry opportunities. Let’s step back briefly into the earliest days of the film industry. History of Women Directors

Women directors were thriving in the silent era, but when the studio system emerged in the 1920s, women were all but kicked out of Hollywood. For more than 40 years, very few women were directing studio films. In fact, there was such a lack of opportunity for women directors, in the early 1970s women directors began picketing and demanding inclusion. In 1974, AFI initiated the Directing Workshop for Women, opening its doors to 19 women filmmakers including, as mentioned, celebrities such as Ellen Burstyn, as well as established writers such as Maya Angelou and Gail Parent. Maya Angelou, by the way, was the only woman of color accepted into the first class of women directors. In 1979, the Directors Guild of America (DGA) formed the DGA Women’s Steering Committee to research statistics about women working as directors in the industry. The “Original Six,”29 as they’re known today, was a group of six women directors who combed through the archives to find the precise number of women directors hired by Hollywood studios. The com­ mittee released their findings that between 1949 and 1979 the major studios produced 7,332 feature films, and only 14 were directed by women. A mindboggling discovery. Less than one-half percent of all feature films were directed by women in a 30-year period. In 1983, the DGA filed a class-action lawsuit against Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures, alleging discriminatory hiring practices of women film directors. Though they lost the suit, the conversation about the lack of diversity in screen storytelling became prominent in the media, and this coincided with an increase of women working in both television and film. Fast-forward to 2015, spearheaded by the efforts of filmmaker Maria Giese, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) began a formal investigation of the major studios’ hiring practices. By early 2017, the investigation concluded and the EEOC began settlement talks with the stu­ dios “to resolve charges that they systemically discriminated against female directors.”30,31 “Hollywood is our storytelling machine,” Giese said in an interview for This Changes Everything (2018), a documentary created in association with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. “We American people rely on our entertainment industry, largely, for it to communicate our stories and to

20

She Is on Screen

represent us to each other and to the rest of the world. And women’s creative input is not making it into our nation’s storytelling, into our cultural narrative.”32 Statistics show a direct correlation between on- and off-screen represen­ tation of women in film. Movies written and directed by women are sig­ nificantly more likely to have female characters in major roles. Of the top 100-grossing films in the United States in 2022, those with a woman writer or director featured a female protagonist in 56 percent of the films. This compares to 23 percent in films written or directed by men. (See 2023 “It’s a Man (Celluloid) World” report for a detailed breakdown.)33 For decades, this discussion of who is doing the storytelling has been bantered around Hollywood, and many prominent women actors like Ellen Burstyn, Shirley MacLaine, and Meryl Streep, and more recently Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Reese Witherspoon, Sandra Oh, Octavia Spencer, and Natalie Portman, have publicly advocated for women to be involved in the creation of screen stories. A CALL TO ACTION

Now it’s your turn! This is your chance to ensure the women characters you develop are substantial. That they are of relevance to your screen story. That they in some way contribute to the forward motion of the story. That they directly affect the protagonist or narrative events. Better yet, these female characters are the protagonists. Here’s the good news about building our skills to develop complex female characters: it’s the exact same work we do to develop male characters. We take care with our characters. We get to know our characters inside and out. We explore their voices and choices, and we learn what this reveals about who they are. We consider their past, their present, and their hopes and fears about the future. We examine their weaknesses and strengths, their desires and goals. We examine these characters’ traits not just through our own eyes as storytellers, but through our characters’ eyes – from the point of view of the character herself and from the point of view of the characters she interacts with. What does she consider to be her strengths? What does she think she’s striving toward? How does this compare to how other characters perceive her strengths, weaknesses, wants, and needs? This book will not offer step-by-step instructions for creating female characters. What it will do is encourage you to consider the complexity of your female characters in much the same way you consider the complexity of your male characters. By examining the ways in which some of our great

She Is on Screen 21

screen storytellers developed their female characters with careful attention to their individuality and all their unique proclivities and contradictions – and how these characters influence the narrative! – we begin to think deeply about how we can give our own characters this same attentive care. So I implore you to let this examination serve as a springboard to begin inten­ tionally assessing your female characters. The late great Nora Ephron once said, “I don’t care who you are. When you sit down to write the first page of your screenplay, in your head, you’re also writing your Oscar acceptance speech.” There’s a mildly embarrassing truth behind this statement. We storytellers have active imaginations, and most of us have at one time or another visu­ alized the day we’ll walk across that stage to accept our award. And chances are, our acceptance speech involves thanking the celebrated actor who breathed life into our protagonist. Deep down, we harbor the secret belief that if Viola Davis were to play the part, or Toni Collette, or Helen Mirren, or Marion Cotillard, certainly the world would see the richness of this character, the depth and heart we’ve written into the role. The reality is, to entice these fine actors to attach themselves to our projects, the roles must be worthy of their commitment. The characters must reside on the page with richness and complexity. They must subtly carry the humor and heartache of human life, arcing over 30 to 120 pages in such a way that great actors will want to drop everything to play the roles. They must speak to the actors in the same way they must speak to all readers. Not as “Mid-30s Single Woman from the South,” or “43-Year-Old Waitress-Mother,” or “Female Detective with a Dark Past.” Our female characters should reflect the real-life women who have influ­ enced our lives: our grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughters, friends, and neighbors – or even, possibly, the womanly embodiment of our worst nightmares. Throughout this book, I offer historical context, character and story analysis, and suggestions for honing some of the skills necessary to develop complicated women characters across genres. I encourage you to look for copies of the screenplays discussed in these chapters. Particularly for those film and television characters analyzed in depth, you will find it useful to watch these screen stories and study the screenplay pages as well. This will add value to the work you’re doing in investigating how the characters are constructed. Finally, I invite you to have fun with this process of discovering how our great screenwriters and directors developed some of the most iconic or perhaps ignored leading ladies from historical and contemporary cinema and television. If nothing else, consider this close reading a celebration of the distinguished work writers and directors have done to bring women’s stories to life on the screen.

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She Is on Screen

Here we are, well into the 21st century, the 1970’s women’s movement long behind us, and perhaps now more than ever we are seeing women’s stories finally proving worthy of discussion on an international stage. Now more than ever, we are witnessing women and men across generations and borders joining hands to protect women’s voices – to ensure that women’s stories have a global platform. I can imagine no better time than now to participate in a collective effort to ensure the complexity of women’s screen storytelling. So let’s get started. We’ll begin with the onset of our most challenging and complicated journeys … in adolescence. Notes 1 Gordon Skene, “Eleanor Perry Discusses Writing, Film, and Feminism,” Pastdaily.com, March 25, 2018, https://pastdaily.com/2018/03/25/eleanor-perrydiscusses-writing-film-feminism-1974-past-daily-gallimaufry/. 2 Gordon Skene, ibid. 3 Ellen Burstyn has a total of six Oscar nominations at the time of this writing, five for Best Actress in a Leading Role and one for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. 4 Jake Coyle, “Q&A: Ellen Burstyn on Her Acting Life and Never Retiring,” AP News, June 7, 2021, https://apnews.com/article/ny-state-wire-ellen-burstynentertainment-arts-and-entertainment-956734980eacaa201f440af076eed2a7. 5 Jeff Nelson, “Meryl Streep Calls Out Hollywood on Its Youth-Obsessed Culture,” People.com, December 10, 2014, https://people.com/movies/merylstreep-calls-out-hollywood-on-youth-obsessed-culture/#:~:text=Streep%20says %20when%20she%20turned,’old’%20at%2040.%E2%80%9D. 6 See CBS Mornings, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJb1P5sazi0. 7 Tod Spangler, “‘The Queen’s Gambit’ Scores as Netflix Most-Watched Scripted Limited Series to Date,” Variety, November 23, 2020, https://variety.com/2020/ digital/news/queens-gambit-netflix-viewing-record-1234838090/. 8 Stacy L Smith, et al., “Inclusion in Netflix Series & Films,” Annenberg Inclusion Initiative (2021), https://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/aii-inclusion-netflixstudy.pdf. 9 Martha M. Lauzen, “It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World: Portrayals of Female Characters in the Top Grossing U.S. Films of 2022,” San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film (2023), https:// womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2022-its-a-mans-celluloidworld-report-rev.pdf. 10 The idea for the Bechdel test first appeared in 1985 in Alison Bechdel’s comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For. For an overview, see Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies (Oxford University Press) by Melissa J. Gillis and Andrew T. Jacobs, https://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780199315468/student/ ch7/wed/test/. 11 Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, “See Jane 2021 TV: Looking Back and Moving Forward: The State of Representation in Popular Television from 2016–2020,” Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media (2022), https://seejane. org/research-informs-empowers/see-jane-2021-report/. 12 Terry Gross, “Lena Dunham Addresses Criticism Aimed at ‘Girls,’” Fresh Air, National Public Radio, January 11, 2013, https://www.npr.org/2013/01/11/ 169049203/lena-dunham-addresses-criticism-aimed-at-girls.

She Is on Screen 23

13 Stassa Edwards, “Amazon’s Fleabag Is a Complex Look at an ‘Unlikable Woman,’” Jezebel, September 26, 2016, https://jezebel.com/amazons-fleabag-isa-complex-look-at-an-unlikable-woma-1787083404. 14 Andrew O’Hehir, “‘Young Adult’: Diablo Cody’s Ulta-awkward New Comedy,” Salon, https://www.salon.com/2011/12/07/young_adult_diablo_codys_ultra_ awkward_new_comedy/. 15 Ariel Levy, “Dolls and Feelings: Jill Soloway’s Post-Patriarchal Television,” The New Yorker, December 6, 2015, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/ 12/14/dolls-and-feelings. 16 Anna Weinstein, “The Art of Discipline and Persistence: An Interview with Anne Fontaine,” in Writing for the Screen, ed. Anna Weinstein (London: Routledge, 2017), 92. 17 Anna Weinstein, “When Directing Can Be Dangerous: An Interview With Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy,” in Directing for the Screen, ed. Anna Weinstein (London: Routledge, 2017), 123. 18 Anna Weinstein, “Running With an Unexpected Story: An Interview With Mary Harron,” in Writing for the Screen, ed. Anna Weinstein (London: Routledge, 2017), 159–160. 19 Anna Weinstein, “An Interview with Anne Fontaine,” 91. 20 Scott Jaschik, “The Evolution of American Women’s Studies,” Inside Higher Ed, March 26, 2009, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/03/27/evolutionamerican-womens-studies. 21 Linda Seger, Creating Unforgettable Characters (New York: Henry Holt, 1990), 2. 22 See Masterclass, “Natalie Portman Teaches Acting,” https://www.masterclass. com/classes/natalie-portman-teaches-acting. 23 Anna Weinstein, “The Triple Crown of Acting: The Road to Winning an Oscar, Emmy, and Tony: An Interview with Ellen Burstyn,” Acting for the Stage, ed. Anna Weinstein (New York: Routledge, 2017), 102. 24 See The Hollywood Reporter’s 2018 Actress Roundtable, https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=QBOzHhuTzvw. 25 Gwilym Mumford, “Jessica Chastain: The Portrayal of Women in Films Is Disturbing,” The Guardian, May 30, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/film/ 2017/may/30/jessica-chastain-women-cannes-disturbing-palme-dor. 26 Martha M. Lauzen, “Boxed In: Women On Screen and Behind the Scenes on Broadcast and Streaming Television in 2021–22,” San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film (2022), https:// womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2021-22-Boxed-InReport.pdf. 27 Martha M. Lauzen, “The Celluloid Ceiling: Employment of Behind-the-Scenes Women on Top Grossing U.S. Films in 2022,” San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film (2023), https://womenintvfilm.sdsu. edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2022-celluloid-ceiling-report.pdf. 28 Martha M. Lauzen, “The Celluloid Ceiling: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women on the Top 100, 250, and 500 Films of 2016,” San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film (2017), https://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2016_Celluloid_ Ceiling_Report.pdf. 29 Joelle Dobrow, Nell Cox, Susan Nimoy, Dolores Ferraro, Lynne Littman, and Vicki Hochberg are the DGA directors who formed the “Original Six.” 30 David Robb, “EEOC: Major Studios Failed to Hire Female Directors; Lawsuit Looms,” Deadline.com, February 15, 2017, https://deadline.com/2017/02/ hollywood-studios-female-directors-eeoc-investigation-1201912590/.

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31 At the time of this writing, there is no publicly available information about the status of the EEOC and studios settlement. 32 This Changes Everything, directed by Tom Donahue (CCV Studios, 2018), 1:04:14. https://www.netflix.com/watch/81110773?source=imdb. 33 Martha M. Lauzen, “It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World,” 12.

2 SHE COMES OF AGE Young Women

The transition from adolescence to adulthood isn’t easy. High-highs, lowlows, wrong turns, mistakes, humiliation. These are inevitably rollercoaster years to navigate. Which is exactly why coming-of-age stories – when done well – are so popular on film and television. They offer audiences the chance to reflect on and process their own experiences. And they offer screenwriters opportunities to craft narratives around characters who are struggling to make it through this very human, very taxing transition. Creating female characters in this age group can be particularly exciting, especially now with the recent influx of series and films centered on women. Teenage girls and their experiences are interesting, there’s no question about it. So let’s dig in and think through some of the most compelling aspects of what it’s like to negotiate life as a teenage girl. LOVE & ROMANCE

In the next chapter, we’ll talk specifically about love stories and the female protagonist’s role in a story about love, romance, sex, or desire. I want to touch briefly on this topic here, however, because you might be thinking that the female protagonist who comes of age is undoubtably coming of age into her sexuality. And this is important to consider as we begin to imagine the female characters we can explore in our screen stories. We understand coming-of-age stories to be about adolescents discovering who they are, and certainly, a big part of self-discovery is sexuality. As we think back to our own experiences in junior high and high school, we can easily recall our first crushes and sexual experiences. These are key turning points in the arc of our personal stories. DOI: 10.4324/9780429287596-3

26

She Comes of Age

But coming of age isn’t only about love and romance. There are other significant moments that influenced our lives during those years. In fact, I expect that if you take five minutes and write a list of your most memorable experiences from the ages of 12 to 18, most of them would have nothing to do with love or romance. Screenwriters understand this notion when it comes to developing male protagonists for coming-of-age films. They know they needn’t shape those stories entirely around a budding romance, because there are any number of story ideas to play with. A quick Google search of “top boys’ coming-of-age movies” reveals lists including The Outsiders (1983), The Goonies (1985), Stand by Me (1986), The Lost Boys (1987), Lord of the Flies (1990), The Sandlot (1993), The Cure (1995), Holes (2003), The Kings of Summer (2013), and Mid90s (2018), none of which center on love or romance. Instead, these films explore the complexities of young male friendship as the characters pursue a goal directly tied to their friendship or one that ultimately brings the characters closer as the films progress. But coming-of-age films with adolescent girls in the lead role have traditionally centered on romance, love, or sex. This is why it’s been so gratifying in recent years to see many films and series about young women navigating conflicts outside this conventionally accepted construct. Films like Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone (2010), Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird (2017), and Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade (2018) resonate with female viewers in part because they explore very real struggles adolescent girls contend with, and yet these conflicts have rarely been examined in a serious and central way in screen stories marketed to wide audiences. Internationally, we’ve seen films like Mustang (2015) by Turkish filmmaker Deniz Gamze Ergüven, about a group of girls facing the challenges of growing up in a conservative society; or horror films like Raw (2016) by French filmmaker Julia Ducournau about a 16-year-old girl who, after enrolling in vet school, develops a craving for human flesh. We know the conventions of genre lead us to specific and dramatically appropriate conflicts for our central characters. We all have vast experience consuming film and television, so we intuitively understand the types of dramatic tension we might explore in our scripts depending on the genre we’re writing in. We also recognize that coming-of-age stories have traditionally fallen under genre categories such as drama, comedy, rom-com, or dramedy as opposed to horror, sci-fi, or thriller. In the past decade, though, some of the most commercially successful television series centered on teenage female protagonists are those that have circumvented genre conventions. Mystery, fantasy, horror, thriller – all are fair game these days, regardless of the age or gender of the characters in leading roles. As you consider your key memories from your adolescent years, you’ll find no shortage of options for shaping a narrative around an intriguing

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conflict-heavy event that would resonate with viewers. Events to do with love are valid, for sure – in just about any genre – but I challenge you to consider other universal struggles and the incidents that might surround them. Take friendship … FRIENDSHIP

Just as this underlying theme is relevant in exploring adolescent boys in screen stories, the same is true for girls. Films like Clueless (1995) come to mind, Now and Then (1995), Bring It On (2000), Thirteen (2003), Mean Girls (2004), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), Pitch Perfect (2012), or Booksmart (2019). These were all successful upon release, not just because the central conflict is “true to life,” but more importantly because the writers explore a relatable theme in a new way. And if you’re thinking the teenage “mean girl” and “clueless girl” tropes have been overdone in the past two decades, perpetuating stereotypes, you’re right. But that’s not what Tina Fey and Amy Heckerling were doing when they developed the characters for Mean Girls and Clueless. Unfortunately, far too many screenwriters have missed the point of these representations and have created shallow female teenage characters. It’s important to recognize the significance of these films in bringing adolescent girls’ stories to the big screen, particularly in dramatizing the complicated realm of teenage friendship and the pressure to behave in ways that conflict with who the characters really are. Female Filmmakers It’s worth noting that all eight of the memorable films listed above are written by women, and half are directed by women. • • • • • • • •

Clueless, written and directed by Amy Heckerling Now and Then, written by I. Marlene King and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter Bring It On, written by Jessica Bendinger and directed by Peyton Reed Thirteen, written by Catherine Hardwicke and Nikki Reed and directed by Catherine Hardwicke Mean Girls, written by Tina Fey and directed by Mark Waters The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, written by Delia Ephron and Elizabeth Chandler and directed by Ken Kwapis Pitch Perfect, written by Kay Cannon and directed by Jason Moore Booksmart, written by Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, and Susanna Fogel and directed by Olivia Wilde

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POSSIBLE CONFLICTS FOR TEENAGE GIRLS

Love, romance, friendship … what else do adolescent girls struggle with? School, work, addiction, mental health, mental health associated with physical appearance, fear of the future, parents, siblings, female friendships. Create your own list of struggles you have seen young women contend with. Insecurity, competition, bullying, abuse, gender norms, gender identity, responsibilities in the home, responsibilities at school, social media, developing bodies. (See discussion in Chapter 8 about puberty and girls’ changing bodies.) What secrets did you keep from your parents when you were an adolescent? What secrets did you keep from your siblings or friends? Do you have a secret from your adolescent years you’ve never shared with anyone? Why? What is so shameful about it? What might happen if that secret got out? What is something about your experience growing up that only your sister or best friend know? Have you mentioned that secret in the past decade or more? What unspoken event happened that perhaps multiple people know – your family, your friends – but nobody dares bring it up now? EXPLORING THEMES THAT ARE PERSONAL TO YOU

I always tell my students: write a story that you know, a story that’s truthful. That doesn’t mean it should be a factual story from your vault of memories. In fact, it probably shouldn’t be, as those can be particularly difficult to recreate in a fictional way. But it should be a story that you understand deeply and personally on a thematic level. Many of us write screenplays circling the same themes again and again because these thematic conflicts are personal to us – they are conflicts we find ourselves struggling with to some degree even as adults. We shouldn’t confuse this, though, with the narrative events in a story. If you write about the same thematic conflict in all your scripts, this doesn’t mean the scripts will tell the same story. Richard Curtis, writer of Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999), Love Actually (2003), About Time (2013), and Yesterday (2019), has said he understands the instinct to write stories hovering the same theme. “I used to be very puzzled about why Marc Chagall was always painting things like goats flying over people’s houses while playing a violin,” Curtis said. “Couldn’t he see that there were a million other things to paint? Why did he keep going back to the same thing? I think that is what happens when you write. You write from the things you’re obsessed by. I was always overinterested in love.”1 Notice that he isn’t talking about what happens in his films, or the protagonists’ arcs. He’s referring to the central theme. Similarly, Eric Roth, writer of films such as Forrest Gump (1994), The Insider (1999), Munich (2005), and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

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(2008), has noted that most of his films, at their heart, are about loneliness. “I would say that the loneliness is what makes me want to write and express it and have someone understand it. I don’t think it’s about choice. I just think it is what it is,” Roth explained. “I might sit down to write something and not think it’s going to be about loneliness or somehow loneliness will seep into it … But that’s my condition, that’s just what comes out. But that being said, it is still a joy for me to write these things.”2 Conflicts that are central to a story are, by their very nature, thematic. What’s important is, as a screenwriter, you can only connect to a plot that is unlike your personal experience if the theme of your story is authentic to you and your obsession. For instance, what if you’d like to write a horror film about a young woman at a boarding school haunted by the ghost of a girl who died a decade earlier – but you have no personal experience with life in boarding school? Your job then is to find a personal connection to your lead girl. Can you find a thematic association with the girl’s struggle? Does she suffer with anxiety and you can relate to that struggle? Is she using drugs, and it’s when she’s under the influence that she sees the ghost, and you have had troubling experiences with drugs in the past? Allan Loeb, writer of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), The Switch (2010), Just Go With It (2011), Collateral Beauty (2016), and The Only Living Boy in New York (2017), among others, struggled for years to find success as a screenwriter until he finally beat his decades-long gambling addiction and penned several scripts circling themes of addiction.3 His first produced film, Things We Lost in the Fire (2007), centers on a man struggling to overcome heroin addiction, and his second film, 21 (2008), co-written by Peter Steinfeld, is based on a true story about six MIT students who take their brain power to Vegas where they win millions counting cards. If you are going to write a movie or pilot script about an adolescent girl, no matter the high concept or plans you have for the narrative events or plot, just be sure the central theme is something you relate to personally. This is the easy part, identifying themes we connect with as screenwriters. It’s not terribly difficult to answer questions like, “What keeps you up at night?” or “What do you find yourself worrying about with some regularity?” or “What are some things you’ve done in the past that continue to haunt you?” The challenge is to come up with a fresh take on a recognizable theme. We want to think about how we can give our young female protagonist a journey that is truly worthy of our audience’s attention. How is her journey going to be different from the journeys we’ve seen time and again with adolescent girls on screen? What will be her pursuit or overarching goal in the story?

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THEMES OF DEVELOPING INDEPENDENCE & IDENTITY

Separating from parents is a key part of the transition from childhood to adulthood. We want our independence. We want to find our identity. We want autonomy. We want to know who we are really. Not our parents’ children, but our own individual selves. It’s during adolescence that we begin to try on different personas and create new ways of presenting ourselves to the world. And more often than not this can be challenging for parents to witness, particularly when these new endeavors and explorations are dangerous or worrisome. But it’s also difficult when children begin exploring identities that conflict with their parents’ worldviews, or when these identities introduce dilemmas in the household. Let’s have a look at three complicated young adult female characters and the ways in which the screenwriters explore this theme of adolescent separation from the family home. Ruby Rossi in Siân Heder’s film CODA (2021), Amber Holt in Jason Katims’s Parenthood (2010–2015), and Alike in Dee Rees’s Pariah (2011) are all excellent examples of complex female characters in the midst of selfdiscovery seeking to put distance between themselves and their parents. Ruby in CODA

A theme intimately linked to the notion of developing autonomy and identity is the struggle to “find one’s voice.” It’s a very real and common struggle for developing teenagers because after emerging from puberty we begin to recognize we have a more complex understanding of the world and our place within it. How do we fit in? What do we have to contribute to the world? What mark do we want to leave? Siân Heder’s Oscar-winning film CODA, based on the French film La Famille Bélier (2014), centers on an adolescent girl, Ruby, who toils with this very problem. Only, in Ruby’s case, the stakes involved with finding her voice are heightened, even more complicated and critical to her development than the average teenage girl. CODA, by the way, is an acronym for Child of Deaf Adults. Ruby, played by Emilia Jones, is the only hearing person in her family. For her entire life, she’s been tasked with the emotionally challenging job of being the voice for her parents and brother. Not only is this true in intimate situations such as visits to the doctor, but also, and more importantly, in the family business. Her father and brother are fishermen, and they rely on Ruby to serve as translator for everything to do with their work. This is a lovely portrait of a young woman navigating the painful journey of separating from her parents, and it’s an excellent model for how a writer can tell an entirely original story with a relatable struggle. We’ve seen countless films about young people attempting to carve their own path and put distance been themselves and their families of origin. CODA shines, in part, because the story is set in a world that is new to most viewers. Rarely

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have we had the opportunity to watch films about deaf families. We seldom see screen stories about an adolescent girl whose struggle to find her voice is complicated by her fear of abandoning her parents. (See interview at the end of this chapter with German filmmaker Caroline Link, whose 1996 film Beyond Silence also tells a story about a daughter of deaf adults.) Certainly the premise for CODA sets it apart from most films centered on an adolescent female protagonist. But as I mentioned in the last chapter, a specific world or unique problem is not what makes a film resonate with viewers. Audiences respond to characters. If the characters read as smart, layered, and complicated, audiences will be more likely to root for them.

Authenticity in Screenwriting How did Heder create characters that read as authentic despite having no personal experience with Deaf culture? As she explained in an essay for the LA Times, she needed help. “I was writing for a language that only existed visually. I had no idea if my jokes would work,” she wrote. “Enter: Alexandria Wailes and Anne Tomasetti, my directors of artistic sign language. An ASL director is a creative collaborator who functions almost like a dramaturge. Alexandria and Anne are both Deaf and artists themselves, with extensive theater backgrounds, who have a deep understanding of Deaf culture and history. We circled up, using my script as a launching pad to bring the language to life.” 4 If you’ve been following recent discussions about authenticity in screenwriting, you know there’s a movement for film and television writers to either write within their personal cultural experience or bring on collaborators who have the experience. This is true whether writing characters of a particular race, religion, ethnicity, sexual identity, or in the case of CODA, characters in the Deaf community. It’s not always possible or desirable to find collaborators, particularly when writing on spec. But it’s good practice to at the very least get feedback from individuals who are part of the community you’re writing about. While we don’t want to pigeonhole ourselves, we also want to ensure our characters are not stereotypical and instead are representational.

A major facet of Heder’s screenplay is the way she ties Ruby’s external goal to her internal struggle. Ruby wants to sing, but she fears she isn’t talented, that her singing voice isn’t strong enough to justify her desire to sing in public. Until now, she has only sung in private, in the comfort of her home where nobody can hear her. So she’s scared to share her voice. She’s frightened people will laugh at her. In a key turning point scene with her choir teacher, played by Eugenio Derbez, Ruby explains that her classmates used to make fun of the way she

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talked when she first started public school. She used to talk like her parents and brother. She “talked funny.” Here’s an excerpt from the screenplay: BERNARDO You’re the girl with the deaf family? Ruby nods. Bernardo looks her over. BERNARDO (CONT’D) Everyone but you? RUBY Yeah. BERNARDO And you sing? Interesting. Are you any good? RUBY I don’t know. BERNARDO Why did you run out of class? RUBY I got scared. BERNARDO Of what? Other kids? RUBY Maybe. Or maybe finding out that I’m bad. BERNARDO Do you know what Bowie said about Bob Dylan? “A voice like sand and glue.” There are plenty of pretty voices with nothing to say. Do you have something to say? RUBY I think so. BERNARDO Good. Then, I’ll see you in class, Bob. He shoos her out with a wave.

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Bernardo tells her the most important thing about singing is to have something to say. So not only does she have to find the courage to share her voice, she must also believe she has something to say. This is critical, of course, in finding our voices. Who among us hasn’t been nervous that we’re not worthy (of whatever goal we’re pursuing) because we don’t have anything of relevance to say? As screenwriters, we know we need to move the story forward by ensuring each scene takes the conflict a step further as the narrative progresses. In another important scene, when Bernardo encourages Ruby to consider going to the Berklee School of Music after high school, she replies that she can’t afford it. He tells her they have scholarships for talented students. “How do you feel when you sing?” he asks. “I don’t know. It’s hard to explain,” she says. “Try,” he says. And here’s what happens: Ruby thinks. Then, unsure of how to express it, she SIGNS. Her two fingers make a figure standing still while her other hand circles to become the “universe,” which spins and grows out of her hands into the air around her. Bernardo considers her. BERNARDO (CONT’D) You would need to sight-read and learn a classical piece. I need your nights and weekends. I do not waste my time. So, if I am offering, it is because I hear something. Ruby takes this in, moved that someone is finally seeing her. It’s one of the most poignant moments in the film because Ruby is unable to access her voice. She can’t tell him how she feels. She can only show him. You know where I’m going with this. We do our best as screenwriters to show and not tell. We understand film and television are visual mediums, so if it’s possible for us to show something rather than have a character talk about it, that’s exactly what we do. When Ruby shows her teacher how singing makes her feel, he’s deeply moved by this – as are we. It’s fascinating and beautifully difficult to watch this young woman struggle to find words for the thing she loves doing most in the world. Still later, when Ruby is taking private lessons at Bernardo’s house, he pushes her to own her voice, to infuse the song she’s singing (Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now”) with personal meaning. “This is one of the

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great songs … you either find a way to connect to it or pick a different song.” Here’s how the scene unfolds in the screenplay: He jumps up from the piano. BERNARDO (CONT’D) Okay, come on! Shake your body, shake it. Shake your arms. Now, sing back at me. Bernardo sings a note at her. She sings the note back. It’s fine, but there’s tension in her voice. BERNARDO (CONT’D) No, no! You’re holding it. RUBY I’m not. BERNARDO Yeah, you’re trying to sound pretty. RUBY I’m not. BERNARDO Yes, you are. Bernardo studies her for a moment. BERNARDO (CONT’D) Okay, you said, when you started school you talked funny. Funny how? RUBY I talked like a deaf person. BERNARDO What does a deaf person sound like? RUBY (hesitates) You know. BERNARDO No, no I don’t know. I want you to tell me.

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RUBY Different? BERNARDO Different how? RUBY (reluctantly) Like, wrong. Ugly. Notice that it’s Ruby who comes up with the word ugly. Bernardo tells her she’s trying to sound pretty, she denies it, but then she uses ugly to describe how she used to sound when she first began speaking in public. BERNARDO Ugly, okay. Make an ugly sound for me. RUBY What? BERNARDO Come on! Yeah. You think you were the only kid who ever got bullied? Who ever had a funny accent?! Look in my eyes. Push against my hands as hard as you can. Push! Make the ugliest, grossest, sound you can. Come on! URRGHHH! Ruby lets go with an ugly sound. Reluctantly. RUBY UUUUUGH! BERNARDO ARRRGGHHH! RUBY UURRRRGHHHHHHH! BERNARDO No! Be a monster! UARRRRGGHHHH! RUBY (screaming) AAAUURRRRGHHHHHHH!

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BERNARDO Now sing at me! Ruby belts back at him. Her voice comes out clear, resonant and LOUD. Bernardo looks satisfied. BERNARDO (CONT’D) Yes! That’s it. THAT’S IT. THAT’S what I was waiting for. Hey! Bernardo gives her a high five. BERNARDO (CONT’D) Yes! As we develop our scripts, we design our scenes to move the story forward while at the same time reveal truths about our characters. These three key scenes between Ruby and her mentor do just that – keep the story turning, and at each turn, reveal more about Ruby. • Scene 1: Bernardo encourages Ruby to pursue her goal despite her fear, explaining that beauty isn’t what matters in a singing voice; what matters is having something to say. • Scene 2: Ruby reveals her problem – that she is only able to articulate her personal truth through signing, with her hands; she doesn’t have access to her voice. • Scene 3: Bernardo helps Ruby access her authentic voice. We screenwriters are obsessed with structure, so you can probably guess where in the narrative these beats occur. • Scene 1 is the break into Act 2. • Scene 2 occurs 20 minutes later, midway through the first half of Act 2. • Scene 3 occurs at the midpoint, halfway through Act 2. And yes, it’s immediately after the midpoint, when Ruby has finally learned to access her voice, that everything starts falling apart at home. Her father’s business is at risk, and he needs Ruby more than ever. The story continues to escalate until Ruby finally makes the decision not to audition for the Berklee School of Music because she can’t abandon her parents. I won’t spoil the ending of the film, but I will tell you that Heder wraps up the third act and Ruby’s journey in a way that is both surprising and inevitable, intimately exploring the ties between Ruby and her parents.

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Creating Likable Female Characters Ruby is a particularly lovable protagonist. She’s easy to root for, and her character traits add up to a whole person who is unquestionably kindhearted. Every action she takes reveals that she is a “good” human being. She is, without a doubt, sympathetic. This isn’t the case with all protagonists. Many of us desire to create characters who struggle to be the best versions of themselves. We might take pleasure in exploring the complexity of the line between “good” and “bad,” characters who find it difficult to make the “right” choice. One of the problems with writing for women is the nagging feeling that we need to create likable characters, particularly in the case of young women or girls. There can be an unlikable, mean antagonist girl – but we’ve always been told (or at least intuited) that we want our lead female character to be likable. This makes good sense. Why would an audience want to tune in for an hour or more to watch an unlikable young woman? The trouble is what society has deemed acceptable qualities for girls as compared to boys. If a male lead character gets in a fight after school, audiences are willing to go along with this burst of testosterone so long as the other guy did something deserving the punch. But can you imagine a female lead character doing the same thing? Our understanding of reality is that boys are more likely to get into fistfights than girls. That may very well be the case (though I’m not looking up statistics on that), but here’s my truth as a viewer: a film about a girl who gets into physical fights sounds pretty darn interesting, and she doesn’t sound unlikable if the other girl did something deserving of the punch. In fact, even if the other girl doesn’t deserve the punch, I can still think of ways to make this lead girl sympathetic. Surely you can, too. You may never have gotten in a fight when you were growing up, but you likely had friends who were bullied, who struggled with anxiety, who were regularly humiliated in the classroom. You can imagine what might cause a young woman to behave in extreme ways. You can take the truth of your experience with any of the difficulties you might choose to explore in your script and find interesting and new ways for your character to react to her struggles. No matter what type of script you’re writing, whether a coming-of-age story or otherwise, you are aiming to build a story around a character. Your goal isn’t to develop a character who will fit into a great concept or plot. Your goal is to create a character that reads as living and breathing on the page and build the

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(Continued) story events around this protagonist. How does your character react when this event happens? What does she do? What does she say? What does she want to do or say but holds back? This may immediately rub you the wrong way, the idea of starting with character. I understand many great writers come up with story ideas first and characters second. But the very best screenwriters take the requisite time to create a fully fleshed-out character that influences the story within the concept or plot. It’s simply not possible to write a great screenplay without a wholly developed character at the center of the story. When you do this difficult and time-consuming work of figuring out who your character is, she will no doubt be sympathetic. Much like the work actors do to understand why their characters make certain “wrong” choices, we do the same work to create characters that reflect the frailty of human existence.

Alike in Pariah

In 2021, Dee Rees’s debut feature film Pariah (2011) became a part of the Criterion Collection, making her “the first African American woman and first queer woman of color to receive a Criterion release.”5 Though the film was overwhelmingly praised by critics when it was released in 2011, Rees didn’t receive widespread recognition for her work until she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay (shared with Virgil Williams) for her film Mudbound (2017). As mentioned in the last chapter, Rees is the second woman of color to be nominated by the Academy for writing. Pariah tells a semi-autobiographical story of a young woman, Alike, played by actor Adepero Oduye, struggling to explore and express her sexual identity while navigating her complicated emotions surrounding her parents’ disapproval. I’ve been teaching this film in my screenwriting classes for several years, not only because of the nuanced crafting of Alike – and all the characters for that matter – but also because it offers an opportunity to discuss the many barriers Rees broke as a filmmaker. In 2011, there were few depictions on screen of African American teenage girls exploring a queer identity. My students and I appreciate delving into the core truths of our personal experiences and struggles. Again, not what we have experienced necessarily – although, in some cases students find that desirable to share – but rather our take-aways from our experiences. Our personal obsessions. The tendency is to replicate what we’ve seen before in film and television, creating characters that feel more like other characters than people we know in the real world. But if we want our writing to stand out as unique and authentic, we need to make a conscious effort to develop characters by leaning into what we know about real-life humans, not about film and television characters.

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Alike’s journey in this film is so beautifully crafted and so painful, it’s difficult to watch – and at the same time, it’s a story that grips the audience immediately and doesn’t let up until the final credits roll. With every step, Alike tries desperately to be brave, to live her authentic life, all the while attempting to prove she’s the respectable girl her parents want her to be. This involves a careful negotiation of what to wear and how to present herself in her social and familial spheres, hiding certain friendships from her parents, and secretly experimenting with sex for the first time. She even hides her poetry from her parents, embarrassed by this evidence of her aspiration to create beauty from her pain. The most complicated relationship in the film is between Alike and her mother Audrey (Kim Wayans). Audrey is a deeply unhappy woman, trying to find comfort in the Bible but struggling to be at peace as her husband cheats on her and her daughter slips away from her stronghold. The relationship is fraught with tension because Audrey and Alike’s wants are in opposition. Alike wants to freely express herself, and Audrey wants Alike to behave like a proper young woman. This underlying conflict between mother and daughter is most prominently demonstrated in a visual way when Audrey buys a bright pink sweater for Alike. It’s clearly not a garment Alike would choose for herself. Even Audrey’s co-worker is surprised when Audrey tells her it’s for Alike. When it’s time to go to church, Audrey demands that Alike change out of her blue button-down shirt and wear the sweater – and a skirt. “I’m tired of this whole tom-boy thing she’s been doing,” Audrey tells her husband Arthur (Charles Parnell). When Alike comes back into the room wearing the sweater, Arthur smiles. “You look beautiful baby,” he says. “This isn’t me,” Alike replies. Audrey is quick to dismiss Alike’s efforts to please her. “Tuck your blouse in,” she says. “Leave it out,” Arthur says. Audrey glares at him. “I think it’s fine,” he says. Throughout the film, Arthur does his best to protect his daughter, to show her he loves her. But he’s hamstringed by Audrey. Their relationship is troubled, and he’s too busy with work and his secret affair to give Alike the attention she needs. He knows she’s been experimenting with her sexuality, but he’s convinced himself it’s a phase. The tangled web between Audrey, Arthur, and Alike makes it impossible for Arthur to accept Alike for who she is. We get the sense he would be okay with her sexual identity, but he can’t embrace it fully because his wife disapproves. At the climax of the film, after Arthur comes home late one evening, a loud argument ensues between Audrey and Arthur, waking Alike from her sleep. She goes downstairs to stop them, and Audrey screams at Arthur, “You

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don’t want to face the facts. Your daughter is turning into a damn man right in front of your eyes. Tell him,” she yells at Alike, “Tell your father you’re a nasty-ass dyke.” Arthur attempts to de-escalate. “Tell your mama it’s not true,” he pleads. “Baby, tell her.” Alike is confused in this moment. They’ve had this discussion. “You already know,” she says. “No, I don’t know. You tell your mama it’s just a phase,” he says. “It’s not a phase,” Alike says. And this sends Audrey into a rage, yelling at Arthur that he should have done something. If he knew, he should have done something. “There’s nothing wrong with me,” Alike pleads. And then, finally, yelling out, “I’m gay!” At this point, Audrey attacks, slapping Alike. “Say it again!” “I’m a lesbian. Yeah, I’m a dyke!” What follows is a violent attack, Audrey punching, kicking, and screaming, Arthur quickly intervening to pull Audrey off Alike. Audrey reads at moments as a woman who cares for her daughter, but her obsession with appearance overshadows her motherly love. We have glimmers of hope throughout the film that Audrey will do the right thing and accept Alike, but ultimately – and tragically – she doesn’t. Despite the heartbreaking conditions of her mother’s love, Alike is brave. She’s committed to protecting her identity, and equally committed to her art, her poetry. She moves out of her parents’ house after this event and applies to early entrance at Berkley, a 10-week writing program. She is accepted. In the Hollywood ending of this story, Alike would tell her mother her good news, and Audrey would be relieved to learn her daughter has a future to look forward. She would have had time to reflect on her behavior, and she would apologize for beating her. She would tell her she loves her. But the ending of the film isn’t what we hope for Alike and Audrey. It’s Alike who tells her mother she loves her. And Audrey has no response. Alike repeats it: “I said I love you,” tears running down her face, her wound from her mother’s beating still fresh on her cheek. To this, Audrey replies: “I’ll be praying for you.” And she takes her Bible and leaves. It’s not the ending we wanted for Alike. But it’s the ending that’s most truthful for mother and daughter. The characters are at odds throughout the film because their desires are in direct contrast, and because those desires are tied to their individual identities. Alike is punished for owning her sexual identity, for being true to who she is. Her mother’s punishment is devastating to watch because, of course, Alike has done nothing wrong. She isn’t making “bad” or “dangerous” choices. She is just living her authentic life.

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This isn’t true for most teenagers, though. Most teens, at one time or another, do something deserving of punishment. Perhaps in your memory vault from your adolescent years, you recall getting in trouble after doing something that conflicted with the rules in your home. You made bad choices, and you were punished for those actions. These memories hold steady in your mind because of the magnitude of your parent’s response. These were conflict-ridden moments peppering your journey through adolescence, and you recall these events precisely because of the tension. When a teenager makes a bad decision, it’s parent’s job is to demonstrate just how wrong this was – the goal being that the teen will think twice before making such a mistake the next time. Parents are trying to raise their children into functioning adults who don’t act impulsively and instead make thoughtful choices that don’t result in “getting in trouble.” This isn’t an easy job for parents, which is precisely why this dynamic – between parent and adolescent – offers screenwriters such terrific conflict to explore in screen stories. The tension in this relationship typically grows stronger as children move through adolescence. Let’s look at a network series and see how a mother-daughter relationship plays out in a dramatic comedy, with a rebellious teenager hellbent on making choices that infuriate her mother. Amber in Parenthood

Amber from Jason Katims’s Parenthood (2010–2015) is one of the most intriguing adolescent female characters I’ve had the pleasure of watching on television in recent years. Played by Mae Whitman, a fine actor who practically grew up on screen, beginning with her role in When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), Amber is fiery and funny and emotional – and most importantly, she’s a contrasting mix of character traits that are both believable and relatable, particularly for a young person trying to figure out who she is. When we are first introduced to Amber in the pilot episode of Parenthood, she is 16, filled with arrogance and angst, and talking back to her mother. They are moving, along with Amber’s brother, Drew, to live with their grandparents in another city. Amber has no interest in moving. Here’s the introduction to this character in the 2009 network draft of the script: INT. TRENTON N.J. APARTMENT IN INDUSTRIAL BUILDING – DAY A door bursts open and Sarah, Drew in tow, storms in the apartment where she finds her daughter AMBER (16), provocatively dressed, with an attitude to match. She’s with DAMIEN (19), her shirtless, tattooed musician boyfriend.

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AMBER Philadelphia is a living hell, Mom. I’m not moving there. I’m moving in with Damien. We’ve decided, right Damien? DAMIEN (not convincing) Uh-huh. SARAH Damien, I would like to speak to my daughter, could you give us a moment? Perhaps, you could use the time to put on a shirt. AMBER Stay right there, Damien. Don’t let her scare you. She’s all bark and no bite. Sarah and Amber stare down. Then, as Sarah lunges toward Amber, we, SMASH TO: EXT. DAMIEN’S INDUSTRIAL APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS Sarah drags Amber out by the arm. Drew walks along like this is an everyday occurrence. AMBER You’re ruining my life. Why are you doing this to me? SARAH I’m doing this so you two could be in decent schools and be around your family and maybe grow up to be decent upstanding citizens of the world. We understand from the outset that Amber will be in trouble. She’ll cause conflict for her mother, Sarah, played by Lauren Graham. Amber is tough and sassy and has her own particular willful way about her. We learn this from the very beginning. But she’s not just those things. She’s complicated, as all teenage girls are. Amber is sweet and loving and kind and wants more than anything to prove she can make something out of her life, that she’s capable of not

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getting into trouble, that she can walk the straight line. But she struggles with this in each episode throughout the series. Amber is a rebel by nature, but she’s also a mama’s girl. She wants to be independent, but she’s tied to her family. She wants to be tough and cool, but really, she’s emotional and sensitive. In every episode for all six seasons, Amber struggles to be at peace with herself because she’s such a dichotomy of parts. And this makes sense, this push-and-pull between rebel girl and good girl, because of the way Amber grew up. Her mother, Sarah, is young and hip and couldn’t possibly do the soccer-mom thing if she tried. She, too, struggles to walk the straight line. Sarah didn’t go to college, she works as a bartender, and she’s endlessly dating guys who are wrong for her and certainly aren’t father figures for her children. The children’s father is absent, an alcoholic musician. (Reminder that Amber is dating the tattooed musician in the opening scene.) So really, Amber is just following in her mother’s footsteps. She wants to be her own woman, but she can’t help but be her mother’s daughter. Amber loves her mother. She admires her, not just despite her flaws, but because of her flaws. Their relationship is complicated. When Sarah makes a mistake, Amber might act upset and disgusted, but secretly she’s relieved because that mistake gives her tacit permission to make her own mistakes. It’s exactly this type of complicated relationship between mother and adolescent daughter that makes for good dramatic storytelling. The conflict between them can go on seemingly indefinitely (although the series did end after six seasons) because both mother and daughter will endlessly make very human and understandable mistakes. When Amber finally takes an interest in high school and begins toying with the idea of attending college, it’s because she’s inspired by her teacher, Mr. Cyr (Jason Ritter). Mr. Cyr sees through the tough-girl exterior. He sees her potential. He believes in her. So much so that Amber begins to develop a school-girl crush. Mr. Cyr makes an audio recording of vocabulary words and definitions so Amber can study for the SATs, and Amber listens to this recording on headphones as if it were a mixed tape made by a boyfriend. Finally, she’s smiling. She’s confident. She has hope for her future. So what’s the best conflict Jason Katims and his writers can come up with to move this storyline forward? Of course, Sarah meets Mr. Cyr, and she too develops a crush. You can imagine the profoundly painful exchange that follows. Even though Sarah breaks off the relationship with Mr. Cyr because she doesn’t want to infringe on her daughter’s territory, by that time, it’s too late. Amber has already used this as an excuse to go back to her old ways and push aside any dreams for college. The characters’ relationships in this show – and in any show worth watching – are what make us want to stick around and find out what

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happens in the next episode. Though Amber is a supporting character in Parenthood, her role is crucial to the development of the story as the series progresses. Sarah is struggling to be a good mother. In fact, all of Sarah’s siblings are struggling to be good parents, as the title of the show suggests. That’s the central conflict of the series: everyone wants to be a great parent, but being a great parent is all but impossible. Life gets in the way. In Sarah’s case, Amber is a key part of her conflict. She can’t be a great parent 100% of the time, because Amber won’t let her be. Amber is dead set on making mistakes. Amber’s character is designed to create tension for Sarah – and frankly, for many of the characters in the show. But none of this would work if she were merely a “bad girl.” The series is what we might label a “slice of life” show. It lives squarely in the dramedy genre, and the success of the series lies in the writers’ ability to make us love characters who are desperately trying to be the very best versions of themselves but struggling immensely. They can’t just be “bad” or “good” or replicas of television characters we’ve seen time and again. They have to be reflections of all of us. We must see ourselves in them, our strengths and weaknesses. Our struggles and successes. Amber gets an opportunity to work at her aunt Julia’s (Erika Christensen) law firm, but she succumbs to her old habits and winds up smoking pot in the parking garage with a guy we knew was trouble from the moment we saw him. Why didn’t Amber know? Or did she know, and she used that as an excuse? Later, she gets an opportunity to work for her aunt Kristina (Monica Potter) on a political campaign, and after several episodes of mini successes adding up to a major success (promotion), just as we’re silently applauding Amber for her achievements, she succumbs to the pressure of her boss’s advances. (See Chapter 4 for an interview with Kerry Ehrin, staff writer and co-executive producer on Parenthood, and co-creator of The Morning Show and Bates Motel.) Conflict, conflict, conflict. And all tied to Amber’s deep-rooted weaknesses. We’ll discuss characters’ weaknesses in greater detail in the next chapter. ∗∗∗

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN WRITERS & DIRECTORS SPOTLIGHT ON: CAROLINE LINK (GERMANY)

German filmmaker Caroline Link has written and directed for both television and film. Her first feature Beyond Silence (1996) was nominated for an Oscar, and her third feature Nowhere in Africa (2001) won the Oscar, making her the second female director of a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner (Marleen Gorris was the first with Antonia’s Line in 1996).

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Link’s other features include Annaluise & Anton (1999), A Year Ago in Winter (2008), Exit Marrakech (2013), All About Me (2018), and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (2019), which won the German Film Award for Outstanding Children or Youth Film. Link’s film Beyond Silence has many similarities to CODA, also centering on a daughter of deaf adults. In this interview, Link shares her inspiration for the film, her writing process, and her propensity to explore themes around family life and relationships between children and parents.6 What draws you to tell stories about families? I think dramatic stories often have to do with our desire to be not alone – to be understood or to feel a certain closeness to the people who surround us. And it always seems to come down to either love stories or stories of family. This is where we get our first views about life. It’s where we get our complexes and where everything that bothers us for the rest of our lives stems from. And it can also be the beginning of our understanding of love. So I think the elementary emotions we learn in families, emotions that we’re taught through our families and that we pass on to our children, I think it’s an essential backdrop for a dramatic story. It’s always the same desire we have – to be seen by the ones who are close to us. Would you say that desire is at the core of Beyond Silence as well? It is. This isn’t really a movie about deafness, Beyond Silence. It’s about deafness on the surface, of course, but the emotional substance is about communication in a family. I always try to speak about a universal emotion that most viewers will know and understand. So with Beyond Silence, I knew I wanted to make a movie about a father and a daughter – a daughter who loves her father very much but who feels drawn to a completely different world. This I knew from my own life, and this is what I wanted to write about before I knew I’d make a movie about a deaf family. How does your childhood influence the stories you tell? In my childhood, really nothing led me to a life of a filmmaker. My parents owned a restaurant in the town I grew up in – a little town close to Frankfurt – and it was a very non-intellectual and non-artistic family. My father left school when he was 14 or 15, and he traveled all over the world by himself. He was very curious and always pushing forward as much as he could, so he was very courageous as a young man. The only thing I know, and I can’t thank my parents enough for, is that they taught me about curiosity and openness – about not judging people but instead watching and collecting impressions. They were very open people, my parents. So everything that makes my movies emotional, I guess, I have to thank my parents for that. They gave me this view of the world – of honesty and faithfulness to family. But they didn’t teach me about literature or film.

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Did you know as a child that you wanted to be a writer and director? Not at all. I think there are two types of directors. There are the ones who can say at 10 years old that they knew they wanted to become a filmmaker, that they loved cinema. But I belong more to the other group, the group who just loves people and telling stories. If I hadn’t become a filmmaker, I would have worked with children who needed help. I suppose I could have become a journalist who had to research difficult living situations, where I’d go into peoples’ living rooms and engage with their problems. So I belong more to that group – the group who didn’t love cinema for cinema’s sake. I became a filmmaker because it allowed me to enter a new world and learn about human beings. I’ve always had a desire to step out of my world and into an unknown world. You often tell stories from the point of view of children or young people. Why do you think you’re drawn to this perspective? It’s not so much the point of view of the child. It used to be in my first movies, but maybe this changed as I became older. I’m a mother now, and the point of view of the child isn’t the one that interests me anymore. You change as a filmmaker. You grow as your life changes. My attitude changes – unfortunately in some ways, fortunately in other ways. I’m not as optimistic as I was when I was younger. I’m a bit more complicated now, I guess because I’ve experienced more. So the movies, I suppose they grow with you if you tell your own stories. What’s the climate like in Germany for female directors? Is it a challenge to be a woman directing films in Germany? In Germany, we have a very strong state subsidy system. We get money from different economic subsidies, and we also have the public television investment in German movies. And those systems really aren’t hostile toward women. I think it makes no difference actually, whether a screenplay comes from a man or a woman. I can’t say that men are at an advantage or in a better position. If anything, I would say what I find difficult as a woman is keeping up continuity in this job – not because anybody stops me from making movies but because I find it exhausting. You always have to start again from nothing. You have to convince people and get the money together. Even if I’m a quite successful filmmaker, it’s always a struggle. It’s a struggle for men as well, but I have a feeling that we as women don’t have as much strength over the years, the continuity to always fight and fight and fight for the next project. When you have kids and you need to be away so much for research and shooting and financing … it’s emotionally straining. And you’re always judged. People have opinions about you personally because they see you through your movies. And many talented young women who went to film school with me, they don’t like to live that life and it’s their decision not to

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keep fighting. It’s not so much that anybody kicks them out. In Germany, this isn’t really a problem. Do you find the process of directing itself tiring as well? Or just everything leading up to the shoot? I really love directing, and I’m usually very happy and excited when I’m on the set – and have a lot of positive adrenaline. I’m also always very aware that being in the position to make your stories come to life, it’s a privilege really. But I will say that it’s sometimes tough to be so many different women at once. You want to be the understanding, loving, caretaking mother of the company, and at the same time you have to be determined and tough, always focused on what you’re doing. You have to push the carriage through the mud, and it can become tiring because as women we try to meet all those needs. Do you have a sense that as a female director you have to be nurturing? Because that’s part of the job? I think one big problem for women is that they worry too much about how they’re perceived. More than anything else, I am a problem for myself, I would say. Because when I discover male characteristics in myself, I don’t like myself. But I don’t think men worry about that. When they become impatient, aggressive, pushy, demanding, they just think, “Well, I’m the director, and I have all the rights in the world to be like that.” But as a woman, I worry, “Oh, I’ve been too tough, and I’ve been too pushy today. Who did I treat wrongly? Maybe I should have been more patient.” And then I worry so much about how I behaved because I want to be a nice girl, after all, a nice person. And I sometimes think that’s unfair. Men don’t behave nicely all the time, and they’re respected. But when women behave like that, people don’t like it. Well, I don’t like it at all. I’m very strict with myself. Do you think your gender factors into your work – your representations of characters, the stories you tell, or the way you tell stories? I have never really thought of myself as a female storyteller. Of course, I do tell stories in different ways than men would probably, but I always felt a little hurt when people looked at my movies and said, ‘A typical women’s movie!’ Nevertheless, I have to accept – whether I like it or not – that most of my audience is female and that I tell stories with female handwriting, in a way. But really, we need the whole variety of handwriting and languages and tones and points of view. We can’t just let men show us the world in movies – the range of emotions and difficult, complicated, complex human relationships. How poor would that be if only men described the emotional variety of human expressions? That would be a very one-sided picture. So I think we need the point of view of different people – not only men and women but people with different social backgrounds and different intellectual backgrounds too.

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∗∗∗

INTERNATIONAL FILMS DIRECTED BY WOMEN FEATURING GIRLS & YOUNG WOMEN

Looking for inspiration from international films centered on girls and young women? Check out these award-winning films directed by women. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Daisies (1966) directed by Vera Chytilová, Czech Republic Fat Girl (2001) directed by Catherine Breillat, France Lovely Rita (2001) directed by Jessica Hausner, Austria Whale Rider (2002) directed by Niki Caro, New Zealand Persepolis (2007) directed by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi, Iran XXY (2007) directed by Lucía Puenzo, Argentina Treeless Mountain (2008) directed by So Yong Kim, South Korea A Year Ago in Winter (2008) directed by Caroline Link, Germany Fish Tank (2009) directed by Andrea Arnold, England Corpo Celeste (2011) directed by Alice Rohrwacher, Italy Ginger & Rosa (2012) directed by Sally Potter, England Wadjda (2012) directed by Haifaa Al Mansour, Saudi Arabia So Young (2013) directed by Zhao Wei, China Girlhood (2014) directed by Céline Sciamma, France Mustang (2015) directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Turkey/France Dearest Sister (2016) directed by Mattie Do, Laos Like Cotton Twines (2016) directed by Leila Djansi, Ghana Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017) directed by Issa López, Mexico I Am Not a Witch (2017) directed by Rungano Nyoni, Zambia The Breadwinner (2017) directed by Nora Twomey, Ireland Where Hands Touch (2018) directed by Amma Asante, England System Crasher (2019) directed by Nora Fingscheidt, Germany Rocks (2019) directed by Sarah Gavron, England Yuni (2021) directed by Kamila Andini, Indonesia Turning Red (2022) directed by Domee Shi, China/Canada

Notes 1 Allison Wilkinson, “He Wrote Notting Hill and Love Actually. In His New Film, Everyone Forgets the Beatles,” Vox, June 26, 2019, https://www.vox.com/culture/ 2019/6/26/18701135/yesterday-interview-richard-curtis-ed-sheeran. 2 Emma Robertson, “Eric Roth: Screenwriting Is a Bastardized Form of Art,” The Talks, https://the-talks.com/interview/eric-roth/.

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3 Jay A. Fernandez, “Former Gambler Now in the Chips,” Los Angeles Times, September 27, 2006, https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-scriptland27sep27-story.html. 4 Siân Heder, “How to Craft a Script in a Language that Can’t Be Written,” Los Angeles Times, January 18, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/ awards/story/2022-01-18/coda-script-sian-heder-deaf-actors. 5 Angelique Jackson, “Dee Rees on Becoming the First Black American Woman Featured in the Criterion Collection With ‘Pariah’,” Variety, July 2, 2021, https://variety.com/ 2021/film/news/filmmaker-dee-rees-pariah-criterion-collection-1235010358/. 6 A version of this interview was published January 2014 in Film International: http://filmint.nu/diva-directors-around-the-globe-spotlight-on-caroline-link/. Reprinted with permission.

Screenplays and Episodes Cited Beyond Silence, written by Caroline Link and Beth Serlin; ARTE. CODA, written by Siân Heder, based on La Famille Bélier; Apple Original Films, Pathé Films, Vendôme Pictures. Pariah, written by Dee Rees; Chicken and Egg Pictures. Parenthood, pilot episode, written by Jason Katims; Imagine Television, Universal Media Studios.

3 SHE FALLS IN LOVE Smitten Women

During the silent film era, a woman by the name of Ellen Frye Barker wrote one of the first books on screenwriting titled, The Art of Photoplay Writing (Colossus Publishing, 1917). In chapter 6 of her concise and fascinatingly still relevant manual, Barker tackles the subject of “What to Write About.” She says, “Write on patriotism, integrity, sympathy, thoughtfulness, charity, love, heroism, friendship, mother love, honesty, etc. Above all, have the human interest so strong that it will appeal to everybody. Love stories are always popular.”1 Little is known about Ellen Frye Barker and her additional contributions to screenwriting and the film industry, but she certainly had a solid grasp on how to think about theme and storytelling. As discussed in the last chapter, one of our key tasks as we develop our screen stories is to settle on a thematic core that is in some way relatable to most viewers. Barker referred to this as a strong “human interest.” Another way to think of this is as a “universal struggle,” an underlying thematic conflict that is universally understood. As mentioned, some screenwriters find themselves writing stories that circle the same theme again and again. For Eric Roth, that theme is loneli­ ness. This is a universal struggle. No matter where you live, what language you speak, or the circumstances of your life to date, you are familiar with the emotional pain of loneliness. So regardless of the story Roth chooses to build around this core theme, every single person in the world can relate. Love is another universal struggle, one that every human has experience with. Richard Curtis writes love stories. Time and again, no matter the characters or plot or overarching story, all his movies are about love. The same is true for award-winning Australian filmmaker Gillian Armstrong, who directed the 1994 DOI: 10.4324/9780429287596-4

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film version of Little Women starring Winona Ryder, and Charlotte Gray (2001) starring Cate Blanchett, among others. “They’re all love stories,” she told me in an interview. “Forget the angry feminist. I’m just a big softie. I think I’m definitely a romantic at heart.”2 There are many types of love our characters might grapple with in screen stories. Love for family, friends, pets, or even a passion. In this chapter, I am unraveling – very specifically – romantic love and how we go about the task of creating intriguing depictions of women grappling with their love lives. DON’T RUN AWAY FROM LOVE!

If you’re someone entirely uninterested in exploring romantic love in your scripts, don’t turn to the next chapter just yet. This applies to you, too! The fact is, no matter what genre you are writing in – whether mystery, thriller, action, war film, or true crime – love will likely play at least some role in your story. It may not be the underlying theme, but most protagonists struggle with love to some degree. Note that I am not only referring to the female protagonist whose over­ arching journey revolves around her romantic pursuits. It’s critical in this discussion to also explore well-drawn female characters, protagonists or supporting characters, whose arcs only minimally involve complications associated with romance. For instance, if the B story is a love story for the female protagonist (or even merely a sexual exploit), it’s extremely important – and equally as challenging – to ensure this storyline is more than a plot device and is instead woven into the fabric of the character. Her romantic or sexual endeavors shouldn’t just serve as a vehicle for the story. They should be a natural outgrowth of who she is. Similarly, for the supporting female character who is the “love interest” for the lead, we want to pay close attention to creating this character in such a way that she arcs convincingly over the course of the story. I emphasize this because though you might not label your film or pilot script a “love story,” if an element of love exists in your narrative, you will have to work intentionally and creatively to ensure you are integrating romance into your character’s journey that reads as truthful to that specific character. So with this in mind, let’s begin by examining some possible purposes love can serve in a story. IDENTIFYING THE PURPOSE OF LOVE IN YOUR STORY

When you see romance in the category title for a film or series, for example in one of the tags on IMDb, you know what you’re in for. Whether also

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tagged as a drama or comedy, that word romance is a quick indicator the story will revolve around a character contending with her love life. Most often in these stories, the character is falling in love. She might be unwilling to admit it, or trying hard not to let it happen, but the genres of romance and rom-com demand that the protagonist spend the bulk of her emotional journey sorting out her romantic feelings. Falling Out of Love For some love stories, the narrative arc is built around a character falling out of love. These films are less common since Hollywood understands viewers traditionally prefer to escape into stories that explore positivity and possibility when it comes to romance, so it’s a bigger gamble to invest in a downward spiral. Still, there have been a handful of successful films and series in this genre, including Scenes from a Marriage (1974; 2021), Shoot the Moon (1982), Heartburn (1986), The War of the Roses (1989), Husbands and Wives (1992), The Story of Us (1999), The Break-Up (2006), Away From Her (2006), and Marriage Story (2019).

What purpose can love play in romance dramas or romantic comedies? It helps to think in terms of conflict. How does falling in love create tension for the protagonist? Falling in love can: • Make it difficult for a protagonist to succeed at work (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) • Make a protagonist question her career (Pretty Woman) • Threaten a protagonist’s marriage (Unfaithful) • Threaten a protagonist’s engagement (Sweet Home Alabama) • Create conflict between a protagonist and her sibling (The Man in the Moon) • Challenge a protagonist’s sexual identity (High Art) • Threaten a protagonist’s friendship (When Harry Met Sally) • Force a protagonist to choose between her family and her boyfriend (Dirty Dancing) • Create conflict for a protagonist in love with someone who doesn’t love her (The Half of It) • Threaten the stability of a protagonist’s family (A Walk on the Moon) There are nearly endless possibilities. The key is to consider what your protagonist wants and how falling in love makes it difficult for her to achieve that goal.

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For stories that cannot be categorized as romance or rom-coms, what is the purpose of falling in love in the narrative and how does that create conflict for the protagonist? Let’s think again in terms of supporting characters. Regardless of genre, all supporting characters are designed to generate tension for the protagonist. The best friend character might hold the protagonist back or steer her in a dangerous direction. The mother character might make the protagonist question her deepest desires. The mentor character might challenge the protagonist to push herself in ways that make her feel vulnerable. What about the love interest? This character might demand attention, and the protagonist doesn’t have time. Or the love interest might want affection, and the protagonist doesn’t have confidence. Or the love interest might want a commitment, but this conflicts with the protagonist’s goal. We design our supporting characters in such a way that, yes, they create conflict for the protagonist, but also in such a way that the conflict they create makes logical sense considering the intricacies of their character traits. We don’t want these supporting characters to merely be chess pieces creating obstacles for the lead. We design them so the roadblocks they throw in front of the protagonist are intrinsic to who they are. CRAFTING THE FEMALE LOVE INTEREST

If the love interest in a film is a woman, a supporting character to the male protagonist, what can we do to ensure this woman is a fully fleshed-out character? In many films, the female love interest holds such a prominent place in the story we might consider it a dual-protagonist film, with both characters carrying equal weight. This is sometimes the case, and we can easily make an argument for this with many films. But for the sake of sim­ plicity, it’s generally easiest to think in terms of a single protagonist with a supporting character of great importance. I say this is easiest because it can help us focus our story and build the beats through the lens of one main character. So let’s study the creation of a story with a male protagonist and a female love interest who serves as a second lead. We’ll look at the most recent remake of A Star Is Born (2018), written by Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, and Will Fetters. Ally in A Star Is Born

We go to the movies and turn on the television because we want to feel something. We want a distraction from our lives, an excuse to sit quietly and avoid pressing responsibilities. Maybe we simply want to relish the occasion to sit beside our loved one without the pressure to talk.

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It’s important to remind ourselves, every once and a while, the purpose of movies and television shows. They are entertainment, whether love stories or otherwise. We screenwriters are trying to entertain our audiences. We want them to emote. To laugh, to smile, to cry, to feel … something. With love stories, we take our viewers on an exciting and tumultuous rollercoaster ride as two souls 1) discover their love for each other, 2) rekindle their romance, or 3) navigate the challenges of holding onto their relationship during difficult times. My students and I have been studying A Star Is Born for the past several years, bringing together discussions of theme, character, and structure. It’s a fascinating film to dissect because the evolution of the love story between Jack (Bradley Cooper) and Ally (Lady Gaga) is beautifully linked to the music and lyrics, which highlight key turning points in the film. In other words, theme, character, and structure are intricately woven together as the story progresses. I’ve mentioned Eric Roth has said he writes thematically about loneliness, and this is clearly evident in A Star Is Born. If you have seen this film, you know Jack is a tragically wounded character attempting to numb his lone­ liness with alcohol and drugs. But it’s the love he discovers for Ally at the beginning of the film that ultimately heightens his loneliness. Love is the main source of conflict for Jack. If he didn’t fall in love, the film would have an entirely different story arc – and likely wouldn’t lead to a tragic ending. We’re going to explore Ally’s role as the love interest in a moment, but first we need to set up the story from Jack’s POV. Jack is drunk when he meets Ally in a drag bar just minutes after the film opens, and he is immediately drawn to her – her singing voice, the way she presents herself on stage, her passion for performance. He goes backstage and wants to unveil her, take off her eyebrows, see what she looks like beneath the mask of performance. He is awestruck. It’s love at first sight. From the moment he hears her sing, he’s on a mission to discover her. To get to know the real Ally. Jack convinces Ally to join him for a drink at one of his usual bars, where he discovers that in addition to being a phenomenal singer and a beautiful woman beneath the makeup, Ally is also willing to fight for him. She punches a guy who intrudes into Jack’s space, wanting to take a selfie with him. From there, they go to a convenience store (ice for Ally’s hand), and then outside to the parking lot of the store. It’s while sitting in the parking lot that Jack learns Ally can also write music, on the spot – and most importantly, that she sees him and can write lyrically about him (inciting incident). She has something to substance to say. She has a voice. In the last chapter, we discussed Ruby from CODA and her journey to find her voice over the course of the film. In A Star Is Born, Ally begins her journey already owning her voice. This is what draws Jack to her. He doesn’t

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have an authentic voice, which is at the root of his loneliness (he borrowed his brother’s gravelly voice), and so he gravitates to a lover who has what he’s lacking. Authenticity in her music, in her singing voice, and in her lyrics. He goes on a mission to help the world hear Ally (break into Act 2), the beauty of her voice and lyrics. Ally becomes a star (midpoint), which leads to her metaphorically “losing her voice.” It’s at this point that their relationship begins to fall apart. Jack wants the Ally he met in the parking lot, the one who saw into his lost soul and wrote the lyrics, “Tell me something, boy. Aren’t you tired trying to fill that void?”3 Not the Ally in her Saturday Night Live performance, who wrote the lyrics, “Why’d you come around me with an ass like that?”4 Multiple times throughout the film, Jack begs Ally to hold onto her voice. To think carefully about what she wants to say. This is her chance for the world to hear the real Ally. But she can’t do this. She succumbs to the shiny draw of stardom. And so, because Jack feels he’s lost the one person who could fill his void, he has nowhere to turn. He begins to lose his hearing, which is both a plot device and a metaphor. The ringing in his ears affects his music career, and he continues his journey making one self-destructive choice after another until finally he is at rock bottom. He writes a final love song for Ally (break into Act 3), which he hides in a journal hoping Ally won’t find it until, as he says, she has “come back to herself.” Here’s a view of the structure of this film and its relationship to the thematic core conflict (love) from Jack’s POV:

• Jack meets and falls in love with Ally and her "voice."

Inci!ng Incident

Break into A2 • Jack begins his mission to get the world to hear Ally's voice, what she has to say.

• Ally becomes a star and metaphorically loses her voice (has nothing to say). Jack begins to literally lose his hearing.

Break into A3 • Jack writes a love song for Ally.

Midpoint

FIGURE 3.1 Jack’s Romantic Journey in A Star Is Born (2018).

We don’t hear the lyrics of Jack’s love song until the finale. The lyrics read, “Wish I could, I could’ve said goodbye. I would’ve said what I wanted to. Maybe even cried for you. If I knew it would be the last time. I would’ve broke my heart in two. Tryna save a part of you.”5 These words have several meanings and can be interpreted from Ally’s POV and Jack’s POV, referring to both the beginning and end of the film.

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The music and lyrics in A Star Is Born effectively narrate the major transitions in the movie, revealing both Jack and Ally’s internal struggles. This is a terrific narrative device, and conventionally appropriate for a film featuring musicians in the lead roles. But it also allows us screenwriters a window into the structuring of the story and the ways in which the char­ acters come together and eventually fall apart amid their love for each other. Now, let’s examine the opening of the film from Ally’s POV. The question is, how do the screenwriters set up Ally as the love interest for Jack and fully introduce her character? This is key so everything that transpires after their first encounter makes logical sense given who she is. In other words, because Ally is not just a love interest but is also the second lead in the film, her journey is an integral part of the story. We have to get to know her, and quickly. We first meet Ally in the bathroom at her workplace where she is breaking up with a guy over the phone. Here’s a look at this scene in the script: INT. BILTMORE HOTEL - BATHROOM - WIDE SHOT - DAY PAN ALONG the bottom of a number of stalls. The bathroom seemingly empty … Until we hear a HUSHED VOICE and see two feet in heels in a stall down at the end. ALLY (O.S.) (into phone) Roger … You’re a wonderful man, yes, and you’re a great lawyer. We’re just not meant to be together. ANOTHER ANGLE - INSIDE THE STALL ALLY CAMPANA, (early 30s) is on her cell phone. ALLY (into phone) No, I don’t wanna marry you -- are you crazy?!? The hell’s the matter with you? Roger, we’re done. Oh, God. She hangs up, opens the door to the stall, and screams bloody murder. ALLY Fucking men! She pulls herself together.

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So we’re introduced to the concept that Ally’s love life is a mess. Men are a problem for her. Even a “wonderful man,” a “great lawyer” isn’t right for her. And not only is he not right for her, he might also be “crazy.” She did this to herself, we understand – getting so deeply entwined with an emotionally unstable man that she’s forced to break off the relationship in a bathroom stall. Here’s what happens next: INT. BILTMORE - HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS ACTION She walks PAST various CATERING SERVERS AND STAFF with her best friend RAMON -- he’s an aspiring dancer with a sinewy body like a swimmer, flamboyant, wonderful. RAMON Did he cry? ALLY He cried. He laughed. He yelled at me. You know, whatever. RAMON You broke his heart, mama! ALLY I did the right thing. It just wasn’t right -BRYAN (O.S.) Ally, garbage -They turn to see BRYAN, their catering manager, walking up from behind. ALLY Bryan, can you get somebody else to do it for me? RAMON You have to let her shine! BRYAN (not messing around) It’s your fucking turn! ALLY (to Ramon) Okay, I’ll see you upstairs.

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He gives her a kiss and keeps moving. Ally rolls her eyes and heads towards her manager … RAMON Come on, Bryan! She’s performing tonight! ALLY Here we go. Taking out the trash. Like your mouth. BRYAN I’ll let you go early, but you gotta finish your job. ALLY Well, you gotta keep your mouth clean. Okay? CUT TO: EXT. BILTMORE - TRASH AREA - NIGHT Ally tosses a bag of trash into the dumpster … She hums to herself, just audible over the LOUD TRASH COMPACTOR … ALLY (singing) ‘When all the world is a hopeless jumble, And the raindrops tumble all around, Heaven opens a magic lane, When all the clouds darken up the skyway, There’s a rainbow highway to be found.’6 And as Ally ascends the tunnel into the night … SUPERIMPOSE TITLE: A STAR IS BORN You can see the thematic seeds the writers are planting. She broke his heart. She’s forced to throw out the trash. He needs to let her “shine.” Even amid hopelessness, “heaven” opens a magic pathway. These aren’t random, these bits of dialogue and lyrics. They are appro­ priate to the story thematically, and appropriate to Ally’s character and the

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arc of her emotional journey. She is a woman who struggles with love. Who gravitates toward needy men. Who breaks their hearts. Who must get rid of the garbage in her life. Who needs to shine. Who needs hope that magic exists. This is who Ally is. This sums up her strengths, her weaknesses, her wants, and her needs. And it all happens in the first few pages of the script, fore­ shadowing everything that happens in her relationship with Jack. With this setup, whether we consciously process our understanding of who Ally is, when everything plays out after this, it reads as believable. And much of that has to do with how the writers introduce her character. Now, let’s examine the lyrics in the songs Ally sings at key turning points in the film. She is on stage or performing for each of these narrative beats, except the first (inciting incident) which takes place in the parking lot as they begin to get to know each other. • Inciting Incident: “Tell me something, boy. Aren’t you tired trying to fill that void?”7 • Break into Act 2: “I’m off the deep end, watch as I dive in, I’ll never meet the ground.”8 • Midpoint: “Won’t you steal me? Steal me all the way from myself.”9 • Escalating Conflict: “Why do you come around me with an ass like that? … This is not, not like me. Why did you do that to me?”10 • Break into Act 3: “In the shallow. We’re far from the shallow now.”11 • Finale: “Don’t wanna give my heart away, to another stranger. Don’t let another day begin. Won’t let the sunlight in. Oh, I’ll never love again.”12 The lyrics reveal what Ally is thinking. She can’t say what she’s thinking in dialogue – that wouldn’t read as believable for her character. But she can sing about it. Most of us can’t imbed music and lyrics into our scripts, but it’s a fasci­ nating glimpse into how the screenwriters structured the film around these two characters. A Star Is Born is a love story. It’s a story about what happens to a man when he falls in love with a woman destined for stardom, destined to leave him. Ally is the star, but she is also the love interest. And to make her emotional journey convincing, to make us care about her despite the choices she makes throughout the film, we need to understand who she is. ROMANCE AS A CATALYST

In A Star Is Born, Jack and Ally’s initial encounter serves as the inciting incident. This is the beginning of these characters’ relationship. Screenwriters are accustomed to using the terms catalyst and inciting incident to signify the

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event that occurs early in a film or pilot script. There’s everything before this event, and everything after. If the event didn’t occur, there would be no story. In Good Will Hunting (1997), written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the triggering event is a fistfight that lands Will (Damon) in jail. If Will didn’t wind up in jail, he wouldn’t be forced to study with an MIT math professor (Stellan Skarsgård) and undergo therapy with a community college psy­ chology professor (Robin Williams). If Will wants a get-out-of-jail-free card, he must agree to both study and therapy. And so begins his Act 2 journey. Catalyst: The protagonist gets in a fistfight. In Thelma & Louise (1991), written by Callie Khouri, the two characters (Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon) are on a ladies’ weekend when a romantic encounter between Thelma and a man in a bar descends into sexual assault. Louise finds them in the parking lot of the bar and shoots the man in a moment of rage. Thelma tries to convince Louise that they should turn themselves in (it was Thelma’s gun), but Louise insists the police won’t believe them. And this begins their Act 2 journey as they run from the law. Catalyst: The co-protagonist shoots a man. Not all romantic encounters develop into love or relationships, and it can often be a compelling choice for screenwriters writing outside the romance genre to play with the notion of love, infatuation, or sex to trigger a turn in the character’s trajectory. And it’s particularly interesting when romance serves as a catalyst for all major turning points in a film. Thelma in Thelma & Louise

When Thelma & Louise hit the theaters in 1991, there was a significant amount of discussion among critics, audiences, and academics about the representation of gender in the film. The script has been studied in countless film studies and screenwriting classrooms over the past three decades, both in terms of story structure as well as the female characters’ roles in the story – the violent acts they endure and commit and the criminal behavior they engage in. I’d like to examine this film from the perspective of romance serving as a catalyst and key turning points for Thelma, played by Geena Davis. When we’re first introduced to Thelma, she’s stuck in a loveless marriage to a man who doesn’t respect her and keeps her on a short leash. By the end of the film, Thelma is a woman entirely in charge of her destiny. She’s gone rogue, choosing to live by her own rules. Even though her options are limited in the film’s finale, Thelma has evolved so she’s now able to own her final decision. We might view the brutal sexual assault as the catalyst for the story. This beat does serve as the inciting incident, which launches the two women’s Act 2 journey as they run from the cops. But if we take a closer look at the structure of this film, we notice it’s the romance with J.D. (Brad Pitt) at the

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midpoint that propels Thelma into her transformation. For the first half of the second act, Louise drives the action, making decisions that move the story forward. At the midpoint, after Thelma discovers J.D. has stolen their getaway money, she takes over as the driving force in the story. Her first romantic encounter results in a sexual assault (inciting incident), and her second romantic encounter results in a satisfying sexual experience but ultimate betrayal (midpoint). Setup romanceloveless marriage

Inci ng Incident romance-sexual assault

Midpoint romance-sexrobbery

FIGURE 3.2 Romance as a Catalyst in Thelma & Louise (1991).

The way romance plays into Thelma’s arc is important to consider as it serves as a catalyst for the major turning points in the film. Thelma’s loveless marriage – which we can assume began with romance – leads to her escaping her husband for a weekend away. Her romantic encounter in the bar leads to attempted rape. Her romance with J.D. leads to a robbery. Romance with J.D. is a positive turn for Thelma, in the sense that this encounter propels her to come into her own – in effect, to find her true voice. In examining this beat through the lens of story design, we notice that Thelma’s romance with J.D. leads to increasing tension in the second half of the film. If she hadn’t spent an evening with him, he wouldn’t have stolen the money, and Thelma and Louise might have been able to escape the cops. With no money in their pockets, the two women are forced to make a series of illegal choices that ramp up the dramatic tension. And it all stems back to the lack of romance (and love) with her husband. Thelma is a character who wants romance. She wants to believe there’s more to life than merely existing in a loveless marriage. Even after the violent sexual assault, she’s still open to experiencing intimacy with a man. She’s looking for love, but what she finds is men who take from her – her selfrespect, her body, her money. Men fail her. They betray her. But the woman in Thelma’s life stands by her. Louise defends Thelma. She holds Thelma’s hand literally and figuratively as she finds the strength to embrace her womanhood and own her choices. Though Thelma & Louise isn’t a conventional love story, Thelma’s desire for intimacy fuels her journey throughout the film. Ultimately, she does find love, and there’s a comfort in knowing she’s had it all along.

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Meredith in Grey’s Anatomy

Though Shonda Rhimes’s Grey’s Anatomy (2005—) is much more than a nearly two-decade love story, romance serves as an appropriate catalyst for the entire series. In the pilot episode, on the night before Meredith Grey’s (Ellen Pompeo) first day of work at the hospital, she has a one-night stand with a guy she meets in a bar, Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), only to find out that he is her new boss. This plot point sets up the ongoing conflict between Meredith and Derek throughout the first 10 seasons of the series. It was supposed to be anonymous sex, but it turned out to be sex with her boss. Conflict. She fights against this relationship developing further but winds up falling in love. More conflict! And to make matters worse, she eventually discovers that Derek is still married, and possibly still in love with his wife. And on and on. The love story between Meredith and Derek is crucial to the success of the series for the first 10 seasons. The ups and downs of their relationship can’t simply be plot points, as listed above. The events in their tangled love life must be convincing, painful, and deliciously complicated – just as the events in our real-life love stories are. Except, of course, they’re heightened. This is a nighttime television drama, after all. Some might even define it as a nighttime soap. This isn’t real life. It’s not meant to read as a slow-burning, realistic depiction of romantic love. It’s meant to keep viewers coming back for more, week after week, season after season. It’s meant to read as believable, while at the same time reassuring viewers that they are watching – ultimately – a fantasy. A light and easy-to-consume drama. So how does Rhimes keep audiences invested in Meredith and her friends’ romantic endeavors and mishaps over 19-plus seasons? There are two critical components in the creation and setup of this series: the relationship between the characters’ love lives and careers, and the relationship between the characters’ internalized weaknesses and their ability to love. As Meredith is the protagonist in the series, the tensions in her personal and professional life serve as a parallel – and in fact, a microcosm – of all the characters in the show. All the featured residents and interns in the series struggle to balance their love lives with their responsibilities and ambitions at work. They want to be the best doctors they can be, but they need love. And love often gets in the way of their ability to succeed in their careers. The complicating factor is that love is both a strength and a weakness for Meredith and her friends. Meredith’s ability to accept and give love is precisely what makes her a better doctor. She finds it difficult to accept love as an adult because she didn’t receive it as a child. She was neglected by her mother and abandoned by her father. Her mother was a superstar

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surgeon, which explains why Meredith chose her career path. We learn at the end of the pilot that Meredith’s narration throughout the episode has been her talking to her mother, who is living in a nursing home due to Alzheimer’s. Meredith’s life is complicated. She is hurt by her mother, and so she fol­ lows in her footsteps, trying to prove that she’s good enough. She’s valuable. She’s worthy of respect. Of love. She’ll never get her mother’s love, but eventually she’ll accept Derek’s love. She wants to “adult” and be the best surgeon she can be, but she’s held back by her insecurity. And all the characters have a similarly complicated relationship with love. They each have an internal weakness that holds them back from being successful at love and work simultaneously. It’s either one or the other. A CHARACTER’S INTERNAL WEAKNESS

A character’s weakness is inevitably tied to her need. She wants one thing, but she needs another. She has great strengths, but she’s held back by her weakness. If only she can overcome her weakness, she can get what she really needs. She may not get what she wants, but it’s far more important that she gets her needs met. And that’s the arc of the story: she goes after what she desires, and she winds up with what she needs. This is simplified, and it’s merely one take on how you might build a character’s arc. But it’s not a bad starting point for developing a character that influences the beats of a story, and often it’s a good baseline to come back to if you’re struggling with your story. We spoke in the first chapter about not judging our characters’ flaws. Internal weaknesses are intimately tied to character flaws. This is true not only for screen characters but also for real-life people. We all have character flaws that manifest in unbecoming ways, and examining our internal emo­ tional weaknesses is one way to think about why these flaws exist. Self-Exploration of Our Internal Weaknesses

Shonda Rhimes famously coined the term “dark and twisty” to describe Meredith Grey, and the reason this likely took such a stronghold in the zeitgeist is because it describes all of us on the inside. We’re all dark and twisty. We’re mostly able to hold it together and smile and behave appro­ priately, but internally, we’re a tangled mess of complex emotions. If this weren’t the case, there wouldn’t be a multibillion-dollar self-help book industry, a multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical industry, or a multibilliondollar film and television industry. There’s a lot of difficult stuff to contend with in the real world of being human, and as screenwriters, we’re accustomed to exploring our own

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complicated emotions through fictional characters. Let’s break this down when it comes to building stories with complicated characters: • Stories are about conflict: a character’s internal conflict and external conflict. Both are necessary for an engaging story. • Internal conflict has to do with how a character is or isn’t processing the truth behind her behavior. • The truth behind a character’s behavior lies in her pain about past events or her fears about the future. • A writer’s ability to create characters that have a complicated relationship between past events, possible future events, and current feelings and behaviors depends entirely on her ability to acknowledge and accept her own personal truths. In other words, to write well – to create complicated and engaging characters that aren’t merely imitations of other characters we’ve seen on screen – we have to do the hard work of exploring our own dark and twisty selves. Another way to think about this is as secrets. What are your secret thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that nobody knows about? Your family and closest friends know how you behave in private, which is different from how you present yourself publicly. But your secrets are yours alone. And your characters have secrets too. Mining and then revealing those secrets will share something about your character’s weakness – or at least what she perceives to be a weakness. FEMALE PROTAGONISTS FALLING IN LOVE

Nora Ephron’s female protagonists have been celebrated as smart, witty, professional women who embrace their desire for romance with as much passion and purpose as their desire for success in the workplace. Though many still refer to her contribution to film as inventing the “chick flick,” it seems most critics today recognize the depth she brought to the women at the center of her stories – and especially, the careful balance between their pursuits of love and career. Ephron was a groundbreaking screenwriter, inspiring a generation of women film and television writers who followed. When she passed away in 2012, Rhimes tweeted her quote, “I try to write parts for women that are as complicated and interesting as women actually are.” Diablo Cody said of Ephron, “When I first started writing screenplays, her work was something to aspire to. The best possible version of a scene is ‘the Nora Ephron version.’”13 If we’re writing a romance drama or comedy, we all aspire to write characters as nuanced as Ephron’s. We want our protagonist’s romantic journey to be complicated by external forces outside of her control and

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internal forces that she has to overcome. We’re aiming to create a layered and dramatically engaging protagonist that reads as complete and con­ vincing while at the same time contradictory and unique. When we examine Ephron’s protagonists – most portrayed by Meg Ryan and Meryl Streep – this is what we walk away feeling. No matter that these women’s narrative and emotional arcs rest on their desire for the magic of love, their goals never read as trite. They are emotionally full. As she wrote in her first novel, Heartburn, published in 1983 and adapted for the screen in 1986, “And then the dreams break into a million tiny pieces. The dream dies. Which leaves you with a choice: you can settle for reality, or you can go off, like a fool, and dream another dream.”14 Romance dramas and comedies are magical. They are, in essence, fantasies. And so our protagonists have every right to dream of finding love. In fact, they must. Our job is to fill these characters so their dreams read as plausible. Not Always Mid-30s

One of the most alarming problems with film and television portrayals of women pursuing love and romance is the age of the female protagonist. How many films and television series can you think of that explore women’s romantic pursuits with lead characters over the age of 40? Not many. We might think of this as a glaring gap in the market. I don’t know how many women over the age of 40 with access to televisions are alive today, but I expect the number is sizable. And most of these women are either currently in love or have experienced romantic love at one time or another. They’d like to escape into romantic fantasies just as much as women half their age. When Nancy Meyers approached Diane Keaton with her idea for Something’s Gotta Give (2003), Keaton didn’t think the story would work. “This is never going to happen,” she told Meyers. “Nobody’s going to make a movie about two middle-aged people that fall in love, where a man likes the older woman over the younger woman, where a guy actually changes.”15 Meyers didn’t give Keaton’s concerns much thought. She went off and wrote the script, and several years later, they made the film. But a week before the theatrical release, The Wall Street Journal published a story referring to Keaton’s character as “Granny Hall.” Suddenly it hit Meyers. Maybe Keaton was right. Maybe nobody would want to see the film. Turns out it was Meyers who was correct. Something’s Gotta Give went on to become one of the highest-grossing romantic comedies of all time, bringing in more than $250 million at the box office. Diane Keaton was 57 when the film was released, and if you’ve seen the movie, you know her character, Erica, has a brief affair with a man two decades her junior, Julian, played by Keanu Reeves (38 at the time), before settling into a romance with Harry, played by Jack Nicholson.

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The moral of the story is: don’t limit yourself to writing romantic tales featuring women in their 20s and 30s. It’s true that most producers will advise you to lower the age of your female characters, to give your scripts the best chance of success by demonstrating that you know the market, that you understand what studios and networks are looking for. But I challenge you to write for women outside the traditional demographic. In 2022, 56 percent of all female characters in the top 100-grossing U.S. movies were in their 20s and 30s, and only 7 percent of female characters were over age 60.16 We can change those statistics, but we have to be intentional about it. Not Always White

Most alarmingly, women of color are rarely seen on screen as romantic leads. Yes, there’s been dramatic improvement in the past decade, and we’re accustomed now to seeing stories – particularly on television – with women of color in leading or major roles. But again, I challenge you to list the films and series that feature women of color in romantic dramas and comedies. In the top-grossing 100 films in the United States from 2022, only 16 featured women of color in leading roles, and of these, only three involved a significant romantic storyline: Jennifer Lopez in Marry Me, Naomi Ackie in Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, and Taylor Russell in Bones and All. Astonishingly, this is a substantial increase in repre­ sentation of women of color in the past 15 years – up from one film in 2007 and 11 films in 2021.17 Again, this is only looking at the top-grossing films. In the U.S. indepen­ dent film space, particularly in the past few decades, women writer-directors of color have led the charge in changing the landscape for women’s repre­ sentation in romantic films, among other genres. Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Love & Basketball (2000) and Beyond the Lights (2014) were both critically and commercially successful, featuring women of color in leading romantic roles. As discussed in the last chapter, Dee Rees’s film Pariah (2011) was the first drama involving romance to feature a Black queer woman in the leading role. And before Ava DuVernay achieved widespread acclaim for her Oscarnominated film Selma (2014), she wrote and directed a beautifully compli­ cated love story with a woman of color at the center, Middle of Nowhere (2012); DuVernay won the Sundance Film Festival award for Best Directing, which launched her career. Of course, the surprise success of Crazy Rich Asians (2018), starring Constance Wu in the leading role, has opened a larger discussion about creating films and series with Asian female protagonists. Crazy Rich Asians grossed nearly $250 million in at the box office. This was the first major Hollywood movie with an all-Asian cast since The Joy Luck Club (1993), also a commercial and critical success – and interestingly both films center on

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female characters. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018), also hugely successful, inspiring two follow-up films, features an adolescent Asian American female lead in a romantic role. And the more recent The Half of It (2020), written and directed by Alice Wu, also critically and commercially successful, centers on a teenage Asian female protagonist contending with her sexuality. All to say, the awards and box office numbers are speaking volumes, and doors are opening for romantic stories with unconventional leading char­ acters. So if you’re interested in telling stories in romance genres, expand your idea of who is at the center of these films and series. For decades we’ve watched heterosexual romantic screen stories with white women in their 30s. Most are the love interest, some are the leads, and often they are romantically involved with a white man at least a decade older. Only recently are we beginning to see women of color in these roles, and rarely do we see women over the age of 40 or women in same-sex romantic relationships. ∗∗∗

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN WRITERS & DIRECTORS SPOTLIGHT ON: SUSANNA WHITE (ENGLAND)

English director Susanna White began her career in documentaries and BBC television in the mid-1980s. She directed seven episodes of the BBC series Bleak House (2005) and all four episodes of the Jane Eyre miniseries (2006). Two decades into her career, she got the opportunity to direct some grittier material in David Simon’s Generation Kill (2008) for HBO. In 2010, White directed her first feature, Nanny McPhee Returns, written by and starring Emma Thompson, also starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Ralph Fiennes. Her award-winning feature Woman Walks Ahead (2017), starring Jessica Chastain, is a biopic of Catherine Weldon and her efforts in the late 19th century to help the Lakota people retain ownership of their land. White has directed television series such as Boardwalk Empire, Parade’s End, Masters of Sex, Billions, Trust, The Deuce, and Andor. She has been nominated for two Emmys – one for her direction on Jane Eyre (2006) and one for Generation Kill (2008). She won a BAFTA for Best Dramatic Serial for Bleak House (2005), and she was nominated for a BAFTA for Parade’s End (2013). In this interview, White discusses her feature film Our Kind of Traitor (2016), which was adapted by Hossein Amini from the John le Carré novel, starring Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgård, and Damian Lewis. Though the film is billed as a crime thriller, the heart of the story lies in the relationship between the lead (McGregor) and his wife (Saskia Reeves). White discusses the development of this storyline in the film and

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her work with the actors to bring their love story to the surface. She also shares details about her entry into the film and television industries in the United Kingdom and the female filmmaker who inspired her to pursue directing features, as well as Britain’s recent efforts to bridge the gender gap with films directed by women. Our Kind of Traitor is a thriller, but I’d consider this a relationship drama as well. Can you tell me what initially drew you to the material? What appealed to me about it is that it’s a very contemporary story for le Carré. I suppose one thinks of le Carré and Russia in terms of these Cold War stories, but what’s remarkable about this piece of writing from a man in his 80s is that actually it’s a story of a very modern marriage. Ewan McGregor’s character is married to a young lawyer, and they were once very happy, both with careers. And then suddenly his wife overtakes him and becomes more successful, and he’s in a bit of a dead-end job. So he’s really a lost soul when we meet him in the movie, and he falls under the spell of this very unlikely character, Dima, played by Stellan Skarsgård, and goes on this journey of rediscovering who he is as a person – and most impor­ tantly as a man. So for me it’s a contemplation of masculinity and what it means to be a man [today]. And I think couples are still working a lot of stuff out. So that really excited me. It wasn’t what I expected in a spy thriller. It has all the thriller qualities, but it also has much deeper emotional layers, which I was interested in exploring as well as the politics. Yes, there’s a line toward the end of the film, when Skarsgård says to McGregor, “It’s the only thing that matters, you know? The rest is bullshit,” talking about his marriage. It seems that might be the heart of the story for you, do you think? It really is the heart of what I was looking at in the story. What Stellan teaches Ewan is that what matters in life is the very close personal re­ lationships. That nothing is perfect – you have to work at it. Interestingly, in the screenplay, Stellan’s wife had literally no dialogue – she didn’t utter a word. But I needed Stellan’s marriage to feel very solid and real in order to make this whole thing work. So I had a long chat with Stellan when we were casting, and we discussed if we should ask to have more dialogue written, but Stellan said, “No, I think we can just do it with the actress through improvisation.” So Saskia Reeves, a wonderful actress, took it on trust from us that we were going to give her a real presence in the movie even though she had no lines at that point. So we talked a lot about what the story of their marriage was, and it’s one of the things I’m most proud of about the film, how solid that relationship feels. I’m so happy you picked up on that, because it really is what I was

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trying to do, show that through the relationship with Dima and Tamara, McGregor realizes what matters – that he’s got something special in his relationship with his wife and that’s what he should focus on. There are so few successful female directors still. Could you discuss what your journey has been like as a female director? Well, I’ve been lucky in my career, and I’ve worked pretty solidly. I’ve done a lot of TV. It took me a long time to get to make my first feature, which was a family film, Nanny McPhee. It was great for me to get a movie on that scale, a big studio film, but like a lot of female directors, people think of you first to do children’s films or family films. They don’t necessarily think of you to direct espionage thrillers. I think only 3 percent of those are directed by women. They’re not the scripts you immediately get sent, so it’s been exciting for me to get the chance to flex my muscles in that arena. In moving from documentaries to television to features and now to a film in this genre, has this been a challenge? Well, my story is that I came out doing documentaries, and I was trying to cross over into drama, which was hard. All the studies show that women tend to do quite well directing with small crews, but it’s very hard to get your foot on the next rung of the ladder where you’re suddenly in charge of 100 people – that’s a really hard leap for women to take. And then again, to cross from television drama into feature film. But I do feel that things are starting to change. We’ve certainly had some big successes in Britain within the last six weeks. We’ve been campaigning to get more films directed by women, and the two publicly funded bodies of the British Film Institute and Creative England have committed to having 50 percent of their movies directed by women by 2020. And the government has been looking at how we can make it a condition of the tax credit that there’s a diversity requirement. So I feel that things are shifting. Was there a film or a director who inspired you when you were coming up? I was inspired to have the confidence that I could be a feature film director by watching Jane Campion’s movie, The Piano. So I do hope that in some small way other women will see that I’ve been out there directing a thriller and it will inspire them, too. If they like it, they might say, yes, women can direct these kinds of movies. It’s been a long gap since Kathryn Bigelow did her two great movies, and it’s nice to see women going out and doing more hardhitting material. What about Jane Campion’s film resonated with you? I grew up loving movies, and I loved the world that cinema opened up to me. I was a lover of Hitchcock and Billy Wilder and almost every classic film you

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could name. But I’ll tell you what it felt like to me. It’s like you’re trying to sing a song, and people are singing in a different key than the one you can sing in. And I saw what Jane Campion did in that movie, and suddenly here was someone with a voice that felt like my voice. She was telling an extra­ ordinary story, yes, but I think it’s almost the perfect film for me in that it’s so visual and so powerful in its poetry. And it’s a very strong story of female sexuality that’s told in such a subtle way and in such a different register than I’d even seen in a film before, that you just can’t image a man would have made The Piano. So it just felt different, a different kind of creative impulse behind the movie. It’s not to say that all women have to go out and make films like The Piano, but for me, I thought, wow, maybe I could make a film like that one day. You could relate in some way to the character and the story. Yes, the things that interested Campion were a lot of the same things that interested me. It was a woman’s story as well, which we don’t often see – a very interesting, compelling, layered woman, with literally no voice, and yet it’s a woman who holds that movie. That felt really exciting to me. It was like the landscape had changed and a door opened, and I finally saw how cinema could be something that very directly connected to me. So watching The Piano, it certainly gave me the confidence to think, I’m going to go off to direct feature films. Can you share your thoughts about creating screen stories with female characters in leading roles? Any advice for women interested in becoming filmmakers? I think the big thing is being very true to your own voice – finding your voice as a filmmaker and staying true to it. We’re seeing increasing numbers of people wanting to tell women’s stories at the moment. I’m working with a remarkable financier, Erika Olde, who is backing my movie, Woman Walks Ahead, and she’s very committed to films that tell women’s stories. So I think these opportunities really are opening up now – and not just in independent films, but I see a real willingness in the studio system as well. Can you address balancing family life with your career? How you’ve negotiated those challenges? Well, I have a very supportive partner and family, but I actually don’t think balancing family has been an issue for me. The issue has been getting the opportunities. At the same time, I have two twin daughters who are going off to college this week, and it’s a very nice feeling to have these two gorgeous, talented young women who haven’t been damaged by the experience of me doing what I do, but in fact the opposite – they’re proud of what I do, and

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their friends are excited to meet their mom. So hopefully it’s like a ripple effect – the more people know it’s possible, the more women will have the opportunity to do it. It’s about not giving up. If you get setbacks, you just keep knocking on doors. I’ve been very lucky with people who have opened doors for me in my career, whether that’s David Simon giving me a break on Generation Kill, or Working Title giving me a break directing Nanny McPhee, or Nigel Stafford-Clark giving me a break directing Bleak House, or Gail Egan on this movie, Our Kind of Traitor. Eventually, if you don’t give up, you will connect with someone who will give you those chances and believe in you.18 ∗∗∗

INTERNATIONAL FILMS DIRECTED BY WOMEN FEATURING WOMEN IN LOVE

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Swept Away (1974) directed by Lina Wertmüller, Italy Camila (1984) directed by María Luisa Bemberg, Argentina Mississippi Masala (1991) directed by Mira Nair, India/U.S. Little Women (1994) directed by Gillian Armstrong Fire (1996) directed by Deepa Mehta, India/Canada Caramel (2007) directed by Nadine Labaki, Lebanon Water Lilies (2007) directed by Céline Sciamma, France Salt of This Sea (2008) directed by Annemarie Jacir, Palestine Bright Star (2009) directed by Jane Campion, New Zealand An Education (2009) directed by Lone Scherfig, Denmark Everyone Else (2009) directed by Maren Ade, Germany Kiss Me (2011) directed by Alexandra-Therese Keining, Sweden When the Night (2011) directed by Cristina Comencini, Italy Take This Waltz (2011) directed by Sarah Polley, Canada Summertime (2015) directed by Catherine Corsini, France Us and Them (2018) directed by Rene Liu, Taiwan Rafiki (2018) directed by Wanuri Kahiu, Kenya Tell It to the Bees (2018) directed by Annabel Jankel, England Atlantics (2019) directed by Mati Diop, France Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) directed by Céline Sciamma, France The Photograph (2020) directed by Stella Meghie, Canada Spring Blossom (2020) directed by Suzanne Lindon, France I’m Your Man (2021) directed by Maria Schrader, Germany One Fine Morning (2022) directed by Mia Hansen-Løve, France

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Notes 1 Ellen Frye Barker, The Art of Photoplay Writing (St. Louis: Colossus Publishing, 1917), 62. 2 Anna Weinstein, “The Evolution of a Directing Career: An Interview With Gillian Armstrong,” in Directing for the Screen, ed. Anna Weinstein (London: Routledge, 2017), 177. 3 Lady Gaga, Andrew Wyatt, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, songwriters, “Shallow,” 2018, sung by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper on A Star Is Born soundtrack (US: EastWest, The Village West, Interscope Records), 2018, film. 4 Lady Gaga, Diane Warren, Mark Nilan Jr., Nick Monson, Paul “DJWS” Blair, songwriters, “Why Did You Do That?” 2018, sung by Lady Gaga on A Star Is Born soundtrack (US: EastWest, The Village West, Interscope Records), 2018, film. 5 Lady Gaga, Natalie Hemby, Hillary Lindsey, Aaron Raitiere, songwriters, “I’ll Never Love Again, 2018, sung by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper on A Star Is Born soundtrack (US: EastWest, The Village West, Interscope Records), 2018, film. 6 E.Y. Harburg, lyricist, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” 1939, sung by Lady Gaga in A Star Is Born, 2018 film. 7 Lady Gaga, Andrew Wyatt, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, songwriters, “Shallow,” 2018. 8 Lady Gaga, Andrew Wyatt, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, songwriters, “Shallow,” 2018. 9 Lady Gaga, Mark Nilan Jr., Nick Monson, DJ White Shadow, Julia Michaels, and Justin Tranter, songwriters, “Heal Me,” 2018, sung by Lady Gaga on A Star Is Born soundtrack (US: EastWest, The Village West, Interscope Records), 2018, film. 10 Lady Gaga, Diane Warren, Mark Nilan Jr., Nick Monson, Paul “DJWS” Blair, songwriters, “Why Did You Do That?” 2018. 11 Lady Gaga, Andrew Wyatt, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, songwriters, “Shallow,” 2018. 12 Lady Gaga, Natalie Hemby, Hillary Lindsey, Aaron Raitiere, songwriters, “I’ll Never Love Again, 2018. 13 Marlow Stern, “Diablo Cody on How Nora Ephron Blazed a Trail for Female Filmmakers,” Daily Beast, June 28, 2012, https://www.thedailybeast.com/ diablo-cody-on-how-nora-ephron-blazed-a-trail-for-female-filmmakers. 14 Nora Ephron, Heartburn (New York: Penguin Random House, 1983), 174. 15 American Film Institute (AFI), “Nancy Meyers on approaching Diane Keaton for Something’s Gotta Give,” February 25, 2004, https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=BIHYEGZDgm8. 16 Martha M. Lauzen, “It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World: Portrayals of Female Characters in the Top Grossing U.S. Films of 2022,” San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film (2023), https://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2023/03/2022-its-a-mans-celluloid-world-report-rev.pdf. 17 Katherine L. Neff, Stacy L. Smith, and Katherine Pieper, “Inequity Across 1,600 Popular Films: Examining Gender, Race/Ethnicity & Age of Leads/Co Lead From 2007 to 2022,” USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, February 2023, https:// assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/aii-inequality-1600-films-20230216.pdf. 18 A version of this interview was published in July 2016 in Film International: http://filmint.nu/directors-susanna-traitor/. Reprinted with permission.

4 SHE CLIMBS THE LADDER Working Women

The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977), created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns, was a groundbreaking series with the focus on a woman passionate about her career as a television news producer. She didn’t depend on a man. She was an “independent woman.” This was radical not only because Mary was a single woman not looking to get married and start a family, but more importantly because she was on a career track, a woman who advocated for herself in the workplace. The series was also critical in that Brooks and Burns hired a number of women to write for the show – 25 to be exact. Treva Silverman was the first woman hired on the series and, in 1974, she was the first solo female television writer (without a male partner) awarded an Emmy. She was celebrated for creating nuanced stories from a female perspective and most notably recognized for creating the voice for Rhoda’s character. According to Valerie Harper, who played Rhoda, Silverman was the “feminist conscience of the show.”1 Susan Silver, another prominent writer on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, described the series as unlike every other show she had worked on. “They made a conscious decision to hire female writers,” she said, “because they wanted the show to reflect real women’s experiences. When I got my start in 1971, there were about three other women in the business, period. By the end of the show, there were many, many more.”2 The success of The Mary Tyler Moore Show inspired a handful of series in the 1970s and 1980s about successful career-driven women, including Cagney & Lacey (1981–1988), created by Barbara Avedon and Barbara Corday, about two female police detectives, and the sitcom Murphy Brown (1988–1998), created by

DOI: 10.4324/9780429287596-5

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Diane English, about a television journalist. Interesting, certainly, to see that both of these shows were created by women. Success inspires success, and as Oprah Winfrey said of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, “When you see somebody accomplishing something that your heart also desires and you see them doing it so well, the message of that is … that is possible.”3 A BRIEF HISTORY OF WORKING WOMEN ON SCREEN IN THE 1970S & 1980S

I’m focusing on the shift that happened in the 1970s and 1980s because this was a key moment in film and television history when female characters’ relationship to their work began to influence screen stories. As screenwriters, we recognize that what our characters want is intimately tied to our story beats, and if our female characters want to be successful in the workplace, suddenly we have very different stories than we would if our female characters want only to be successful as wives as mothers. There were a handful of prominent films in the 1970s and 1980s that featured independent women looking to further their careers. In some cases, the stories were structured around a catalyst beat where the woman’s husband leaves, so she is forced to make a living on her own. And in others, the stories are entirely about the women’s pursuit of a career. As mentioned in the first chapter, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) was an important film from this period about an independent woman pursuing her dream. After her husband dies, Alice (Ellen Burstyn), an aspiring singer, is determined to care for herself and her son and winds up working as a waitress in a diner. Burstyn shepherded this film to the screen, and the film was so well-received (remember that Burstyn won an Oscar for the role), it inspired a long-running television show, Alice (1976–1985). Gillian Armstrong’s My Brilliant Career (1979) is another prominent film from this era. It’s a period film written by Australian screenwriter Eleanor Witcombe, featuring Judy Davis in the leading role as a woman who aspires to be a writer in a time when women were supposed to aspire to marry. The film received critical acclaim and, notably, was the first Australian feature film directed by a woman in 40 years. Armstrong told me that after the success of this film, for years she was sent scripts featuring career women – most often scripts with a feminist bent.4 In 1980, Sally Field won an Oscar for her performance in the biopic Norma Rae (1979), which centers on a factory worker who fights to unionize for better working conditions. Harriet Frank Jr. and her husband Irving Ravetch were nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay. Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen penned the script for Silkwood (1983), another biopic about a union organizer, with Meryl Streep in the leading role. The film was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director (Mike Nichols). And of

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course, there’s 9 to 5 (1980), shepherded to the screen by Jane Fonda, which practically started a cultural revolution among female secretaries. Fast-forward a few more years, and now we’re seeing films about women on a career track as opposed to secretaries, factory workers, and waitresses. Nancy Meyers and her then-husband Charles Shyer co-wrote Baby Boom (1987), the story of a career woman who quits her high-paid job and moves out of the city when overnight she becomes the guardian for her toddler-aged godchild. Starring Diane Keaton, the film is billed as a comedy-drama, but it might as well be a labeled a female fantasy film – a brilliant, successful woman working in New York moves to the Vermont countryside where she becomes even more successful on her own terms, building a multimillion-dollar gourmet baby food business after learning to make applesauce for her daughter. One year later, Mike Nichols released Working Girl (1988), written by Kevin Wade, and starring Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver, and Harrison Ford. This is another female fantasy, the story of a secretary (Griffith) who climbs the corporate ladder when her cruel boss (Weaver) is out after a skiing accident and the secretary pretends to be her – successfully! Weaver plays the antagonist in the film, portraying the mean-boss-lady type. But the representation contrasted with the mean-boss-man type that we had seen only a few years earlier in 9 to 5, and it was an important step up for women’s representation in high-powered careers. Besides, it was an interesting and welldrawn rendering of a woman in this position. Griffith and Weaver were both nominated for Oscars for their performances in the film, which was also commercially successful, bringing in more than $100 million at the box office. Whether the antagonist is a man or woman, the message was clear in the 1970s and 1980s: audiences wanted to see working women on screen – creating opportunities for themselves, fighting for their jobs, climbing the corporate ladder, building businesses, or even just working in interesting careers. Romancing the Stone (1984) was also a hit at the box office, making more than $100 million off a $10 million-dollar budget. An action-adventure romance written by Diane Thomas, directed by Robert Zemeckis, and produced by Michael Douglas, the story centers on a romance novelist (Kathleen Turner) from New York, forced to travel to Colombia to save her sister who has been kidnapped by the men who recently murdered her husband – and of course, as the romance novelist is traversing this journey across Colombia, she finds romance (with a character played by Michael Douglas). BUILDING A CHARACTER AROUND HER CAREER – OR A CAREER AROUND THE CHARACTER

A romance novelist is an appropriate choice for a career woman whose life is void of romance but winds up falling in love as the film progresses. And this

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is what I want you to think about in considering the job or career for your female protagonist. Who this woman is and what she struggles with in her personal life will more than likely be tied to her profession. There’s no formula for this, but as discussed in the last chapter, the personal and professional are intimately linked – both in real life and in screen stories. So we should give thought to the role work plays in our characters’ story arcs and how making a living causes tension at home and vice versa. The phrase work-life balance is familiar to all of us because we’re constantly aware of our need to find better balance. We’re always tweaking this balance, making work-related decisions with this in mind. Many psychologists and “happiness experts” have discussed the relationship between these aspects of life. Psychologist Erik Erikson, who coined the term identity crisis, has the famous quote: “The richest and fullest lives attempt to achieve an inner balance between three realms: work, love, and play.”5 We screenwriters often turn to the writings of psychologists to help us understand character and human nature. It’s not so easy to achieve inner balance, particularly between such weighty forces as work, love, and play, and the screenwriter voice in our heads begins jumping for joy at the thought of building conflict around these arenas in a character’s life. For instance, we might consider a story with an ER doctor who can tackle with ease the most gruesome, bloody accidents, saving the lives of countless patients in the hospital, but she suffers from recurring nightmares, and between her long hours at work and her sleepless nights she has no room in her life for love or play. Etcetera etcetera. Before diving into a few particularly well-drawn female characters with intriguing careers, I’d like to first review some common working women tropes in screen stories. This can serve as a quick reminder of what to be on the lookout for as we develop our characters and settle on their jobs. TYPES OF WORKING WOMEN DEPICTED ON SCREEN

In thinking about our women characters and their relationship to work, it can be helpful to consider some general “types” of women in the workplace that we often see on screen. When are these characters depicted in ways that read as believable, and when are they more stereotypical or merely copies of other representations in that category? The Assistant

The secretary, personal assistant, administrative assistant, phone answerer – these are all necessary characters in screen stories because they help move the story from point A to point B. We need these characters to reveal certain

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information to the protagonist, to transfer the call, to allow the protagonist in to visit with another character. These characters can be walk-ons, just there to deliver a few words, or they can be supporting characters that influence the main character. In either case, though, these characters are more compelling when they are drawn in interesting ways – when they are not imitations of characters we’ve seen before. How have we traditionally seen assistants or secretaries? Well, first, as women. We’ve rarely seen men in secretarial or admin-type positions on screen. We’ve seen college-age men (especially more so in the past few decades), but even recently, we don’t often see adult males in these roles. And female characters in secretarial/assistant roles, what are they like? Either competent or incompetent. That’s fair, and true to life. Either hardworking or lazy. Again fair, and true to real life. Content with their job or certain they’re above the job. Again fair. I think you get where I’m going with this. Of course these characters will be good at their jobs, not good at their jobs, happy with their jobs, or not so happy. The question is in what way and how do they demonstrate or express their incompetence, competence, happiness, or frustration? If they’re chomping gum and filing their nails, we’ll probably turn off the television. How would we describe this assistant/secretary/admin? Is she sassy, playing the fun, funny, tell-it-straight-up-to-her-boss type of gal? We’ve seen endless depictions of that young woman on screen. Is she super sweet to the boss’s face, but then “rolls her eyes” as soon as the boss shuts the door? We start to get ruffled up when we’ve seen this character before. When she doesn’t read as a real person, she’s just furniture, there to reveal information about the protagonist or move the story along. Yes, these things are necessary – revealing information and turning the story – but they can be done in compelling ways without perpetuating stereotypes. The Boss

As discussed in reference to Working Girl, we’ve consumed countless iterations of the mean boss-lady in films and television series. This idea that when women are in powerful positions, they abuse their power – and in very specific ways. They’re controlling, judgmental, with unrealistic expectations of their employees. Take a quick scroll through your mental database of films and series with female bosses and see what you come up with. How often are female bosses depicted as kind and generous? And if they are nice, how does this manifest? Are they the Earth-mother types? Do they lead by encouraging their employees to emote and share their fears and vulnerabilities? Do they lead their team with an underlying current of anxiety, their neuroses serving as the engine for their role in the workplace?

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We need to find conflict to engage our audiences. This isn’t a problem – it’s a necessity. It becomes a problem when that conflict is derived from stale, stereotypical characters. That isn’t to say that women bosses aren’t sometimes cruel or kind or Earth-motherly or anxious. But we should be aware of the cliché and be diligent about bringing complexity to our characters who inhabit these roles. The Creative

We all have ideas about what creative people are like. As a screenwriter, you have personal experience as a creative individual. You know how your mind works, how you behave and interact with your art and with others. You understand the complexity of living partly in your work and partly in the real world. And you’re also, certainly, accustomed to accepting specific representations of women who work in creative fields. For instance, we accept the “flighty” female artist type, or the “angry” female artist type, or the “whacky” female artist type. We understand there are people walking around in the real world who very much fit into these types. So what makes the difference between a clichéd character and a character who reads as realistic? When have you seen this type of character drawn particularly well? Whether in a supporting or leading role, what makes a female artist read as authentic? Judy Davis’s character Marilyn Dean in The Break-Up (2006) comes to mind, arguably the best part of the film. Marilyn owns the art gallery where Jennifer Aniston’s character works, and she’s a magnificent depiction of both a female boss and a female artist. She’s fierce and anxious and sexy and flighty, but she’s also generous and warm and compassionate. She’s not just an artist or a boss. Though she’s only on screen for a few brief scenes, we’re able to read into her character that she’s a delightful mix of so many human characteristics. She’s feminine and masculine. She’s an artist and a businesswoman. The Manual Laborer

Part of the concern with representations of women in manual labor jobs is the nature of the labor female characters do in screen stories. We’re most accustomed to seeing women as housekeepers or servers as compared to construction workers or garbage collectors. Isn’t it invigorating, though, when we see female characters in lesstraditional jobs? Actress Laurie Metcalf showed up in a bit role in season 2 of Hacks (2021–) playing the “tour manager,” the woman in charge of the luxury bus, sans makeup, and immediately introducing herself with her nickname “Weed.”

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She’s tough and gruff, exhibiting more traditionally masculine traits than feminine. And she loves her job. She’s proud of her work, so much so she seems to think she’s above the other characters who have more glamorous ways of bringing in income. In the indie film Trucker (2008), the lead character Diane (Michelle Monaghan) drives a truck for a living, and her carefree lifestyle is interrupted when the young son she abandoned years earlier comes on the road with her. It’s a lovely and complicated portrait of a struggling mother, well worth your time if you haven’t seen it. When it comes to misrepresentation in this category of manual laborer, we’re also concerned with the representation of race and ethnicity. Is the maid in your script Latina for a specific reason? Or have you made this choice simply because this is what we tend to see in screen stories? What about the ethnicity of the cook, waitress, housekeeper, or gardener? If you’ve seen the beautifully written limited series Maid (2021), created and written by Molly Smith Metzler and based on the book by Stephanie Land, you know how refreshing it is to see that the most affluent woman in the show is African American, the small business owner is Latina, and the maid is Caucasian. For all the categories discussed above – and any others you come up with as you’re building your stories – it can be helpful to create lists of your favorite female characters who fit into these “types.” And then deconstruct them, reverse engineer the storytelling and the relationship between the character and her work. What did the screenwriter do to develop the character in a way that is compelling, appropriate to the genre, and also reads as fully imagined? Let’s look at a few examples in depth. WORKING WOMEN IN CONTEMPORARY TV SERIES

I’m choosing to examine the protagonists in television series for two reasons. First, because an intriguing conflict-ridden career is perfect fodder for a story that spans multiple (or hundreds of) hours. Second, the nature of long-form screen storytelling, whether episodic, serial, or a combination of the two, often requires careful attention to the characters’ careers. Ji-Yoon Kim (Sandra Oh) in The Chair (2021) and Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) in How to Get Away With Murder (2014–2020) serve as excellent examples of women in leading roles in contemporary television series whose primary source of external conflict is situated around their careers. The Chair is compelling in part because its dramatic and comedic tension is rooted in modern pressing issues, but also because we’ve rarely seen a woman depicted in this role on screen – and certainly not a woman of color. Our interest in How to Get Away With Murder is elevated since the lead character is juggling her own criminal behavior while simultaneously

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working to keep her clients out of prison, plus the fact that it’s a fast-paced, murder mystery spiked with a heavy dose of legal thriller – and again, featuring a woman of color in the leading role. Both Ji-Yoon Kim and Annalise Keating must present in the workplace as “strong” and “in control,” but both find themselves in situations that quickly spiral out of control. More importantly, though, particularly in thinking about character development, their personal lives complicate their professional lives. And the personal lives of Ji-Yoon and Annalise are exceptionally messy. Ji-Yoon in The Chair

Netflix aptly released The Chair in late August of 2021, just as most U.S. universities were beginning their fall semesters. The short, six-episode series created by Amanda Peet and Annie Julia Wyman acknowledges and boldly embraces contemporary issues plaguing the academy and Hollywood, including racism, sexism, ageism, as well as increasing concerns about “cancel culture.” At the opening of the pilot episode, Oh’s character, Ji-Yoon, is beginning her first day as chair of the English department at an elite fictional Northeastern college. She is the first woman and the first person of color to serve in this role. As she enters the building, she passes by portraits of white men who ran the department and college in earlier decades. The expression on her face reveals a mix of pride and intimidation as she sees the nameplate on her office door with her new title: “Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim, Chair.” Moments later, inside her office, she smiles as she unwraps a gift from the previous chair, Bill (Jay Duplass) – a nameplate for her desk, not with the formal “Dr.” title, but instead a far more casual title: “Fucker in Charge of You Fucking Fucks.” It’s the perfect opening for the show, loudly proclaiming that this series will be anything but conventional. Ji-Yoon takes a seat at her new desk, settles into her worn leather chair, which immediately collapses and she falls to the floor. And we’re off and running. Ji-Yoon’s first order of business as chair is to lead the English department’s inaugural meeting of the semester. She addresses her mostly white male colleagues, several of whom are clearly aging out of their positions. This is made evident immediately as one senior male professor asks a colleague to help him determine if he’s taking the right medication from his pill box (he can’t see the colors). Ji-Yoon alerts her colleagues to the precarious position the English department is in: “I’m not going to sugarcoat this,” she says. “We are in dire crisis. Enrollments are down more than 30 percent. Our budget is being gutted. It feels like the sea is washing the ground out from under our feet.” She goes on to tell them, “But in these unprecedented times, we have to prove that what we do in the classroom – modeling critical thinking, stressing the value of empathy – is more important than ever, and has value to the public good.”

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Ji-Yoon is intelligent, capable, clearly a leader in the making. But her monologue is intercut with clips of her colleague Bill drunk and urinating in an airport parking lot, commandeering a golf cart, and driving recklessly as he attempts to find his car. This series leans heavily into comedic drama, and we learn from the get-go that Ji-Yoon will struggle to succeed in her new role leading this group of misfits. Her colleagues misbehave endlessly throughout the series, and Ji-Yoon is tasked with the impossible job of keeping the English department professors in line. They challenge the upper administration and refuse to hold themselves accountable for their actions. Ji-Yoon must try to support them, despite their behaviors, despite the conflicts deeply engrained in the sexist, racist, and ageist culture of the department. And she must attempt to perform her duties as Chair while juggling her responsibilities at home. Her adopted Mexican daughter, Ju-Hee, is acting up at school. Ji-Yoon learns early on in the pilot that the elementary school is recommending she send JuHee to a psychiatrist to get to the bottom of her homicidal drawing. To add more complication to Ji-Yoon’s struggles, she might be in love with her colleague Bill, whose wife recently passed away. Ji-Yoon is not only responsible for guiding Bill to “get his shit together,” but she is also in the perilous position of keeping her romantic desires in check. This is her opportunity to take her career to the next level, but her personal problems threaten her ability to perform professionally. Sandra Oh worked with the show’s creators to develop her character. Peet initially wrote Ji-Yoon with Oh in mind for the part, and Oh said she was immediately drawn to the role. “I was just so excited when I opened the pilot and the character’s name is a Korean name,” she said.6 Though The Chair is a workplace comedy, the dramatic tension is derived from true-to-life obstacles in academia. Oh tackled the role of Ji-Yoon by thinking about how she related to the other characters in the story. “The experience of actually being the department chair … it is not awesome. It’s a hard, very relational place to be. I approached Professor Kim mostly from that way. You don’t see Professor Kim teach until probably the last episode. You see how she is relationally with all the members of her department, with Bill, with her father, with her daughter – barely with herself.”7 And this is the beauty of this complicated character and the examination of her ability to succeed in the workplace. Although Ji-Yoon has a brilliant mind and is perfectly capable, the culture of her university and department, along with the relentless conflicts in her home life, make success impossible in her position as Chair. She wants to advance in her career, but she discovers by the end of the series that she’s happiest in the classroom. This isn’t a story about a woman overcoming challenges at work and climbing the ladder. It’s a story about a woman recognizing she’d rather

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not serve as leader in her department. She’s better suited to lead in the classroom. Annalise in How to Get Away With Murder

When Annalise Keating takes off her wig and makeup in season 1, episode 4 of How to Get Away With Murder (2014–2020), we see for the first time who this woman really is. In the show, created by Peter Nowalk and produced by Shonda Rhimes, Annalise Keating is a sexy, smart, and morally conflicted law professor and defense attorney who presents externally as tough and ruthless while internally struggling with deep-rooted shame and self-doubt. We don’t find out until episode 13 of the first season what’s behind the complexity of Annalise’s dark feelings about herself, but we recognize beginning in episode 4 that this woman isn’t who we thought she was. By removing her mask – the eyelashes and wig – we see beneath the armor and into the face of a real woman. Viola Davis, who fiercely brings to life the role of Annalise, has revealed in interviews, as well as in her autobiography Finding Me (2022), that it was her idea to demask before confronting her white husband who cheated on her. I think everybody moves through life fighting to be seen … So I can make a choice in this moment, of doing the TV thing, which is to keep my beautiful hair weave and wig and my makeup and just turn around and give him that one-line zinger. Or I can inject something in here, something that every woman who’s sitting there on their couch with the retainers, and their rollers, and no makeup … can look at this and somehow feel some level of connection to this story,” she said. “So let me take the wig off. Let me take the makeup off, because in doing that, what I’m presenting you with is not the character of Annalise, but the woman that is Annalise.8 That was episode 4, an important reveal and captivating glimpse of the woman inside the character. I’d like to jump ahead to episode 13 now because it’s in the latter part of the season that we begin to see more clearly what fuels this woman’s drive as an attorney and teacher. Let’s break down two key scenes in episode 13, both of which shed light on the root of Annalise’s behavior – why she feels she must wear her mask and effectively “perform” in the workplace, and why beneath that mask she’s a mess of frailty and self-loathing. Her husband is now dead, a murder that Annalise helped to cover up, and Annalise is depressed. She’s unable to get out of bed, drinking too much, and incapable of accompanying her legal team as they go to trial defending a

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female nurse accused of raping her male patient. Annalise’s mother, played by Cicely Tyson, comes to visit Annalise to help pull her out of her depression. As Tyson cooks over the stove, she explains to Annalise the difference between men and women. “Men were put on this planet to take things. They take your money, they take your land, they take a woman and any other things they can put their grubby hands on. That’s men. Women, they’re made to give love. To nurture, to protect, to care for. That’s women.” Annalise laughs at this. Her mother says, “I say something funny?” Annalise says, “Your definition of a ‘woman’. I mean, what have I ever nurtured? What have I ever protected, cared for, or loved? What have you?” In the exchange that follows, we learn that Annalise was raped by her uncle when she was a young girl. She confronts her mother, “Did you know? Did you know what he did to me?” Her mother responds, “Uncle Clyde is dead … and the Lord made sure he got what he deserved.” But she doesn’t give Annalise what she’s looking for in this scene: an apology. Annalise wants her mother to acknowledge that, in fact, she didn’t protect her, that it was her neglect that allowed the rape to happen. Annalise says, “My sorry-ass husband might have been a cheater and a low-life, but he saw me, why I am this way. Sam knew exactly what happened to me, the minute I stepped into his office. Everything. He said, this thing that happened to me, what you ignored, is why I am the way I am.” Her mother responds that her aunt was also raped as a child, as was she – by multiple men in her life. “I told you,” she says, “men takes things. They’ve been taking things from women from the beginning of time.” She tells Annalise that there’s no reason to go to a “head shrinker” about this, to get “all messy everywhere,” to end up marrying your shrink. “You ain’t learned nothing,” she says. Annalise realizes here for the first time that she did learn something about herself. This is why she changed her name from Anna Mae to Annalise. She learned that “Anna Mae belonged in a hand-me-down box.” “Go home mama,” she says. “I don’t need you.” We can see Annalise thinking to herself in this moment that she was right to leave, to change her name, to forge a new life for herself. She needed her mother as a child, but her mother wasn’t there for her. She didn’t protect her. She wasn’t willing to stand up for her, because this type of abuse happened all the time – to all the women in her family. Perhaps this is why Annalise became an attorney – to defend people who need protection from the law. It all makes sense, not just to Annalise, but also to viewers. Of course Annalise is brutal and fierce in the courtroom. She’s picking up where her mother fell down. She will be the protector. Remember, she says she doesn’t need her mother. She tells her to leave.

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It’s important to point out that at this stage in the season, in this episode, Annalise is wig- and make-up-free. She is standing metaphorically naked in front of her mother. Raw and alive in her true skin. The real woman she has become. Several scenes later, it’s evening, and Annalise is back in bed when her mother comes in and tells her she’ll be leaving in the morning. Annalise begins to cry when she hears this. What is she crying about? Because she realizes she was wrong, that she does need her mother? Or because her mother can’t – and couldn’t – help her? Tyson approaches the bed, pulls Annalise into her arms, murmuring, “Come on baby. Come on,” running her fingers through her tangled hair. “Let me at your hair,” she says, and she proceeds to get a comb, and in an intimate three-and-a-half-minute monologue, she combs Annalise’s hair and reveals that not only did she know what Uncle Clyde had done to Annalise, she intentionally let Uncle Clyde burn in a house fire, making it look like it was an accident due to him falling asleep with a lit cigarette. She tells Annalise, “I know how you’ve been torturing yourself about what went on here, baby. And maybe you did something real bad, I don’t know. I don’t much care if you did. I know if you did, you had your reason. Sometimes, you got to do what you got to do.” And so Annalise learns something new in this scene. She does need her mother. And she has her mother’s love and care and nurturing. In fact, she has always had it. Her mother may not have been able to prevent the rape Annalise endured as a child, but she could prevent future abuses. She was willing to burn to the ground the house she bought with her own money, to kill a man, to protect Annalise. Her mother doesn’t judge her for becoming this “messy” woman she’s grown into. She doesn’t judge her for covering up her husband’s murder. She understands her. She did the same thing all those years ago. Like Annalise, she committed a crime to defend the defenseless. Annalise’s mother truly sees her, messy hair and all. And she will do her best to clean her up – inside and out. So what can we learn from this? Episode 13, written by Erika Green Swafford and Doug Stockstill, is critical to the development of Annalise. It enables the character as well as the audience to understand this woman – where she came from, what she experienced, the type of mothering she received growing up, and importantly, why she is inclined to take from men before they take from her. Annalise Keating is a fierce defense attorney and professor with a husband (before he died) and a boyfriend on the side (who she frames for her husband’s murder). She doesn’t play by the rules. She’s infinitely smarter than everyone in the room. She tells it like it is. She challenges people. She’s mean, she’s manipulative, she’s empathetic and nurturing. She’s a complicated mess

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of a human who’s larger than life, but really, when it comes right down to it, she’s as tiny as a baby bird depending on her mama for survival. DEVELOPING “AUTHENTIC” CHARACTERS

In Chapter 2, I discussed Sian Heder’s effort to work with people from the Deaf community to bring authenticity to her script for CODA. Joey Soloway did the same thing for Transparent, training trans writers to write for television. In the 1970s, James L. Brooks and Allan Burns hired women writers for The Mary Tyler Moore Show. And Amanda Peet made a similar effort when developing the pilot script for The Chair. She sought advice from professors who were experienced with the current culture in elite colleges. As she told the WGA, “It was very important to me that the school [in The Chair] felt like one of those small New England colleges that still smacks of rich, white elitism.”9 Peet found such a terrific partnership with Annie Julia Wyman, who has a PhD from Harvard, the two of them wound up creating the series together. Peet then hired the young writer Jennifer Kim in an effort to diversify the writers’ room. “Because I’m so old,” Peet said, “and we had a fair amount of middleaged people, it was really important to have someone who had graduated from college more recently.”10 When we talk about authenticity in screenwriting, what we mean is that we’re bringing a level of personal truth to the storytelling. We aim to write what we know. Not what we’ve seen on screen, but what we know to be true about the human condition. There has been a lot written in recent years about who is doing the storytelling. About the importance of empowering writers to tell their stories. About cultural appropriation and whether we as writers should create characters whose ethnic and cultural backgrounds differ from our own. This is important to address in talking about series like The Chair and How to Get Away With Murder. In both cases, the creators are Caucasian, and the protagonists are women of color. In both cases, the creators encouraged collaboration with the lead female actors. Though Peter Nowalk created the character of Annalise on the page for HTGAWM, it was Davis who brought the character to life on screen. It was Davis who created the woman inside the character. Davis owns her part in the process of creating Annalise Keating. She changed the last name of the character. She even added a middle name: Mae, after her real-life mother. She figured out how to make this character a woman. In her memoir, Davis discusses the importance of watching Cicely Tyson on screen when she was a child. She saw her in the made-for-television movie The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974), and at the time, Davis was a young girl accustomed to seeing only white faces on television. The representation – a Black woman on screen – was critical, certainly. But it was

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more than merely the representation of a woman with the same skin color. It was also powerful and magical that the character of Miss Jane Pittman read onscreen as authentic. Davis writes, “She [Tyson] embodies the depth of a character, her history, her memory. It was impossible not to fall in love with everything she did, this chocolate girl with a short fro fighting to portray a wide-ranging humanity too rarely afforded to actresses of color: our sexuality, our anger, our joy, our wildness.”11 To help reveal the woman inside Annalise, Davis recruited Tyson to play her mother. Tyson was Davis’s muse, so it made perfect sense that she should portray her mother in the series. She said, “I’m claiming it. Bringing Ms. Cicely Tyson onboard is my idea. I’m sorry, Pete (Nowalk). I love you, but it’s my idea. I’m a woman. I like to see women on TV. I like to see real women on TV. That for me is what’s inspiring and that for me is exciting. When I see an archetype of womanhood on TV, it depresses me.”12 We understand that screenwriting is a collaborative artform. The making of film and television is, by its very nature, a collective endeavor. Our role is to write. Producers, directors, actors, and the many others who participate in the process of creating screen stories bring their personal truths to the story. But regardless of the other creatives who may eventually attach to our projects, it is our job as writers to begin with our truth – to build a character imbued with our understanding what it means to be human. The infinite layers of intentional and unintentional hidden realities. The feelings we refuse to acknowledge. The thoughts we push from our minds. The experiences we try to forget or remember differently from how they actually occurred. The secrets we choose never to tell. The secrets we unintentionally reveal when under duress. Humans are complex beings. They’re wholly unique, while at the same time living somewhere along a spectrum of normalcy. To be accurate in our representation of the human experience, we have to dig deep into our own understanding of what it means to exist in this vast and complicated world of ours. All this is to say that if our goal is to attract actors as spectacularly talented as Sandra Oh and Viola Davis, we must take seriously our obligation to bring integrity to the female characters we create. And when we consider the career or job our female character has in the story, it’s critical to consider why the character entered that line of work. What were her childhood experiences that led her to this profession? What about her personality made her gravitate to the work? Does the work mesh with who she is? Does it create conflict for her because it’s not a good match? Because it brings to the surface her most challenging deep-rooted truths? We don’t randomly assign a job or career to a character we’ve imagined for our story. And we don’t haphazardly build a story around an intriguing career. We have to do the work to ensure our character wound up in this profession for a specific reason – that she is intimately connected to what she does for a living.

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This is true for all characters, regardless of gender. But as discussed at the beginning of this chapter, women’s relationship to work is riddled with a dark and complicated history. Women still fight for equality in the workplace – in every sense of the word, whether equal pay, equal respect, equal access, equal opportunity. So a female character whose story (or stories plural, in the case of television) is centered around work is undoubtedly battling demons in both her personal and professional life that contribute to the story’s conflict. To the best of our ability, we must make that conflict read as convincing, even if we have yet to find collaborators who are more experienced in the culture we’re exploring in our story. At the end of the day, we are in charge of the story we’re writing, whether we’re writing on spec or for hire. And we must remember our ultimate goal: to create an intriguing story around a compelling premise centered on a fascinating character that an actor would like – more than anything – to embody and breathe life into. ∗∗∗

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN WRITERS & DIRECTORS SPOTLIGHT ON: KERRY EHRIN (USA)

Kerry Ehrin is the showrunner and co-creator of The Morning Show (2019—), starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, and co-creator of Bates Motel (2013–2017), starring Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore. She has worked in television since the mid-1980s, writing and producing for series such as Moonlighting, The Wonder Years, Boston Public, Boston Legal, Friday Night Lights, Parenthood, and Rise. She has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy’s, one for The Wonder Years in 1990 and one for Friday Night Lights in 2011. Ehrin has a multi-year overall deal with Apple+ to develop new series. In this interview, she discusses her work with showrunner Jason Katims, her career in television, the development process for The Morning Show, and how she folds her own experiences into her female characters. First, thank you so much for taking some time to speak with me. I’m so excited to discuss The Morning Show with you, but I wanted to start by talking about your career. Can you share a little about your working relationship with Jason Katims [Parenthood, Friday Night Lights] and his influence on your career? Jason was one of these people I had a magical sensibility sync with. I started on Moonlighting, which was a very good fit for me, and I would say, in between Moonlighting and Friday Night Lights, I was trying to find a show that fit me – because TV was different then, it was little more procedural. I feel like a couple of things collided at that time, and one was that I was

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raising little kids and I wanted to work part-time. I was separated from my husband, and I needed to be home sometimes, so it was just a necessity. So I first got hired by David Kelley to work on Boston Public, and I was working part-time as a consulting writer-producer, and then about a month into it, David gave the show to Jason. And I didn’t know Jason at all, but it was just sort of a kismet relationship. I completely loved the way he thought about story. I loved the way it was all from character. I would say, within a week, I was like, oh I love this guy, I love working with him. But also, I just loved how Jason ran a show. There are a lot of different styles of running a show, and Jason, he was such a regular guy, but he was very smart and he knew what he wanted. He didn’t waiver, he was strong. It was sort of like having a good parent in a way. He was just a great mentor for me. He was so appreciative of my work, and he always responded to the scripts I wrote. You know, he would say, this made me cry, or this is so beautiful – and that’s just so meaningful coming from someone you look up to so much. I love hearing that because Parenthood is one of my favorite series. Can you tell me about the writers’ room for that show and writing for those characters. I’ll say, Jason’s writers’ rooms were the most fun and the most personal. We would come in and spill our life stories in the room. Those stories all were based on real stuff. It’s funny because I have three kids – my daughter is four years older than my sons, I have twin boys – but at the time I was doing Parenthood, there were so many to scenes that I wrote to Shane, my daughter. I think there are writers who get inspired by incidents and storylines, but I always get inspired by behavior. That’s what fascinates me – like how people lie to themselves and the messes we get ourselves into with how we want to be perceived. Which is exactly how I would describe Sarah and Amber in Parenthood. They’re constantly lying to themselves and simultaneously trying to be the best version of themselves but just can’t get there. That’s what I’m exploring in this book. How we can create female characters in the same way we’ve afforded male characters throughout history, allowing these women to be the mess that we all are in real life and not have it be something shameful. Yeah. Amen. Yes! But there’s this problem recently where we think a good female character needs to be quote “strong.” And who is actually “strong” all the time? And what does that say to young women if what they see on screen is you’re either a mess or you’re strong, one or the other? You know, it’s funny. I think it comes from a couple of different places. With the networks, I feel like there’s a certain political element of wanting to present strong women, which I totally understand, and it’s necessary. But I think that’s

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why Fleabag was a success. It was advertised for what it was. It was about a woman who was kind of a mess, but also just wonderful. But also, historically, there were so many old movies written by men where women were allowed to be messy. Think of all the Bette Davis movies! So I don’t know why it was more acceptable then. I really don’t. Scarlett O’Hara is a mess. This gets to a really important question actually: are you writing to represent life? Or are you writing to create an image? And I think that the latter can get in the way of the former. For sure, and something you navigate so beautifully with The Morning Show. You’re exploring a deeply important social issue that could have easily resulted in two-dimensional characters servicing the message. But instead, you tackle it from the point of view of these women who are incredibly layered and complicated. Well, thank you. Yeah, that was really my mission statement. It’s not interesting to tell a story about, here’s the bad guy and here’s the good guy. I feel like we’re all complicit in so many things, but we don’t want to look at our complicity. When I was first breaking the story, I would get notes like, doesn’t Mitch [Steve Carell’s character] need to be a worse guy? Doesn’t he need to be hitting on underage girls? And that was a really interesting note to me because I felt what he’s doing is bad enough! He was living in this protected bubble where he never had a look at his own behavior. Blame is not interesting to me. Accountability, especially in oneself, that’s interesting to me. And I wanted to look at Jen’s character and how in order to get along in the world, which was run by men, she had to learn to live in the boys’ club, as many of us had to do. So to have lived so much of her career in one environment, and then suddenly it shifts to this other environment – all those little nuances, all the self-questioning, the judgment, where you love someone who’s done this thing that’s so gross. And even though you can acknowledge that it’s horrible, your heart still hurts for them. That’s what was interesting to me. All these really messed up, complicated humans. Right, because by making it a black-and-white issue, it’s less complicated. He keeps saying he didn’t rape anyone. But those shades of gray are so much more fascinating to explore. Yes, and when you watch the first season, you’re like oh, I kind of feel bad for him. But then the scene in Las Vegas where he hits on Hannah, it just breaks your heart. You’re like oh, that’s bad! That’s fucked up. And you’ve seen it from her perspective at that point, so it’s heartbreaking. And you can ask questions, like why did she go in his room? But I remember being young and doing so many stupid things as a young girl that if you looked at them, it’d be like why did you do that, you know? But

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there’s an innocence when you haven’t had much life experience, and you can think a person is trying to be mentoring or fatherly. So yeah, it’s stupid to not be cynical, I suppose, but I also totally understand. She needed a parent in that moment so badly, and that collision of what she’s looking for and what he’s looking for … it makes me cry even to think about it because if he had just risen to the occasion, what a different story that would have been! How beautiful that would have been, you know? So to me it was always a tragedy, the story, because people could have made different choices and could have been different people, but they fell on their own weaknesses. Such a tragedy. And the arc of Alex’s [Aniston’s character] personal life, the conflict with her daughter and husband, was so beautifully constructed. Such a smart choice to have her and her ex already be separated at the beginning of the series. Thank you. Ripped from real life! I was separated from my husband for so many years. We had children, and I had this career, and it was complicated. You’re raising children together, and my ex-husband – who I adore – was at our house every day. Every day we were a family. It was great for the kids, but it was very confusing for me. So that was where that notion came from – that everything in her life was not fully formed except her job and her relationship with work and with Mitch [Steve Carell]. He had been her partner for so long, and then it’s like boom! He goes through a trapdoor, and that starts to fracture everything. It’s like an earthquake. She hasn’t dealt with her own life, so the sudden shift of her support system sends her into a tailspin through the whole series. Can I say, the scene with her daughter when she goes to her dorm room, greatest scene ever. “Fuck you, kid!” That was a really fun scene to write. Because as parents, in so many ways we protect our kids all the time. All the things we don’t say and don’t tell them – we’re holding onto it all the time, and we’ve worked so hard to protect them. So it was sort of a fantasy of being able to let it all out. To say, “Look, even when I’m working, you don’t know what I do for you. All day long, my whole brain is consumed by you!” Yeah, everything I do, I am doing for you! Except, I guess there was a part of it where, my work, it’s for myself and for my own ego too. But then we feel guilty about that. Like God forbid there should be a part of us that wants to be recognized or acknowledged as having value. You know, it’s so fucked up, especially when I was raised. Women weren’t allowed to want recognition. It’s like you’re trying to run a race with a donkey on your back – the extra weight you carry of self-judgment, of questioning, of insecurity. I was raised at a time when as a woman you’re

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always in second position. You have to think of the other person’s feelings, and you have to be nice, and you have to be polite. And it’s like, what a brain-fuck to put that on a person and then be like, go succeed! For so many women, Alex’s career is the fantasy. And it’s this terrific exploration of what that kind of success does to her personal life – and the internal turmoil because of it. There is a cost for success. You don’t really get to live a normal human life at that level of success. And it doesn’t mean it’s not great. It just means that there’s a cost for everything, you know? There’s a cost for succeeding, and there’s a cost for not succeeding. You mentioned you were raised to be in second place, and it’s interesting looking at the trajectory of your career. It was quite a long time before you started showrunning. Yeah, after my kids were grown up. I did it when I could. Were there opportunities you turned down, or did you just not pursue showrunning earlier on? I just had a different mindset. When my kids were little, I felt like I needed to be around more, so I took jobs where I could either be freelancing at home, or I could go into an office two or three days a week. Like for Jason [Katims], I would work at home certain days, and I would really work hard even though I was part-time. But it was worth it to be able to be home or pick my kids up from school. That was a really wonderful time in my life. My kids are all grown up now, and I miss them! Are they all out of the house? Yeah, my sons are in college – one is in Scotland, and one is back East. And my daughter lives in Los Feliz, so I’m happy that she’s close. I just have such a love affair with my kids. It’s so fun to hang out with them as adults, you know? I really treasure that, too. My sons just turned 21, and I feel like I raised good men. I’m very proud of that. And their father, too. He is a great dad. I didn’t do it alone. So for you, balancing your career and motherhood was relatively easy because you were working part-time? I mean in retrospect, it looks easy. The horror of it was that those jobs weren’t guaranteed, and people mostly wanted you to work full-time. So the horror was that I was supporting the family, and I didn’t know where it would end up. I remember going to job interviews and being like, God, I hope this showrunner isn’t insane. I hope they’re not someone who wants us to stay till 2 AM for no reason. That was a genuine terror for me because I didn’t have control over who I could work for or what my hours would be.

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I read somewhere that you wrote the pilot for The Morning Show in three weeks and you were in production a few months later. That’s incredible. Well, what happened is they had a production window where they wanted to start filming – I think it was September – but they didn’t have any scripts, and they didn’t know what the show was. It wasn’t a fully formed story – just a soap about morning television. So yeah, I had to figure it out. And for me, it was interesting because these morning shows generate so much money for the network. They’re so valued, but at the same time, the behavior within them is ridiculously silly. So I thought, okay, that’s an interesting tone, right? And we had to work #MeToo into it, so then I had the tone and what the general story was, so then it was really finding the characters. And I think that Alex [Aniston] in particular – but Bradley [Witherspoon], too – they’re both just different elements of myself. That’s what you do when you’re under the gun. You’re like, what do I have in my toolkit? I have this experience that I remember, I have that experience. And I knew I was creating a dynamic between Bradley and Alex, so that was really the focus of that pilot – just trying to figure out how to do that quickly. I remember when I was writing the interview that happens at the end, where they butt heads but are also kind of cat-and-mousing each other, I remember thinking, I hope this lands! And you were writing for Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon? They were already on the project? Yeah. They were already on board, they preceded me, although I didn’t know them super well yet. And I won’t say that it wasn’t nerve-wracking, because it was. We went through different revisions once it was written, finetuning voices and tones, and we did a big change on Reese’s character. But at that point, you have a shape you’re working with, you have ideas, so then it’s about the collaboration between the writer and the actresses and this third entity you’ve created out of all your sensibilities. One of the things I love so much about the show is your willingness to put these characters in a work environment where women are supposed to be professional, but they can’t help but be emotional. Like when Bradley melts down. Did you plan that in advance? Or did you find that in her character as you were writing? That was more of an instinct. I’m really just writing myself. I think that part of Bradley came from me being so sick of the divisiveness in politics at the time. There was a lot of anger and blame – and honestly, I felt for her having to go interview people. This group has this stance, and this group has this stance, and it goes around and around and around, and it’s like, is there not a better way? Is there not a more human answer to this?

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That’s how I was in Bradley’s head when she has her meltdown at the mine. Like what the fuck is the point of all this? What am I doing out here? And also, she’d never really separated from her family of origin, so they were like a monkey on her back. She wasn’t living, and it just kind of was all converging on her. And even when she breaks down with Chip [Mark Duplass]! That’s not how you’re supposed to behave in an interview. No, but boy, that again is one of those fantasies. You know, I’ve been in so many meetings where I would have loved to do that. It’s a little bit of wish fulfillment, like, keep your stupid job. That’s just fun! Fun, but it also reads as completely believable – it all adds up with her character. Yes, I think, too, because you understood what she was bringing to it – that she had really worked on her stories, they were important to her, and this guy wasn’t even really listening. In a way, I was on her side. I was just like, she wasn’t going to get the job anyway, he didn’t want to hire her, that became abundantly clear, so yes, maybe it’s not a smart thing to do from a career perspective, but from a human self-worth perspective, it kind of was. Have you had those kinds of pitch meetings? Oh my God, everyone has! I mean, I get it from an executive’s perspective, too. They hear so many pitches, and the disparity of how commonplace it is for them and how utterly rare it is for you to go into a room with these stories that matter to you and these characters that you love, and you have to somehow make them get inside your head in 20 minutes. It’s really hard. And some people are great at it – they’re born showmen. I never was. I get emotional when I talk about writing because I can feel it emotionally. I think I’m probably better at pitching than I thought I was, but I did a lot of self-judgment for many years about not being a smooth pitcher. Did you ever have training in pitching? It’s such a different skillset from writing. I have no training in anything. I’m like a weed. Somehow I just kept surviving! Did that ever slow down your career? There’s a mythology about success, about how to be to be successful – and confidence is a part of it, and being alpha is a part of it. But those were not really my main traits. I was a bundle of insecurity – also brave, though. I’m a brave person. But I’ve never been a smooth person. I’m very much like, what you see is what you get. There’s not another side of me. But once people already want to work with you, it becomes a little easier to pitch. They’re willing to put up with you, like oh, she’s just a weirdo.

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She’s just talking like a human as opposed to being a super polished pitcher. Yeah, there’s a belief I’ve heard that people who pitch well don’t write well, and people who write well don’t pitch well. I don’t know if that’s true or not. But I really think the best thing you can do to strengthen yourself as a pitcher is do public speaking. I’ve also been terribly scared of public speaking my whole life, but once I had to start doing press, you really do learn so fast. The other trick that helps me a lot is I think of how much the people listening to me want this to be good. They’re looking for that thing that will secure their job and make them get a promotion. They have that anxiety in them. This goes back to being raised to take care of people. But I do try to think of that when I go in, and I try to put them at ease. Part of it is to also acknowledge that they aren’t like gods on a mountain who are judging you. They are humans who need this to be good too, and you’re doing it together. Does it help also to be in love with what you’re doing? The idea that it’s easier to sell a story you’re in love with? To some extent, although I’ll tell you, I’ve done many pitches I wasn’t ready to do. I would say 90 percent of the pitches I do, there are elements that I love, but there’s also a part of my brain that’s going, I really hope I can write this! It’s really the judgment element. That’s hard for me. My dad, I adored him, but he had a drinking problem, so I’m a classic child of an alcoholic. I’m very guarded. I don’t want to be judged. I want everything to feel safe, and so it’s dealing with all of that. When you have to go into a room of strangers and say, here is my heart on a plate, it can make it easier if you put everyone at ease. Well, growing up in chaos, I think our instinct can be to take care of everybody. Yes, and that was really hard for me when I started showrunning. I had to work on that a lot – and by working on it, I mean go to therapy [laughs]. Because you can’t take care of everyone, even though it’s my instinct. And it isn’t out of a sense of, oh, I’m so wonderful, I want to take care of everyone. It’s a safety factor. I want to make sure everyone’s happy so no one will attack me. But you have to forget that. You have to be willing to be judged. You have to be willing to have people not like you. You have to focus on the project as a living thing that you’re trying to protect. You know the best way for it to thrive, and people can be on the train or they can be off the train. But when you were raised like I was, it’s hard.

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Very hard! When you’re raised to be a good girl. Nice and polite. Yeah, but you can’t always be the good girl. That’s how I always stayed safe emotionally, but you can’t do that and lead. You want to be liked, and when you’re bringing ideas, you want to be respected. You want people to see what you’re giving them – this golden key to a world! And you want everyone to be on the same train. But sometimes you just have to carry on. ∗∗∗

INTERNATIONAL FILMS DIRECTED BY WOMEN FEATURING WOMEN AT WORK

• Wings (1966) directed by Larisa Shepitko, Soviet Union • My Brilliant Career (1979) directed by Gillian Armstrong, Australia • A Soul Haunted by Painting (1994) directed by Shuqin Huang and Yimou Zhang, China • The Governess (1998) directed by Sandra Goldbacher, England • Mostly Martha (2001) directed by Sandra Nettelbeck, Germany • Or (My Treasure) (2004) directed by Keren Yedaya, Israel • The Secret Life of Words (2005) directed by Isabel Coixet, Spain • North Country (2005) directed by Niki Caro, New Zealand • Orchestra Seats (2006) directed by Danièle Thompson, Monaco • White Material (2009) directed by Claire Denis, France • A Five Star Life (2013) directed by Maria Sole Tognazzi, Italy • Suzanne (2013) directed by Katell Quillévéré, Ivory Coast • The Dressmaker (2015) directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, Australia • The Second Mother (2015) directed by Anna Muylaert, Brazil • Suffragette (2015) directed by Sarah Gavron, England • Toni Erdmann (2016) directed by Maren Ade, Germany • Lipstick Under My Burkha (2016) directed by Alankrita Shrivastava, India • The Party (2017) directed by Sally Potter, England • The Bookshop (2017) directed by Isabel Coixet, Spain • The Chambermaid (2018) directed by Lila Avilés, Mexico • Lionheart (2018) directed by Genevieve Nnaji, Nigeria • Proxima (2019) directed by Alice Winocour, France • The Perfect Candidate (2019) directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia • The Assistant (2019) directed by Kitty Green, Australia • Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020) directed by Jasmila Zbanic, Bosnia/ Yugoslavia

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Notes 1 Ken Levine, “Meet Treva Silverman,” …by Ken Levine, February 19, 2017, https://kenlevine.blogspot.com/search?q=silverman. 2 Lindsey Anderson Rios, Milwaukee Magazine, June 19, 2017, https://www. milwaukeemag.com/qa-mary-tyler-moore-show-writer-susan-silver/. 3 Special, “Mary Tyler Moore: A Celebration,” Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), https://www.pbs.org/video/mary-tyler-moore-celebration-mary-tyler-moorecelebration-full-episode/. 4 Anna Weinstein, “From Australia to Hollywood and Back Again: An Interview With Gillian Armstrong,” Directing for the Screen, ed. Anna Weinstein (London: Routledge, 2017), 176. 5 Christopher Bergland, “Work, Love, Play: Do You Have a Healthy Inner Balance?” Psychology Today, October 4, 2015, https://www.psychologytoday. com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201510/work-love-play-do-you-have-a-healthyinner-balance. 6 Victoria Ahearn, “Sandra Oh Says Asian Representation in Her New Series ‘The Chair’ ‘Means a Lot,” Toronto Star, August 18, 2021, https://www.thestar.com/ entertainment/television/2021/08/18/sandra-oh-says-asian-representation-in-hernew-series-the-chair-means-a-lot.html. 7 Tyler Coates, “Sandra Oh and Holland Taylor on Why Making ‘The Chair’ ‘Was Like Running the 100-Meter Sprint,’” The Hollywood Reporter, November 19, 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/sandra-oh-hollandtaylor-the-chair-netflix-1235049985/. 8 “Oprah +Viola: A Netflix Special Event,” Oprah Daily, April 21, 2022, https:// www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a39765813/oprah-viola-davisnetflix-special-exclusive-clip/. 9 Louise Farr, “She’s the Boss,” Writers Guild of America West, November 17, 2021, https://www.wga.org/writers-room/features-columns/the-craft/2021/thechair-amanda-peet. 10 Barbara Roche, “ Sandra Oh, Amanda Peet Create Asian-American Characters Who Resonate,” Reel360, August 20, 2021, https://reel360.com/article/sandraoh-amanda-peet-talk-creating-characters-who-represent-asian-americans/. 11 Viola Davis, “Ms. Tyson Has Always Been My Muse”: Viola Davis on the LifeChanging Magic of Cicely Tyson,” Vanity Fair, February 5, 2019, https://www. vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/02/viola-davis-on-the-magic-of-cicely-tyson. 12 Mekeisha Madden Toby, “Viola Davis on Finding Her Sexy” ‘It Feels Really Good to Embrace Exactly Who I Am,’” Essence, October 27, 2020, https://www. essence.com/celebrity/viola-davis-finding-her-sexy-it-feels-really-good-embraceexactly-who-i-am/.

Screenplays and Episodes Cited HTGAWM, episode 4, written by Peter Nowalk, Erika Green Swafford, and Warren Hsu Leonard; ABC Studios. HTGAWM, episode 13, written by Erika Green Swafford and Doug Stockstill; ABC Studios. The Chair, pilot episode, written by Amanda Peet, Annie Julia Wyman, and Andrea Troyer; BLB Media, Netflix Studios. The Morning Show, pilot episode, written by Kerry Ehrin and Jay Carson; Media Res, Apple TV+.

5 SHE CARES FOR THE FAMILY Nurturing Women

At the end of the last chapter, Kerry Ehrin, television writer and co-creator of The Morning Show, said in her interview with me, “… you want everyone to be on the same train. But sometimes you just have to carry on.” At the end of the final episode of season 2 of The Morning Show, Alex (Jennifer Aniston) says to her viewing audience, “I’m done apologizing for myself. Either get on the Alex Levy train, or just stay at the station.” You can see the similarities in those two final phrases. I doubt Ehrin was aware of this when she uttered that sentence to me. She’d been discussing how she drew on her own personal growth as she created the emotional arc for Alex. The likelihood is she was feeling such a deep connection to Alex, the words just materialized. I point this out because we should all be doing some version of this – pulling from our understanding of what it means to be human and bringing this insight to our characters. Actor and screenwriter Carrie Fisher mined her relationship with her mother, Debbie Reynolds, for her BAFTA-nominated screenplay for Postcards from the Edge (1990), starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine. Often outspoken about Hollywood’s mistreatment of women, Fisher said in her foreword to Richard Corliss’s 2014 book, Mom in the Movies, “All my life I’d watched mothers and daughters in films and either wished that my mother and I were at least a little more like them, as their characters trended toward the ideal, or was thrilled that we were as unlike them as we were.”1 The mother-daughter relationship in Postcards is far from “ideal,” but it’s decisively human. And complicated. The two characters so intimately connected it’s evident they have a hard time seeing where one begins and the other ends. And in real life, you might recall, Debbie Reynolds passed away DOI: 10.4324/9780429287596-6

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just one day after the death of her daughter. As her son, Todd Fisher said in a statement to the press, “The only thing we’re taking solace in is that what she wanted to do was take care of her daughter, which is what she did best.”2 This chapter is about crafting characters that inhabit the role of nurturer for their family. We all have personal experience nurturing those we love, whether caring for our partners or children or siblings or parents. Some of us have been hands-on in this capacity, our responsibilities requiring daily emotional and physical strength. And for some of us, we take on this role from afar, perhaps providing emotional support via phone, through research, or with financial resources. Some of us are mothers, and most of us were mothered. In short, we all have material to draw on when it comes to creating women characters who are responsible for their loved ones’ wellbeing. DEPICTIONS OF WIVES & MOTHERS ON SCREEN

There’s much to unravel in thinking about the ways women are depicted as nurturers on screen. In real life, women’s role in the home has long been fraught with complicating factors involving the juggling act of caring for spouses, children, and parents, while simultaneously bringing in income, pursuing careers that inspire them, and carving out space for hobbies and tending to their own wellbeing. We’ve traditionally divided household duties by gender. For those of us born a few decades before the turn of the century, we clearly recall a childhood with mothers and fathers taking on distinct responsibilities in the home. Fathers mowing lawns, bagging leaves, washing cars in the driveway, taking garbage cans to the curb. Mothers doing the cooking and cleaning, helping with homework, and nurturing the children and even the children’s friends. We can visualize mothers carrying warm pizza and cookies down to the basement where the neighborhood kids are gathered around a television or board game or boom box. Fathers might be out drinking beer with their buddies or alone in front of the TV in the den upstairs. They’d worked a long hard day and needed to take a load off. On the weekends, fathers would grill hamburgers on the back deck. The picture I’ve just painted is the one we saw depicted on screen for decades. It felt familiar, traditional, typical – possibly even appropriate. But times have changed in the past 50 years, and the ways in which men and women nurture and care for the family is no longer divided along binary gender lines. Prior to the 1970s, there was no need for the phrase “stay-at-home mom” because most moms were home with the children – it wasn’t necessary to differentiate between mothers who worked outside or inside the home. But after the women’s movement of the 1970s, women understood they had a

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choice in how they spent their days: they could enter the workforce, or they could care for the kids. Which led to the phrase “stay-at-home mom.” This was a step up from the earlier term “housewife,” which emphasized caring for the home and spouse rather than the children. The 1980s brought with it the more progressive way of thinking about women’s work in nurturing their families.3 You’ve likely heard of another term from the 1970s and 1980s: “latchkey kids,” which refers to children with two working parents; these children carried their housekeys around their necks, unlocking the doors to their homes after school. Though the origins of the phrase date back to the 1940s when women began working during the war, “latchkey kids” became a commonplace phrase in the 1970s. In fact, it was so common for kids to have two working parents in the 1970s, by the end of the decade, there was a backlash against women working, which led to the development of “stay-athome moms” in the 1980s. And for a bit more history here, alongside the phrase “latchkey kids,” there was a growing notion in the United States that children of two working parents were developing disorders such as ADHD and behavioral problems such as smoking, drinking, and drug abuse – all a result of effectively running around unattended for several hours before their mothers came home to care for them.4 This also contributed to the backlash against women’s liberation as a whole, blaming the movement on the disintegration of the American family and women’s general state of happiness. Women couldn’t balance work and mothering and self-care, they couldn’t juggle the demands of these roles, and it was second-wave feminism that led to these unrealistic expectations, the demise of the family unit, and the prevalence of women suffering “mental breakdowns.” Meanwhile, of course, women weren’t properly compensated for their work, earning but a fraction of men’s salaries for similar jobs; not to mention the fact that it took another decade before it became routine for men to assume more equal roles in contributing to household and parental responsibilities. As Susan Faludi elucidated in her revolutionary 1991 book Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, in the 1980s, middle-class women shouldered 70 percent of the household duties while their husbands noted that thought they did more around the house.5 And all of this was played out on screen. The films and series that came out in the 1970s and 1980s found terrific conflict in exploring these dynamics in their story and character arcs, and the most common portrayals of women in nurturing roles played off these then-contemporary struggles. When we watch wives and mothers in fictional screen stories, depending on the decade when the film or television series was released or takes place, we’re accustomed to seeing what was traditional for the time. Depictions of mothers from the 1950s, for instance, tend to show these women as

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homemakers, keeping a tidy house, ready with a drink for their husband when he returns from work, the children cleaned up and presentable. There were (and are) cultural expectations for women as wives and mothers in each decade, and our screen stories most often reflect these expectations. Isn’t it exciting, though, when we’re presented with characters who defy our expectations? DEFYING AUDIENCE EXPECTATIONS

As screenwriters, we become intrigued with people who are in some way unusual or live outside the norm. We quietly watch people walking among us, we comb the Internet for news stories about people who do or did interesting things with their lives. Our creative-writer brain takes us on daily quests to find possible characters who will ignite our imagination. What might it have been like to mother a child in that circumstance, or in that time period, or in that part of the world? What might cause a woman to go to that extreme in dealing with her spouse or child? We ask ourselves these questions when we read about or witness someone intriguing. We see a mother with her children in a grocery store, and depending on the mother’s behavior, we begin to wonder about her life at home. If she reads as typical or ordinary, we may not question it. But if her behavior is in some way unusual, we consider the possibilities. We begin to spin stories. A lovely well-dressed woman in the market with two small well-behaved children is expected to speak politely to her offspring, to smile politely to passersby, to put healthy foods in her shopping cart. If she screams at her children, or slaps them, or gets in an argument with another customer, we’re going to stop and pay attention. If we witness this well-to-do mother taking a small item from the shelf and secretly slipping it into her purse rather than her shopping cart, we immediately become interested. We screenwriters can’t help but take notice when people behave in ways that defy our expectations. And this is precisely what we should be doing as we develop our female characters that inhabit wife and mother roles in our scripts. We want these women to cause our readers and viewers to sit up, to lean into the story. These women’s behavior shouldn’t be predictable. It should surprise us. It should keep us guessing. It shouldn’t be so erratic that it doesn’t “add up.” But it should surprise us in the way real-life wives and mothers surprise us. We all have female friends who are wives or mothers, and they’ve all said or done things at one time or another that have caught us off guard. Perhaps it was just a bad day, or they didn’t sleep the night before, or maybe they were privately struggling with something the details of which we’ll never learn.

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Even our most dependable, predictable friends who are wives and mothers occasionally behave in ways that fall outside their norm. One of the ways we think about devising a story is to consider how a character might respond in a particularly conflict-ridden situation. How does the well-dressed woman with two well-behaved young children in the supermarket respond if a fire alarm goes off? Is she calm and in control, gently ushering her children out the door? Does she assume it’s a false alarm and go about her shopping as usual? Does she freeze in fear, literally unable to move? Does she panic, scoop up her kids, and barrel people over trying to get out the door? What about that specific day plus her background plus her current life circumstances cause her to behave the way she does? Emma in Terms of Endearment

A classic scene in Terms of Endearment (1983) comes to mind when I think of mothers in supermarkets. Written and directed by James L. Brooks, the film was a critical and commercial success, winning five Oscars, including Best Adapted Screenplay. Mid-way through the film, Emma (Debra Winger) is in the parking lot with her two young boys, happily chatting with Sam (John Lithgow), her banker, who in the previous scene generously paid for some of her groceries because she didn’t have enough money. Her son interrupts them as they chat in the parking lot, attempting to pull Emma toward the car. “Come on, mom,” he says. And here’s her response: EMMA Just give us a second. Wait over by the car, honey. (Tommy starts to speak) Wait over by the car, honey. (He starts to speak again) (Emma loudly) Wait over by the car, honey. (He opens his mouth; Emma ups her volume) Wait over by the car, honey!!! (Before he can speak, Emma goes full out to assert her will) Over by the car. Over by the car. Now! Now! Now! It’s a sensational scene, escalating in a matter of seconds. It’s monstrous and hilarious, made even funnier by Sam’s response. After a beat of silence,

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he says, “Nice boys. You’re great with them too.” To which she replies, “I think all three of us are going through a stage … ” Emma recently discovered her husband (Jeff Daniels) is having an affair. Her mother, Aurora (Shirley MacLaine), has never liked her husband. Emma has moved halfway across the country for her husband’s job, the first time away from her mother, who is both her best friend and greatest foe. She suffered a traumatic event as a child; her father passed away, leaving her mother emotionally dependent on Emma throughout her childhood and adolescence. She doesn’t have the means to support herself and her kids, and so she relies on her husband to provide for the family. The point is her life is complicated and exhausting. She didn’t have the best role model for a mother. She feels trapped and alone in this new place. So yeah, she “asserts her will” with her son in the grocery parking lot. Real-life people are equally as complicated. Our backstories are all very different. Our biological and psychological makeups are unique to us. Our current circumstances are specific and intricately detailed. How we humans nurture and care for our families is very much tied to these specificities – and the same should be true for the characters we develop for our screen stories. LEANING ON REAL LIFE AS INSPIRATION

Naturally Carrie Fisher wrote a semi-autobiographical story about her relationship with her celebrity mother. Her story was unique, magnificent, and brimming with drama and humor. Same but different. This maxim we live by as screenwriters applies to stories centered on mothers, wives, and women caretakers in any form. We need drama and elevated circumstances or stakes. Postcards from the Edge (1990) is a mother-daughter film, but the characters’ lives are extraordinary rather than ordinary. There’s fame, glamour, and struggles with alcohol and drug addiction, while also exploring so many of the typical mother-daughter tensions most audiences can relate to. The film, for which Streep was nominated for an Oscar, launched Fisher’s career as an uncredited script doctor. Praised for her witty dialogue, Fisher went on to punch up dialogue for box office successes such as Hook (1991)6 and Sister Act (1992)7 and a host of others. (Though Fisher humbly credited the dialogue in Postcards to her “Actual Unedited Life” with her mother.8) Yes, write what you know, at least in the sense that bringing your knowledge to your story will help you breathe truth into your characters. But more importantly, write what you care deeply about. What aspect of motherhood or marriage or caretaking is most meaningful or troubling to you? What pain do you carry associated with these roles,

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whether from childhood or adulthood? What facet of these roles gives you such gratitude that you’re overcome by emotion when you think about it? A.V. Rockwell, whose first feature film, A Thousand and One (2023), won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, said her lead character “represents Black matriarchs specifically, who I’ve seen not take care of themselves, generation after generation, devastation after devastation, because they’re too busy taking care of everybody else.”9 The story, which spans nearly two decades, follows single mother, Inez (Teyana Taylor), after she’s released from prison and kidnaps her son from foster care, fighting throughout the years to protect him and provide a life in a city that makes it difficult for them to survive. This is a gritty and touching portrayal of a woman mothering her child, and the story was deeply personal to Rockwell. Though not based on her real-life experiences, it was inspired by her connection to the city of New York, which has changed significantly in the years since she grew up. “ … we wake up one day and we’re just like ‘What? How did we get here?’” Rockwell said. “We’re taking for granted all of the things that play into how life is shaped in the city.” The film is also a testament to humanity and the difficult choices a mother must sometimes make. As she said, “I think that human beings are complicated, and I think that how we respond to certain situations is not always consistent.”10 This is especially true when the situations are radically difficult. As reviewed in The Hollywood Reporter, One Thousand and One is a “moving character portrait of a complicated woman who makes good and bad decisions but is motivated solely by the desire to create a better life for herself and the people she loves.”11 Let’s look at a few more screen stories about mothers and wives that were inspired by real people or events. First, a selection of TV series that the creators based on their own lives and experiences. Bradley and Alex in The Morning Show

The Morning Show isn’t about motherhood, but it is about two women whose professional lives are complicated by their responsibilities to nurture and care for their families. As Ehrin said about creating the characters of Alex (Jennifer Aniston) and Bradley (Reese Witherspoon), when you’re under the gun and on a tight deadline, you go to your toolkit. What do you know about human nature, about walking through this world trying to hold together your life as a nurturer and worker, trying to balance the two? What are the ways this balancing act is complicated and confusing? What is the result of the complication and confusion? What does it do to you internally, emotionally? And how do you respond externally to those internal conflicts?

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Bradley carries with her the chaos from her childhood into adulthood. She feels responsible for her brother. Her brother’s presence in her personal life winds up creating chaos in her professional life. Ehrin knows something about growing up in a chaotic household, and she understands the ways in which this instability can affect her behavior as a working woman. She also understands the pressure to be in two places at once – with her family and with her work. For Aniston’s character, Alex’s situation at home was “ripped from real life,” as Ehrin said. Living separated from her husband but co-parenting, loving, and respecting each other, it was complicated and confusing for Ehrin. There was pressure to pay the bills while also being present for her young children. The Morning Show is about two women dealing with the fallout of the #MeToo movement on a daytime network news show. It’s about two women navigating the workplace. But to make these two female leads read as complicated and nuanced as real-life working women, Ehrin drew on her own experiences as a professional television writer, mother, and partner as she developed the characters. Sam in Better Things

Pamela Adlon also drew inspiration from personal experiences parenting her three daughters when she developed and co-created Better Things (2016–2022), a series centered on a single mother, Sam, living in Los Angeles with a successful career as an actor, three daughters, and a mother who lives in a house across the street. To devise the character of Sam and her children, Adlon regularly wove into the storylines details from the everyday happenings in her life with her mother and children.12 (Her real-life mother also lives next door.) Adlon wrote or co-wrote 31 of the 52 episodes and directed 44, and she was twice nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. The show was a success in large part because of the honesty in the portrayal of single motherhood. Though most viewers can’t relate to living in a multimillion-dollar home filled with eclectic art, many can relate to the realistic depictions of the daily struggles of parenting. Better Things is billed as a comedy, and most definitely leans more heavily into comedy than drama, but the series is rooted in truthful explorations of what life is like for a single mother. It’s a great big chaotic slice of life. The children are regularly crying, laughing boisterously, screaming, slamming doors. There’s usually something cooking on the stove, and there are

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complications to do with school, afterschool activities, homework, work responsibilities, friendships, romance, and parents. Sam isn’t a perfect mother – she yells and cries and says things she regrets. But she’s also warm and loving and goofy and wise and attentive. She gets frustrated with her mother and her girls. She gets angry and jealous and worries endlessly whether she’s getting this single-mothering thing right. Her life is as big and messy as her home. And though Sam is wildly unconventional as a mother, she’s not in the least unfamiliar. In fact, she’s only unconventional as a “TV mother.” The reality is, we all have one or two Sams in our lives, which is why it’s so comforting to watch this character struggle through her children’s adolescence. Maura in Transparent

As the title aptly suggests, Transparent (2014–2019) explores a parent undergoing a gender transition while navigating complicated relationships with her three adult children and ex-wife, all the while aiming for open transparency, which (as one might imagine) leads to unending confusion and conflict. Joey Soloway leaned into their personal experiences when developing the series. A few years earlier, Soloway’s parent transitioned from Harry to Carrie, and as Soloway revealed in a 2020 interview with Prime Video Presents, the transition significantly altered their family’s life. “It’s turned me into a person who considers myself trans and considers myself nonbinary, so I’m living in this third space between hers and his, male and female,” Soloway shared, “and I’d say our whole family has actually reconsidered our relationship to gender.”13 Which is exactly what happens in the series itself. When Mort (Jeffrey Tambor) reveals to her family that she’s transitioning to Maura, the news inspires all three adult children to examine their relationship to gender. Childhood memories come rushing to the surface, long-held secrets are spilled, and the adult children’s sexual identity is evaluated and reevaluated as the series progresses. Nobody is left unscathed in the unveiling of Maura, the new matriarch of the family, which beautifully creates tension with the original matriarch, Maura’s former wife, Shelly (Judith Light). The series is a frenzied, intricately woven delight, with characters so bright and alive and difficult and angry, it’s impossible not to fall in love with them. In real life, Soloway learned about their parent’s transition over a phone call, and they said the idea for the series took shape immediately. “It was writing itself in my head,” they said. “I was almost trying to catch up in real life.”14

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One of the most fascinating and brave aspects of the show is how Soloway developed each character as an enchanting jumble of negative and positive contradictions. They’re all self-absorbed and naval gazing, privileged and whiny, while at the same time heartbreakingly devoted to one another, accepting of their frailties, and willing to forgive and move on. Their lives are tremendously complicated, and gender, sex, and religion (the Pfeffermans are Jewish) are at the heart of all their problems. For Maura and Shelly, their positioning in the story as co-mothers to their adult children is endlessly messy, negotiating and renegotiating their past and present roles, all the while clinging to each other for support, with a shared history that is filled with love, pain, and secrets. Most viewers have never before encountered this representation of motherhood on screen, at least not in a dramatic comedy. But even so, these characters read as deliciously real and relatable, mostly due to Soloway’s fearlessness in allowing them to be honest about their desires and secrets. Now, let’s examine a TV series and film that were born out of news stories. Alicia in The Good Wife

When Michelle and Robert King created The Good Wife (2009–2016), they were inspired by the many real-life political scandals splashed across the media. As they told NPR in 2015, they kept seeing images of wives standing next to their disgraced politician husbands. “… we happened to notice that a lot of these women just coincidentally were also attorneys,” Michelle said. The Kings had questions about these attorney wives. They were, as Robert said, “… powerful women that, on their own, would have had successful careers and, in many cases, put their careers on hold to help their husband … ” They wondered what happened privately after the press conference. Did they part ways? And if the wife stuck around to support her husband – as many did – why?15 The Kings devised what wound up being one of the most popular shows on network television in the 2010s, following Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) as she enters and excels in the workforce as a trial attorney after staying home with her children for 15 years. Audiences root for Alicia as she moves up the ranks in her law firm, eventually moving on to create her own firm with one of her colleagues. A serialized drama featuring multi-episode storylines involving Alicia and her family as well as client-of-the week stories within each episode, the series stands out due to the complexity of the interconnected relationships in Alicia’s personal life. As the series develops, the Kings stayed true to their initial intention with the series, exploring the complicated personal and professional partnership

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between Alicia and her husband Peter (Chris Noth). Her obligation to publicly “stand by her man” while privately setting concrete boundaries for their relationship are increasingly interesting to watch as the series progresses, particularly alongside Alicia’s role in parenting her children amid public humiliation and their developing teenage exploits. Alicia is smart, dedicated to her work, and endlessly committed to her children despite her legal and political obligations. Her home life is as full as her work life, consisting of a mother-in-law, brother, and mother, as well as colleagues who over time become equally a part of her family. Her daughter’s ringtone, which calls out, “Mom, pick up the phone!” is a recurring reminder throughout the series – and beginning in the pilot episode – that regardless of the high stakes associated with Alicia’s professional life, she must be there for her children. Ma in Room

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Emma Donoghue didn’t base the character of Ma in Room (2015) on a real person, but she was inspired by the Austrian Fritzl case that made international headlines in 2008 when news broke that a woman had been held captive by her father for 24 years in the cellar of their home.16 Donoghue imagined the strength it would take for a woman to mother her child under such dire circumstances – the ways in which she would rise to the occasion, collapse under the pressure of responsibility, protect her child from the horrors of rape, and finally, how she might devise a plan for escape. (See interview with Donoghue at the end of this chapter for details.) The brilliance of the script and depiction of the mother character has everything to do with the depth Donoghue built into Ma and the reflection of every mother’s most banal experiences and fears. Even in this tiny room, Ma’s daily existence is oddly similar to the day-to-day happenings for so many mothers. It’s familiar and believable while at the same time extraordinary and horrifying. We are glued to the screen not only because we want to see what will happen and how they will escape and survive in the shocking light of day, but also because we see something of ourselves or our own mothers in this character. There’s a reflection of human life that we recognize as truthful. Donoghue took inspiration from real life and imagined a character and world of her own. She took the requisite time to build a full character, a woman with a life before, during, and after the lockup, with all the complexities of her own biology and psychology.

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WOMEN’S VAST OBLIGATION AS CARETAKERS

We’ve been examining films and series where the protagonist’s role as mother or wife is critical to the development of the narrative and central to the underlying conflict. But what happens when we’re interested in exploring stories with female protagonists who are mothers or wives but their role as nurturer isn’t central to the storyline? As a screenwriter, you have to ask yourself why you’re choosing to make this character a mother or wife. If the partner or children are not essential to the story, why do they exist? Let’s back this up a moment. The responsibilities associated with nurturing are massive, as those of us who assume those roles know. They are not a small part of our lives. They are a significant part of our lives. So if we choose to make our lead character a nurturer, whether wife, mother, sibling, and so on, we must do so intentionally with an understanding that the people she cares for will, at least in some way, be a part of the story. Otherwise, there will be a gap in the storytelling. Something will read as false. Perhaps viewers wouldn’t immediately put their finger on why they don’t buy the character, but the character will appear flat, fragmented, or incomplete. Remember that viewers look for convincing depictions of women in screen stories. They want to be swept into the world of the story and root for the protagonist to achieve her goal – and for this to happen, it’s necessary to believe her. In other words, her circumstances and plight and responses need to read as plausible within the context of the story. If she is caretaker in any capacity, her role as nurturer must be woven into the narrative for audiences to read her as a fully fleshed out character. This is true for screen stories in any genre. Comedies, dramas, thrillers, or otherwise, the lead character’s partner or children must have roles that affect her. Their existence creates conflict for her. We’ve seen television series and films where the children or partners are so insignificant, they read as furniture, just placeholders, obligatorily there. And we’ve also watched films that fail to include these characters at all, though we’re made aware they exist. So this is something to be thinking about as you conceive of your story. If you don’t want your protagonist’s children or partners to be a part of the timeline you’re exploring, you need a reason why – and you should consider how their absence affects the protagonist. You might be doing a quick scroll through your favorite films and series right now, determining whether this holds true. Is it really accurate for all genres? I promise, it is.

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Consider a mystery crime drama with a female protagonist as the detective. Whether a multi-episode series or single film story, the lead character’s external goal will be to hunt down the killer. If the detective is a mother and yet her children are not woven into the storyline, it will be difficult for audiences to latch onto her as a character. How can she put herself in the line of fire, chasing murderers, risking her life when we know she has children at home? We need to understand how her work affects her role as caretaker. We need to see these children, witness how her work affects their lives. Let’s look at an example. Sarah in The Killing

Created by Veena Sud, The Killing (2011–2014) is a four-season American crime series based on the Danish series Forbrydelsen, created by Søren Sveistrup. The American series follows Sarah (Mireille Enos) as she attempts to solve the murder of a local teenager; for the most part, one murder each season. Sarah is an emotionally fragile and spiritually damaged woman, committed to her work but unable to care for her teenage son. It’s not that she doesn’t love him or want to be with him. She does. But she doesn’t feel fit as a mother, and more importantly, she is effectively incapable of living fully in the real world. She can only truly function living among ghosts. She is broken. A lost soul. Her partner at work, Stephen (Joel Kinnaman), is equally as lost and unwell, but in a different way and for different reasons. They are the perfect duo, able to support one another emotionally while working together to solve the crimes. Sarah’s brokenness has a backstory, involving being abandoned by her mother when she was a small child, growing up in foster homes, and learning to survive on her own. Just getting by. And so, her relationship with her son makes sense. It adds up that she can’t mother him. It adds up that he is only minimally involved in her life and the storylines of the series. Because of her childhood trauma and the ways in which she demonstrates her love for her son, we forgive her for her failure as a mother. The fact that she is a mother who abandons her responsibilities isn’t just a convenient explanation for her son’s (mostly) absence in the series; it contributes to the narrative and Sarah’s emotional arc over the course of the show. (In season 2, she winds up spending time in a psychiatric ward.) By making Sarah a mother incapable of mothering but wholly capable of serving her role as detective, she is an intriguing and complicated character.

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As the series unfolds, she becomes increasingly distant from her son and more dependent on her partner Stephen, and their tight bond anchors the dramatic tension, which draws the audience into the narrative. ∗∗∗

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN WRITERS & DIRECTORS SPOTLIGHT ON: EMMA DONOGHUE (IRELAND/CANADA)

Irish-born writer Emma Donoghue was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Room (2015), based on her 2010 book of the same title. The film was nominated for 141 awards, including Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director (Lenny Abrahamson). Brie Larson won the Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of Ma, a young woman held hostage for seven years in a shed with her son. Donoghue has published 14 novels and five short story collections, and her books have been translated into more than 40 languages. She has written eight plays, including an adaptation of Room, and she has a PhD in 18th-century English literature from the University of Cambridge. Her latest film, The Wonder (2022), directed by Sebastián Lelio with a script by Donoghue, Lelio, and Alice Birch, was adapted from Donoghue’s 2016 novel. Set in the mid-1800s, The Wonder stars Florence Pugh as Lib Wright, an English nurse tasked with caring for and uncovering the mystery behind an Irish girl who is believed to be surviving without food. As described by Manhola Dargis for The New York Times, “Lib assumes the mantle of motherhood gradually and with enough complexity that the story never falls into predictability.”17 Since 1998, Donoghue has lived in London, Ontario, with her partner and two children. In this interview, she shares her thoughts about creating female characters, writing in the screenplay form, and the role of motherhood and caretaking in her stories. How much responsibility do you feel in crafting your female characters, whether in fiction or films? Do you feel obligated to present women in a particular light? I feel a huge responsibility to my female characters, but the responsibility comes via the work. Whenever I feel some pressure that’s extraneous to the work to represent any group in a particular way, I try to shrug that off. For example, with Room, you could say it’s a bad thing to repeatedly tell stories of female victimization, so why on earth am I telling yet another story of a girl locked up? Given that, I wanted to make Ma an extraordinarily strong but still very believable character who has moments of falling apart as well as moments

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of strength. I felt it would make it a better artwork if Ma had this almost archetypal quality of a hero and also moments where we see her crack. So I try to keep my conscience active within the story. And I suppose, having come out of one minority, I’ve always been hyperaware of women’s representation in stories – for example, the awful literary tradition of the lesbian character having to commit suicide or die at the end. So when in one of my recent novels, I have a lesbian character die at the end because it was a pandemic – the 1918 flu pandemic – I really sweated over that decision. But ultimately, I always feel I need to serve the story, so I try not to let the politics weigh on me too much. Are you making these decisions while you’re writing? Or is it in the prewriting or rewriting? It’s at every stage really. Of course, a lot of those decisions have been made by the time you decide to write a story. As I say, choosing to write about a girl locked up by a psychopath, that has consequences. You have to ask yourself, can I do this well? Can I do it differently? Because it’s sort of a movie-of-the-week trope – the beautiful girl locked up. So from the start, it was crucial to me to use Jack’s point of view [the five-year-old son]. In the book, Jack is the protagonist. But in the film, I think of them as equal protagonists. That’s one of the things I liked about the challenge of making a film of Room. Readers had been very drawn to Ma as a character in the book, but often they’re frustrated that we’re only seeing her through Jack’s eyes, and she’s a bit veiled from us. So for some readers, for instance, her suicide attempt comes out of the blue, because they haven’t picked up on the little things Jack has noticed but not known how to interpret. So I thought the film would be a chance to let Ma step into the light a bit. So I love that – when a change in form brings out totally different aspects in a story. Yes, and it’s such a brilliant choice to see so little of the abuser. It’s firmly Jack and Ma’s story. I really think our culture has given far too much time to the “fascinating male killer.” Usually when we see that story on film, it’s all about the terrifying dynamic between the captor and the girl. It cuts between him upstairs in his workshop and her locked up in the basement. So I very consciously kept Old Nick outside. I shut him out. I made us not care about him. We only see his house at the point where he’s already in jail. I really dedramatized his story. What was your process in adapting the novel? Was it your first screenplay? I was a newbie to screenwriting at the time. I’d tried one script on spec 15 years before, but I’d never gotten anywhere with it. But with Room, even before the book was published, I knew there was going to be interest in filming it. So I thought, okay, this is my chance. I tried to teach myself the

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craft and all the rules. I tried to write a cinematic and lean screenplay rather than a classic literary adaptation with lots of voiceover. I didn’t open the book and look at page 1 – I just called up the whole story in my head and tried to tell it again in light and faces, and not too many words. In fact, at first, I had no voiceover at all, and then when I found myself working with the brilliant Lenny Abrahamson, he kept saying, let’s go back to the book! He was very relaxed about the so-called rules. Like it’s fine for the kid to be passive at a point in the story, or it’s fine to have a bit of voiceover to mark certain sections. It reads as a meditation on motherhood – heightened, of course, but really spotlighting the mundane day-to-day existence and our most horrific fears. Did you bring your own mothering experiences to the story? Right. It’s not a crime story. It’s a motherhood story. In a way, the crime is the premise that allows me to shine this spotlight on parenting. I was really trying to isolate parenting as an element to study. And I did speak from lived experiences. I mean, not that my mothering experiences were difficult. They were ideal really. I really wanted to have kids, and Chris, my partner, got six months of parental leave from her university each time. So there were two of us, and everyone was healthy, no medical crises. And even so, there were moments when I thought, what have I done? I found it a real existential crisis to be in charge of this tiny being. It was the first time I was in charge of anyone. So those early months of being up with the baby, I was just thinking, oh God, I’ve created this prison for myself. Actually, I put a lot of my own mother into Ma. She had eight of us, and she had this kind of bountiful energy and never seemed crushed by her domestic conditions. I tried to make Ma a much better mother than I’d be in that situation because if you were in the locked room with your kid, you’d need to be the village. You’d need to be able to rise to the occasion. So not my own experiences really, but I wouldn’t have had the idea for the story without having two young children at the time. I was fascinated by this business of being in an intense magical circle with your child and at moments finding it heaven and at moments finding it hell. It’s interesting you mention your mother. I’m very taken by the grandmother character in the book and film. This idea that motherhood is a lifelong endeavor, and the weight of her grief and responsibility. Can you talk a little about how you developed her character? That character changed quite a lot from the book. I remember as soon as we got Joan Allen, there was a feeling that we should write her to be more

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likable. In the book, Grandma is very flawed. She’s slightly like a comic character. She blunders and keeps getting things wrong. In the film, she still gets it wrong, but we feel for her. She’s wanting to keep her child safe, but the fact is, she didn’t manage to. And no amount of serving dinner is going to make up for that. So even though Joan is easier to identify with than the grandmother in the book, she still has this fundamentally miserable situation of having effectively failed her child. And there’s always going to be that awful gap between them. It’s incredibly powerful. Similarly, Ma doesn’t feel she failed Jack until she’s in the outside world. It’s only then that she falls apart. She should be relieved and happy to have escaped the room, but this is when she cracks. I suppose if Room has any power, it’s because it’s really about situations in the normal lifecycle. The way you’ve described Ma falling apart in the outside world, it’s quite like postnatal depression. It’s those moments of painfully fast moving from one state to another. So when Ma comes out of the room, it’s as if her newborn is suddenly growing up. There’s an awful kind of tearing away and with her own mother too. I was trying to capture those painful moments of having to let the other person be separate from you even though your instinct is to wrap them up and protect them. And maybe, because we see both Ma and the grandmother going through that, it brings out the universality more. Parenthood is always going to be some attempt to keep the beloved safe and yet allow them to grow up. And the universality of judging your parenting based on what others think. It’s not until the reporter questions Ma’s choices that she begins to doubt herself, which triggers her suicide attempt. Yeah, it never occurred to Ma to give up the baby. I always do extensive research before I write, and this is an example of doing really wide research. I read about every case I could find where a child had been born into a kidnaping situation. In a Russian case, a guy locked up two young women, and when they had their babies, he took them and left them at a hospital. So these children were all adopted at birth, and by the time the mothers were rescued, so much time had gone by, they didn’t want to disrupt the children’s lives, so they didn’t attempt to get them back. I remember holding onto that little detail. I thought, my God, if somebody said that to Ma – why didn’t you have Old Nick take the baby to the hospital? – that would be a particularly low blow.

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I wanted to ask your opinion about writing from our lived experiences. I’m sure you hear the discussions these days of who should write certain stories, whether screenwriters should only write characters and stories within their demographic. Well, if we stuck to our lived experiences, we’d run out of material pretty fast, wouldn’t we? As a writer of historical fiction, there’s no way I’m ever going to completely sign up to the idea that you need to have lived it to write it. If you write about the past, you’re basically saying, I’m going to do my best. I’ll do massive amounts of research, I’ll listen to criticisms, but ultimately, I have to use my imagination. Every writer uses imagination as well as fact. It’s funny, some people today emphasize that you should ask the advice of people who are in that identity category. But of course, people in any identity category wildly differ from each other. If hypothetically you’re heterosexual and writing a lesbian storyline, which lesbian do you go talk to? They’ll all disagree! When I wrote two children’s books, my American publishers hired cultural consultants. It was really helpful, but in the case of one particular identity, they hired two different consultants, and they totally disagreed with each other. I found that heartening. It’s like, well, I’ll take the advice of both of you, but neither of you is the expert on this. I do think if we are too paralyzed by fear that we’re the wrong person to tell the story, that can have a very constricting effect on writing. We’ve all seen examples of somebody who writes about a life they have not lived, and they do it beautifully. And we’ve seen examples of people who write about their own community, and they do it badly. But even in publishing, it has quite often come up in the past 20 years, this whole idea of, maybe you are the wrong person to tell this story. I’m not sneering at these questions at all. I think there were too many films made by outsiders to communities – outsiders of privilege – and often, they got it wrong or wrote effectively racist or patronizing or homophobic films. So we have every right to ask the question. But to shout a project down because of the identity category of the writer, I think that’s defeating. That will only impoverish the stories. Screenwriting is a very collaborative process. What has your experience been in collaborating on your scripts? Even if you are the only named screenwriter, you never really write alone. In the case of Room, Lenny Abrahamson took a huge role in shaping that script, but I was the only official writer. You’re never the sole originator of all the words. There’s a piece of dialogue where Ma says to her mother something like, “maybe if you hadn’t told me to be so nice all the time,

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maybe I wouldn’t have gotten into his truck.” I don’t know where that line came from. Certainly wasn’t from me. Some of the favorite moments in a film, you honestly don’t know where they came from. So yes, in a way, every film is created by a group. My experience has been really good overall, but certainly, I can find it frustrating at times. It’s frustrating that so much of what it takes to get a film made isn’t in your control. The money is still mysterious to me – where it comes from and the timing, and you have to wait around to get all the right factors to come together. I’ve had a total of eight film projects, and only two of them have been made. So it does mean that I say no to most offers of work in film now. I really find it rather disheartening, putting so much work into things that won’t necessarily be made. I just got asked to do a rewrite of a screenplay because they’ve realized that the story they chose – this revolutionary hero of the 19th century – it leaves out women entirely. So now they’re trying to get women into the story. And I’m thinking, you know, you could just have optioned a different book to begin with! I read The Wonder – such a beautiful book. Can you share a bit about your process in adapting the novel for the screen? I wrote many drafts for Sebastián [Lelio], our director, and then at a certain point he wanted to come on as a writer, and he brought on Alice [Birch] as well. So the first few drafts were 100 percent me, and then there are layers of other people on top, which is common in film. I was very lucky to be working with a brilliant director, and I don’t mind things changing in moving from a book to a film. They need to change. It’s a different form. Above all, what I want is for the people I’m working with to be making changes based on good ideas rather than concerns about, for instance, how will it play in Oklahoma? I’ve never worked with a big studio. I worked very closely with Sebastián, and then he and Alice did the last two passes. As I was reading the book – as well as watching the film – I thought a lot about the parallels between anorexia in today’s culture and “fasting girls” from the 19th century. The powerlessness caretakers must feel in trying to get these girls to eat. Yes, eating disorders definitely drew me in. When you write a historical story, you’re almost always bringing to it the concerns of today. And I tried to take eating disorders and make them less banal and less familiar by putting them in this context of mid-19th-century religion. Girls weren’t looking at magazines and saying, I want to be thin like her, yet there was still the craving to control

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the circumstances of a fairly powerless life. The same pressure to do femininity as if it’s something angelic and disembodied, above the needs of the body. I’ve read a huge amount about the two schools of thought in caring for individuals suffering from eating disorders. I’m generalizing here, but if you have an anorexic teenager, do you make decisions for them and make them eat? Or do you give them maximum autonomy and not even ask what they talked about in therapy that week? Two very contrasting ideas about how to help. So in a scene like the one where the nurse tries force-feeding the child, she’s got really good reasons for doing it and yet she can’t bear to. So I tried to bring that kind of deep troubled sense of ambivalence about not just what eating disorders are, but how we can best love those who are suffering from them. Switching topics here … any thoughts about stereotypes when it comes to female characters and sensitivity in creating women characters? One way to overcome the stereotypes is to dig deeper. Like the bad mother character. I would say Rosaleen in The Wonder could easily be seen as simply the bad mother, so it was crucial for me to think intensely about her situation – the famine she’s lived through, the son who died, and the fact that if you take the rules of her religion literally, you truly might believe your children are better off in heaven. So she really does love her daughter. She’s not exactly likable, but you trust that she’s well intentioned according to her own beliefs. So I suppose when it comes to stereotypes, I dig deep to understand why characters behave the way they do. If you delve deeply enough into their motives, you can find something viewers will be able to connect with. Do you have any other advice for screenwriters or filmmakers developing female characters? I would emphasize the decisions you make in the prewriting. If you choose a story with a woman as just “the girlfriend” of the criminal who robs a bank, it will be very hard to add layers of depth to her later on. So maybe you’re better off rethinking it at the start. You might say, no, it’s the criminal’s mother who’s there by his side, because she’ll try to stop him from robbing the bank. Choose a less familiar setup, because once the role is “the girlfriend,” I’m not sure you can manage to layer in much complexity. I would also suggest not worrying if something seems like a stereotype. You can always complicate it. So don’t say, I must never include a bad stepmother since there’s a long tradition of evil stepmothers. There’s no reason to completely avoid a character. You can dig deeper. You can make us sympathize with her. So don’t be afraid of situations that initially seem cliché.

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And again, don’t worry too much about writing people who are not you. You can’t possibly fill a screenplay with people who are you. You have to write “the other” at some point. So you research and read and ask everyone’s advice, but you do have the right to write about anybody in anything. Oh, I’d love to discuss this notion of otherness. I read your thoughts about embracing the label of “lesbian writer.” Can you talk a little about the label and its influence on your work? Well, I sold two novels to Penguin when I was 21, and I remember thinking, I’m going to have to come out to my mother about being gay. Publication day is coming up, and she’s going to guess from the first book! But early on, the stories I wrote started zigzagging over centuries and subjects, so I thought, clearly, I can be a lesbian writer without it meaning my books are all about lesbians. And same with being an Irish writer or a woman writer. I can freely accept these labels because they don’t limit or predict what I’m going to write about. So I got very comfortable with it early on. Having any sort of minority identity, it’s a huge help as a writer. It’s a shortcut. Lord knows there are straight white men writing exquisitely sensitive stories about all sorts of characters, but I think they’ve had to work harder to get there. Not in terms of social acceptance, but in terms of developing empathy. They’ve literally had to get past their own feeling of being the norm. It’s a crucial moment, that first time you realize you’re the freak, that you are the monster for other people. And for a writer, it’s the most helpful moment, because then you take an interest in and try to understand what it might be like to be the freak. I’ve written quite a lot, literally, about people who’ve been put in freakshows. I’m fascinated by that role of being the one people stare at. So discovering I was a lesbian at age 14, it opened the door for me, and it’s meant that I’ve written about an extraordinary variety of people because I’m so interested in this question of oddity or otherness. It’s led me down so many paths that I’m not sure I would have gone down if I’d been in a more socially comfortable normative identity. What was your mom’s response when you came out to her at 21? Oh, it was gorgeous. She said, “I’ve known since you were 16! You’ll always be my little baby.” It couldn’t have been better. She also said she was initially worried that I might be lonely, but she said, “I look at your social life, and I realize that you’re going to blaze your own path.” I love that. And I understand, too – we don’t want our kids to be othered. We want them to have the safest, easiest path possible. Which brings us back to the whole question of parenting as this wish to cocoon but ultimately having to let them out. But then, of course, we’re afraid they’re going to be chased naked through the woods by a mob!

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It’s the endless worry. In Room, the grandmother worries. Ma worries. And they are different, Ma and Jack. They aren’t the typical mother and son. Yes, as a family, Ma and Jack are othered – they’re seen as odd. In a broad sense, they’re treated as a queer family. So I think I brought that perspective to Room. But I have some artistic distance from it. There’s something to be said for taking the stuff you’ve lived through and transposing it. ∗∗∗

INTERNATIONAL FILMS DIRECTED BY WOMEN FEATURING WOMEN AS WIVES & MOTHERS

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Winterborn (1978) directed by Astrid Henning-Jensen, Denmark A Thin Line (1980) directed by Michal Bat-Adam, Israel Antonia’s Line (1995) directed by Marleen Gorris, Netherlands Flame (1996) directed by Ingrid Sinclair, Zimbabwe My Life Without Me (2003) directed by Isabel Coixet, Spain To Take a Wife (2004) co-directed by Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz, Israel Away from Her (2006) directed by Sarah Polley, Canada Under the Same Moon (2007) directed by Patricia Riggen, Mexico Nowhere Boy (2009) directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, England We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) directed by Lynne Ramsay, Scotland When I Saw You (2012) directed by Annemarie Jacir, Palestine Adore (2013) directed by Anne Fontaine, France Aloft (2014) directed by Claudia Llosa, Peru The Babadook (2014) directed by Jennifer Kent, Australia Goodnight Mommy (2014) co-directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, Austria Things to Come (2016) directed by Mia Hansen-Løve, France Kings (2017) directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Turkey/France A United Kingdom (2016) directed by Amma Asante, England Bird Box (2018) directed by Susanne Bier, Denmark Women Talking (2022) directed by Sarah Polley, Canada Look Both Ways (2022) directed by Wanuri Kahiu, Kenya

Notes 1 Carrie Fisher, “Foreword,” in Mom in the Movies: The Iconic Screen Mothers You Love (and a Few You Love to Hate), Richard Corliss (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014), xiii.

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2 Julia Carrie Wong and Stephanie Convery, “Debbie Reynolds Dies One Day After Daughter Carrie Fisher,” The Guardian, December 29, 2016, https://www. theguardian.com/film/2016/dec/28/debbie-reynolds-hospital-carrie-fisher-mother. 3 Katy Steinmetz, “‘Stay-at-Home Mothers’: Why We Still Use This Clunky, Outdated Term,” Time Magazine, April 11, 2014, https://time.com/59807/stayat-home-mothers/. 4 B. Bower, “Home Alone: Latchkey Kids on Good Behavior,” Science News, 140, no. 4 (July 1991). 5 Susan Faludi, Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1991), 6. 6 Sam Adams, “Carrie Fisher,” The AV Club, September 13, 2011, https://www. avclub.com/carrie-fisher-1798227374. 7 Jess Cagle, “Whoopi Goldberg duels with Disney,” Entertainment Weekly, May 29, 1992, https://ew.com/article/1992/05/29/whoopi-goldberg-duels-disney/. 8 Fisher, “Foreword,” xiii. 9 A.V. Rockwell, “A Letter From Filmmaker A.V. Rockwell About a Thousand and One,” Focus Features, April 7, 2023, https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/ directors-letter_av-rockwell_a-thousand-and-one. 10 Patrick Gibbs, “A.V. Rockwell on the Connective Tissue of One Thousand and One,” Slug Mag, April 6, 2023, https://www.slugmag.com/arts/film-arts/filminterviews/a-v-rockwell-on-the-connective-tissue-of-a-thousand-and-one/ 11 David Rooney, “‘A Thousand and One’ Review: Tayana Taylor Powerfully Embodies a Woman’s Fight to Keep Home and Family Together,” The Hollywood Reporter, January 22, 2023, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/moviereviews/a-thousand-and-one-review-teyana-taylor-1235306464/. 12 Terri Gross, “Pamela Adlon Say ‘Better Things’ Has Been an Exaggerated Version of Her Life,” National Public Radio, May 6, 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/ 05/06/1097086503/pamela-adlon-says-better-things-has-been-an-exaggeratedversion-of-her-life. 13 Daniel Reynolds, “Transparent Creator Joey Soloway Corrects Interviewer on Pronouns,” Advocate, June 26, 2020, https://www.advocate.com/television/ 2020/6/26/transparent-creator-joey-soloway-corrects-interviewer-pronouns. 14 Patricia Garcia, “Before There Was Caitlyn Jenner, There Was Jill Soloway and Transparent,” Vogue, September 17, 2015, https://www.vogue.com/article/jillsoloway-transparent-emmys. 15 Daniel Bianculli, “Meet the Power Couple Behind ‘The Good Wife,’” National Public Radio, May 6, 2015, https://www.npr.org/transcripts/404209225. 16 Mark Landler, “Austria Stunned by Case of Imprisoned Woman,” The New York Times, April 29, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/world/europe/ 29austria.html. 17 Manohla Dargis, “‘The Wonder’ Review: The Hungry Woman,” The New York Times, December 27, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/17/movies/thewonder-review.html.

Screenplays and Episodes Cited Terms of Endearment, written by James L. Brooks; Paramount Pictures.

6 SHE DOESN’T PLAY BY THE RULES “Mad” Women

It’s probably fair to say that most people are doing the best they can on any given day, whether how they treat their loved ones, how much effort they put into their work, or how capable they are in holding their lives together. Some people are wired in ways that make it difficult for them to perform at optimum capacity, and others are confronted with challenging circumstances that cause them significant emotional turmoil. We all know people who fit into each of these categories. We may even have personal experiences – past or present – that we can draw on if we’re creating female characters that struggle in one of these ways. When we think about how we conceive story ideas, we’re accustomed to considering high stakes for our protagonist – putting her in an especially difficult scenario where she is forced to make extreme choices. This is what makes for good drama. We may even think in terms of what we might do in certain situations. Under what circumstances would we break the “rules”? When might we engage in behaviors that could be deemed as “wrong” or “cruel” or “inappropriate”? What might cause us to behave in extreme ways? What life events can we imagine happening that would contribute to our emotional derailment? How far would we go if we were confronted with this scenario? What would happen if …? This is what storytellers do. We imagine. We build worlds and characters who populate these worlds, and we create situations that force our characters to take action. We get inside the minds of our characters to understand the hows and whys and whens and what ifs.

DOI: 10.4324/9780429287596-7

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In this chapter, we’ll examine some of the challenges associated with developing female characters who don’t play by the “rules,” making choices outside societal norms. These characters may be responding to dire circumstances or trauma, they may struggle with a psychiatric illness or substance dependency, or they make just have reached their breaking point in the arc of their life story – or perhaps a combination of all the above. This is a weighty topic for screenwriters. We know our scripts will be read with an eye for sensitivity, and we want to be attentive to this representation, particularly women characters with mental health challenges. SENSITIVITY IN SCREENWRITING

What constitutes a “sensitive” or “authentic” depiction of a woman struggling with her mental health in the 2020s differs from how this topic was viewed 50 years ago. According to The New York Times review of Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970), the film “will not, repeat not, be found on any Women’s Lib list of the ten best.”1 Diary is the story of an Ivy-educated woman, Tina (Carrie Snodgress), who is emotionally abused by her husband and attempts, unsuccessfully, to find solace in an extramarital affair. Snodgress was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in the film, and the script was written by Eleanor Perry. Won’t be found on a “Women’s Lib list” … For a bit of context, Perry passed away in 1981, and her obituary in The New York Times described her this way: Known as one of the movie industry’s strongest feminist voices, Mrs. Perry often spoke out about the lack of power of women in the business. She also criticized the industry for the ‘terrible portrayal’ of women as victims and sex objects, attributing this to the men who write, produce and direct most of them. Mrs. Perry once said, ‘It seems women are always getting killed or raped, and those are men’s fantasies we’re seeing, right?’2 All to say, Perry likely hoped Diary of a Mad Housewife would make the top 10 list of films coming out in the early days of the women’s movement. She surely hoped the film would be perceived as a commentary on misogyny, the story of a woman who is not mad as in clinically ill, but rather angry – an intelligent woman attempting to take control of her life but continually running into men who want to control her. Perry was a self-proclaimed feminist. She was an exceptionally skilled and talented writer. She had a career in psychiatric social work before becoming a screenwriter. She was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay

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for David and Lisa (1962), a film about two adolescents living in a psychiatric residential facility. Perry put great thought into the development of her female characters, and I feel certain if she were around today, she would say she was being “sensitive” in her depiction of women struggling with their mental health. And in fact, though the NYT review thought Diary to be something other than “feminist,” the reviewer did sum it up as a “funny and incisively human film.”3 The term mad, however, especially when connected to woman, conjures images of hysteria. A woman gone berserk. For me, the phrase “mad women” brings to mind Diane Ladd’s portrayal of Marietta Fortune in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart (1990). There’s a moment midway through the film where she’s looking in the mirror, ready to put on lipstick, but she decides instead to apply the lipstick to her wrist, effectively “slitting her wrist” with deep red lipstick. She then begins painting her face with the lipstick, a frenzied look in her eyes. CUT TO: her husband Johnnie (Harry Dean Stanton), lying in bed, barking at the television as he watches two wild animals tearing each other apart. The PHONE RINGS, he answers, and we CUT BACK TO: Marietta. Her face now entirely painted red. It’s typical Lynchian absurdity, a slow unraveling of all the characters as they lose themselves to the demons in their minds and the narrative events of the film. I think of this film associated with “mad women” because there’s a negative connotation to the phrase. We wouldn’t describe a real-life woman struggling with her sanity as “mad.” But Lynch’s film isn’t attempting to portray real life. It’s an over-the-top comedy crime drama with characters going to extremes. Generally, though, films and series with a central conflict surrounding mental health tend to live in genres other than comedies, or even comedy dramas. We see a lot of this in psychological horror films as well as dramas. Let’s begin with dramatic depictions because you’ll likely want to develop this skill before tackling portrayals in other genres. WOMEN’S MENTAL HEALTH IN DRAMAS

With dramatic screen stories, we’re accustomed to building fully imagined characters whose internal struggles are further complicated by external forces. Even if we haven’t yet mastered the art of crafting characters where the external forces in a story exacerbate longstanding internal conflicts, at the very least, we understand that this is how we go about building these narratives.

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Fortunately, we have many films to turn to as examples in the drama genre. There are countless beautifully drawn portraits of women battling toils with mental health or substance dependency – films like Girl, Interrupted (1999), Requiem for a Dream (2000), The Hours (2002), 21 Grams (2003), Rachel Getting Married (2008), A Dangerous Method (2011), Still Alice (2014), and more recently, the microbudget Krisha (2015), To the Bone (2017), The Tribes of Palos Verdes (2017), Pieces of a Woman (2020), Land (2021), and To Leslie (2022). Several important earlier films from the 20th century also took great care to create complicated women characters with mental illness. Films like John Cassavetes’s A Woman Under the Influence (1974), for instance, about a wife and mother (Gena Rowlands) who suffers a nervous breakdown and is sent to a hospital for six months before returning home to reacclimate to the life she once had. The film is a masterpiece, particularly in its character development and thorny portrayal of a woman incapable of functioning in her home, most prominently in her marriage, and most painfully, in her own skin. Her husband (Peter Falk) wants her to “be herself,” to “act” like herself, and yet this is specifically what she can longer do. It’s a tour de force performance by Rowlands. Cassavetes and Rowlands created another benevolently troubled woman in Opening Night (1977), a film about an actor who loses her grip on reality as she prepares for the premiere of her play. The character unravels so convincingly over the course of the film, it reads as something of a documentary following the breakdown of a real-life actor. When Rowlands received an Honorary Award at the 2015 Governors Award ceremony, she told the audience, “You know what’s wonderful about being an actress, is that you don’t just live one life … you live many lives. And for that we have to thank the writers. Afterall, they’re the ones who … create the characters in the story. And that gives us actors the opportunity to, hopefully, bring all those characters to life.”4 John Cassavetes, who passed away in 1989, is widely considered the godfather of the independent film movement in the United States. The 1970s and 1980s were decades that birthed filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, and Robert Redford. Most of the independent films coming out of this period featured male protagonists; Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Harvey Keitel, and Al Pacino all got their start in these decades. But there were a handful of independent films during this period that featured female characters in prominent roles, often giving viewers fascinating glimpses into women’s complicated and difficult lives.

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Diary of a Mad Housewife is one example. Eleanor Perry collaborated with her husband Frank Perry on several films in the 1970s, though the bulk of these centered on male protagonists. Until very recently, Diary was unavailable for viewing – it was finally rereleased in 2020. The same is true for the indie feature Wanda (1970). Written and directed by Barbara Loden, the film was lost for decades and only released on DVD in 2006. Wanda follows a wayward housewife who leaves her husband and children and winds up accompanying an abusive man during an unsuccessful bank robbery. You can see the striking similarities (in plot) to Diary, though Wanda is a straight drama. Earlier, and across the ocean, Anne Bancroft starred in The Pumpkin Eater (1964), written by English playwright and screenwriter Harold Pinter. Bancroft was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as a wife and mother of eight children, struggling to maintain her sanity amidst her husband’s affairs. It makes sense that the most prominent women actors during these decades were drawn to these complicated dramatic roles. Frances (1982) is another must-see film featuring a woman struggling with severe mental health issues. Starring Jessica Lange, the film explores the life of early Hollywood actress Frances Farmer, whose career was derailed when her health declined. At the end of the 1970s, after a decade of the women’s movement, we saw several celebrated films that positioned female characters as antagonists in dramatic screen stories, particularly in roles as mothers overcome by their mental health challenges. This may well have been a direct response to second-wave feminism, an unconscious (or conscious) examination of women’s roles as mothers and their place in the family. Regardless, this then-contemporary discussion allowed the filmmakers and actors to develop intricate depictions of women struggling with their mental health. Joanna in Kramer vs. Kramer

Robert Benton’s Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), which won five Oscars, including Best Screenplay and Best Actress in a Supporting Role, launched Meryl Streep’s career, despite that in this early film role she plays a mother who abandons her young son. Streep famously rewrote the courtroom scene where her character, Joanna, explains to the jury why she returned and is now seeking custody of her son.5 The attorney questions Joanna about why she has come back, and she responds with a monologue. Here’s a side-by-side comparison of Benton’s draft and Streep’s rewrite with major changes and deletions in bold:

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JOANNA Because he’s my child … Because I love him. I know I left my son, I know that’s a terrible thing to do. Believe me, I have to live with that every day of my life. But just because I’m a woman, don’t I have a right to the same hopes and dreams as a man? Don’t I have a right to a life of my own? Is that so awful? Is my pain any less just because I’m a woman? Are my feelings any cheaper? I left my child – I know there is no excuse for that. But since then, I have gotten help. I have worked hard to become a whole human being. I don’t think I should be punished for that. I don’t think my son should be punished for that. Billy’s only six. He needs me. I’m not saying he doesn’t need his father, but he needs me more. I’m his mother.

JOANNA Because he’s my child … and because I love him. I know I left my son, I know that that’s a terrible thing to do. Believe me, I have to live with that every day of my life. But in order to leave him, I had to believe that it was the only thing I could do. And that it was the best thing for him. I was incapable of functioning in that home, and I didn’t know what the alternative was going to be. So I thought it was not best that I take him with me. However, I’ve since gotten some help, and I have worked very, very hard to become a whole human being. And I don’t think I should be punished for that. And I don’t think my little boy should be punished. Billy’s only seven years old. He needs me. I’m not saying he doesn’t need his father. But I really believe he needs me more. I was his mommy for five and a half years. And Ted took over that role for eighteen months. But I don’t know how anybody can possibly believe that I have less of a stake in mothering that little boy than Mr. Kramer does. I’m his mother.

It’s fascinating to see the depth Streep wove into her character with just a few key sentences. First, rather than a list of questions surrounding generic women’s rights, Joanna explains why she left. Second, she articulates that she was Billy’s “mommy” and Ted “took over that role” for a brief period of time. Who gets primary custody, in Streep’s rewrite, has to do with “mothering.”

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As Streep said in an interview for This Changes Everything (2018), a documentary produced by Geena Davis, “The writer and the director and my costar all were putting their heads to ‘What would she say? What could she possibly say?’ We all went into our rooms, each of us wrote our version of how she would defend this decision. And it was easy for me to write that because I could empathize.”6 This is another film I teach in my screenwriting classes, not so much because of the portrayal of the woman in the story, but rather because the script is so tight it’s easy for students to see the narrative structure and the relationship between the story beats and the male protagonist’s internal and external struggles. Yet, it’s become a regular point of discussion in my classes when we begin to examine students’ reactions to Joanna. Many students have no compassion for her after watching the film. She abandoned her child, and so she’s unworthy of their sympathy. (Think back to our earlier discussion about creating sympathetic characters, particularly female characters. Notice also that Streep uses the word empathy above in describing why she was so easily able to rewrite the monologue.) It’s only after gentle prodding that my students remember Joanna is suicidal at the beginning of the film. As she tries to leave her husband, she pleads, “Please don’t make me stay … I swear … if you do, sooner or later … maybe tomorrow, maybe next week … maybe a year from now … I’ll go right out the window.” This isn’t what many viewers remember about her character, though. What they remember is that she’s a mother who leaves her child. And here’s the beautiful complexity in this character. Yes, she leaves her child. But she comes back, not to rejoin the family but to get custody of her son. When my students and I begin to dissect what’s so upsetting about Joanna as a character, we come to realize that it’s her pursuit of custody that’s the problem. Maybe it would have been acceptable if she came back and simply wanted to be a part of her son’s life again. But she fights for primary custody. She has the audacity to say in that courtroom scene, “He needs me. I’m not saying he doesn’t need his father, but he needs me more. I’m his mother.” Joanna may not be likable to some viewers, but she’s incredibly interesting. She keeps us guessing – right up to the end of the film when, after winning custody, she makes a last-minute painful decision to let her son stay with his father. She wants what’s best for her child. She leaves initially because, as she says, “I’m a terrible mother! … he’s better off without me.” And at the end of the film, when she decides not to take him, she tells her husband she never knew how much she loved her son until this very moment – that this (letting him stay) “is the hardest thing” she’s ever had to do. She leaves, she comes back, she leaves again. No wonder my students have trouble with this character. But sympathetic or not, Joanna is a layered and riveting woman to watch, struggling immensely with her mental health, all the while trying to do right by her son.

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In studying a character like Joanna, it’s important to recognize that complicated, fully fleshed-out characters who embody the difficult emotions and decisions some people must make in real life are never easily defined or described. With complex characters, it’s not as simple as “she’s a bad mom” or a “bad wife” or a “bad person.” She’s struggling, and she makes a choice, and that choice may not be “right,” but it may be the only choice she has. Ultimately, when the stakes are high, the choices a character makes reveal who she really is. In Joanna’s case, the choice to leave her son where he’s safe and loved reveals her to be more of a mother than she ever thought she was. This is our job as screenwriters, to mine our characters and get to their baseline. When everything is stripped away, when they’re at their lowest point, when the world looks unspeakably bleak, what are the ways in which they find light? Revealing the “Why” In Chapter 4, we explored Viola Davis’s character in HTGAWM and the reveal in episode 13 that explains her mental health struggles. It’s important to note that this isn’t always desirable, to let the audience in on the why of a character’s behavior. For HTGAWM, it works beautifully and extends the story. But for some films and series, the viewer doesn’t need to know. In fact, in many instances, if we were to offer an explanation, it could read as didactic and overdone. This is a decision you will make as a screenwriter, whether the explanation of your character’s foibles will help or hinder your story. Regardless of which way you choose to go with this, as a screenwriter, you will still understand the truth behind what ails your character. Many writers draft extensive character biographies, answering questions about favorite foods and music as well as more significant questions to do with painful childhood experiences, traumas, or other dramatic life events. Other writers journal in the voice of their character, allowing the unfolding narrative to develop in real time. Some refer to this as the character “speaking through the writer.” You may be more inclined to write in list form, or perhaps even speak your character’s truths into a recording device. Whatever your preferred method for uncovering who your character is, this process of discovery is critical in screenwriting – and hopefully pleasurable as well. If you haven’t found this to be an enjoyable activity, you likely haven’t found the method that works best for you. In which case, I encourage you to employ different strategies until you land on one that suits your personal writing style.

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Beth in Ordinary People

Off the heels of Kramer vs. Kramer came Ordinary People (1980), another film with a complicated mother character positioned as the antagonist in the story. Only in this case, instead of leaving at the opening of the film, the mother abandons the family in the finale. This is another enigmatic portrayal of a woman struggling with her mental health, one that has been thoroughly discussed and debated in the years since the film was released. Beth Jarrett (Mary Tyler Moore) is incapable of showing love or affection to her son Conrad (Timothy Hutton), the protagonist. Written by Alvin Sargent and directed by Robert Redford, Ordinary People is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Judith Guest. The film took home the Oscar for Best Picture, and Sargent, Redford, and Hutton all won Oscars for their work – Best Writing, Best Director, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Mary Tyler Moore was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Ordinary People is the story of a family trying to piece together their lives after a tragic accident that involved the death of one son, resulting in an attempted suicide by the surviving son, Conrad. Beth Jarrett reads as severely depressed and coping with her loss in an unhealthy and unfortunate way. She is suffering from grief and possibly a psychological illness. In fact, psychiatry plays a central role in the film, as Conrad leans on his male psychiatrist, Dr. Berger (Judd Hirsch), for emotional support; and his father, Calvin (Donald Sutherland), does as well. Since the film’s release in 1980, there has been enduring criticism from scholars regarding its demonization of the matriarch – that Beth’s character is used as a plot device to move the story forward and support Conrad’s emotional arc, that the narrative is structured in a way that the unstable family unit requires the “excision of women in order to function effectively.”7 These are intelligent and thoughtful critiques of the character and her positioning in the story. The film is told from a male point of view, and Conrad, Calvin, and Dr. Berger are sympathetic, and Beth is not. And yet, you watch this film once and the character of Beth Jarrett sticks with you the rest of your life. She favors her deceased son over her surviving son. She is terrifying. Emotionally withholding, cold, toxic, her quiet simmering abuse relentless as the story unfolds. But at the same time, viewers understand that her grief is excruciating, and her unwillingness to acknowledge the benefits of medical support makes it impossible for her to recover. It’s difficult for most viewers to sympathize with Beth, but they can’t look away from this woman. She’s suffering, and her pain is palpable.

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For screenwriters, it can be helpful to examine the origins of stories like these, and how they came to fruition. When Robert Redford read the novel, he was drawn to Beth’s character, and when he decided to pursue an adaptation, he convinced Mary Tyler Moore to play the role. “Beth was the character he said he most cared about, and he wanted her portrayed with sensitivity,” Moore said. “And he wanted me. This was Robert Redford. How could I say no?” Redford, who has helped launch the careers of many female filmmakers through the Sundance Institute, advocated for the script and the portrayal of the woman despite a lack of interest from studios. “They thought it was decidedly uncommercial,” he said. “Also, the lead character was a woman who appeared dark and negative – they didn’t want to have anything to do with that. Especially because it was going to be Mary Tyler Moore. No studio wanted it.”8 But Redford recognized the lack of relationship between Beth and Conrad as a mirror of the “noninteraction” he had with his own father. Moore also connected on a personal level. “Beth made me think of my father and his rigidity,” she said. “I imagine a bit of him in me – along with my own tendency to want everything to be perfect.” Beth is not unconvincing as a character, as a mother, or as a wife. If anything, she is too believable. So much so that if you read the film from a feminist theoretical framework, it’s easy to find fault in the depiction of the woman in the narrative. As screenwriters, we know we want to develop our antagonist to be as nuanced and layered as our protagonist. If the villain reads as flat or one-dimensional, it’s tough for viewers to latch onto the lead character’s plight. Beth Jarrett is a fully realized character. She is grief-stricken. Her every move is controlled by her denial. She rejects any potential benefits of psychological support. Her sense of self is inextricably tied to her public appearance. In the privacy of her home, she withholds love from her family, and in public, she endlessly attempts to present as having the perfect family. She holds tight to her image as an “ordinary” woman, and the result is an extraordinary character study. WOMEN’S MENTAL HEALTH IN COMEDIES

With dramas, audiences expect a realistic depiction of mental health challenges that doesn’t make light of the woman’s struggles. They expect the writer will approach the topic with integrity and careful attention to the complexity of the character. With comedies, viewers expect to laugh, which involves “making light of.”

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Do audiences also expect realism? And under what circumstances do they feel comfortable laughing? Is It Okay to Laugh?

Films and television series classified as comedies encourage viewers to laugh when presented with characters “losing their minds,” breaking the rules, or taking extreme actions that deviate from social norms. This has long been considered acceptable for screenwriters if our portrayals are over-the-top, silly, absurd, or done in such a way that it’s clear we’re extending an invitation to the audience to join in the fun of watching the character unravel. Yet we now recognize the potential impact of our choices as screenwriters. If our script makes it to the screen, and our story reaches wide audiences, making light of serious mental health conditions could have far-reaching effects. We don’t want to be negligent and offend our viewers – or worse, cause viewers to feel “othered.” So how can we craft a comedic story that allows audiences to enjoy the journey, laugh with our female character, and not throw down the script or leave the theater? Likely the most important piece of this puzzle is recognizing the difference between inviting viewers to laugh with a character and at a character. We laugh with when we connect to a character, when we feel we know her and understand her plight. We laugh at when she is merely presented as a toy for us to tickle, when we’re positioned as voyeurs, when her illness is used as a plot device, or when we don’t understand and can’t connect. Who is doing the storytelling and for what reason is also critically important. There’s an argument to be made that writing comedies about some of the more challenging mental health conditions should be left to writers who have personal experience in these arenas, or writers working in partnership with individuals who can offer insight from their own lives. Maria Bamford’s Lady Dynamite (2016–2017) was a critical success, an exploration of Bamford’s real-life struggles living with and getting treatment for bipolar disorder. The series was created by Pam Brady and Mitchell Hurwitz, and they worked closely with Bamford to develop the storylines and character arcs.9 David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook (2012), adapted from the novel of the same name by Matthew Quick, was applauded for its cheerful and poignant depiction of two characters contending with their mental health. “It’s very personal to me,” Russell said. “My son, I’ve been through this with my son and his friend, and that’s why I did the movie. So when it’s personal, you know that you’re coming from the right place. You’re not coming from a reckless place. You’re coming from a very careful place.”10

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In Lady Dynamite and Silver Linings Playbook, the characters’ mental health conditions are diagnosed by medical professionals, and the characters are seeking treatment. Their illnesses are discussed throughout the stories and are integral to the plots. And according to the psychiatric community, this is exactly what screenwriters should do to present viewers with positive depictions of people living with mental illness, particularly in developing comedic stories. The characters should 1) accept the illness, and 2) accept treatment for the illness.11 For most film and television comedies, though, if a character struggles with her mental health, there isn’t a diagnosis or recurring conversations about an illness. Instead, audiences are left to interpret on their own. And in many cases, the read on the character is that she’s simply reached her breaking point in the arc of her life story. We’re not witnessing a character grappling with mental illness, a result of genetics or trauma – rather, we’re joining the character at a specific moment in her life when she encounters a “final straw.” And because of this, she goes off course, engaging in behaviors that deviate from social norms. Bridesmaids (2011) is a good example. The film broke the broad comedy mold not only because it featured women in the traditionally male-dominated gross-out comedy genre, but also because it delivered a relatable and emotionally layered protagonist despite her over-the-top self-destructive nature. Annie in Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids grossed $25 million in the opening weekend, and eight weeks in, it topped $150 million at the box office.12 It was a summer blockbuster, just not the type we were accustomed to seeing. The script, written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo and shepherded to the screen by Judd Apatow, was nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA, and a slew of others. It’s funny and fun and terribly engaging, but Annie’s (Kristen Wiig) emotional unraveling surprises us time and again as the story progresses. Because the film is about bridesmaids, we thought we were going to see a romantic comedy, never mind that the trailer showed only two short beats with love interests for Annie. But we saw wedding planning and pink bridesmaid dresses, and our collective understanding of the rom-com genre led us to believe that’s what we were in for – humor to do with romance. And yet, audiences accepted, even delighted in, watching Annie emotionally derail. Annie defies our expectations, self-destructing in a way that reads as quietly painful and authentic while at the same time, larger than life. We know this woman. We might even see a bit of ourselves in this woman, but hopefully we don’t make such drastic mistakes. Annie is not a one-note character, or even two or three. She’s complicated. On the one hand, she wants to be loved, but on the other hand, she doesn’t think she deserves it. She sleeps with a man who

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treats her terribly, but when given the opportunity to have a romantic relationship with a “nice guy,” she turns around and treats him like garbage. She’s insecure about her status in life – the way she looks, the car she drives, the degrading job she eventually loses due to her own bad choices. Annie is a deliciously flawed character. She is so deeply uncomfortable in her own skin and so desperately driven to prove herself to be something she’s not, she’s fascinating to watch – and, as discussed, she’s easy to laugh with. How did Wiig and Mumolo develop this character and the film in such a way that audiences can see Annie’s humanity while also accepting the invitation to laugh with her as she self-destructs? From the opening sex scene, audiences understand what they’re in for with this film. There is nothing remotely sensual about this sex. It is loud and crude and funny due mostly to the circus-like performances. The sex is something of a contortionist act, in a bed where intimacy isn’t the only thing nonexistent, but also sexual climax. Viewers understand they are meant to enjoy this scene for the humor, much like they enjoy the sex in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) for the humor. This depiction of sex in the opening sequence in Bridesmaids is a perfect setup for the film, which fully inhabits the gross-out genre, from women talking about blowjobs, to teenage masturbation, to rote monotonous martial sex, to a lack of organisms. Bridesmaids is most famous for its diarrhea scene, shocking and disgusting in the very best sense of the genre and staying with audiences in much the same way the fake organism scene in When Harry Met Sally (1989) has stayed with audiences all these years. There’s something magical about being exposed to the secret truths of womanhood, truths most often discussed in private among close friends and family – certainly not planted on screen for the world to see. This notion of secret truths is key to the success of this film and the development of Annie as a protagonist. Remember the concept of a character’s secret life, private life, and public life. When we allow viewers to see a character’s secret, we get to know her – presumably even better than her family and friends do. We’re invited in. We connect. We learn Annie’s secret in the first few minutes of the film. After the trapeze-like sex that opens the movie, we cut to the next morning, Annie sneaking out of bed, refreshing her makeup, and then slipping back into bed, pretending to have just woken up. She doesn’t trust her sexual partner (Jon Hamm) will find her attractive without the mask. She’s deeply insecure. And we’re immediately invited into that secret life. So when her partner asks her to leave, reminding her that they have a rule (she isn’t supposed to sleep over), we hurt for her. We understand that her mask won’t protect her. How will she mask herself now? And off we go, watching her derail her life, along with her for the journey.

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A SCREENWRITER’S RESPONSIBILITY

We discussed the notion of a screenwriter’s responsibility, or lack thereof, in depicting certain types of female characters. Women need not be depicted as strong or heroic, for instance, because audiences should be afforded opportunities to watch female characters that reflect the complexities of womanhood, including women who struggle with strength or bravery. But outside comedic representations, what is our obligation as screenwriters if we’re creating female characters that struggle with mental health? One of the most prevalent discussions about representations of mental health on screen has to do with perpetuating negative stereotypes and reinforcing the stigma of living with mental illness. Film and television hold a powerful and prominent place in our shared cultural experience, and the influence of these stories is indisputable. In the early 2000s, after the success of the television series CSI, the forensic sciences saw a massive increase in women pursuing degrees in the field – up 64 percent. (Researchers refer to this as the “CSI effect.”)13 In the 1990s, women flocked to get the “Rachel haircut.” What was the cultural effect of Glenn Close’s character in Fatal Attraction (1987)? Alex in Fatal Attraction

Written by James Dearden and directed by Adrian Lyne, Fatal Attraction was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) is positioned as the antagonist in the film. After a brief affair with Dan (Michael Douglas), a married man, Alex violently stalks him and his family, culminating in a final showdown where Dan and his wife Beth (Anne Archer) kill Alex in self-defense. There’s danger, terror, blood – all the trappings of a 1980s thriller. The problem with the film in the eyes of many critics, including Close herself, is the portrayal of Alex as a violent psychopath. In a 2016 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Close said, “I felt from all my research, I just didn’t think she was a psychopath. I thought she was a deeply disturbed woman.”14 Close, who co-founded the mental health advocacy nonprofit Bring Change to Mind in 2010, has spoken publicly on numerous occasions about her frustration with the portrayal of mental illness in Fatal Attraction. Though she did extensive research in preparation for the role, including consulting with several psychiatrists, she was bothered by the lack of attention to the source of Alex’s troubles.

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What trauma did she experience that causes her to behave the way she does? She’s not just “mad.” She’s disturbed, as Close said. She’s struggling. But why? And there’s another, even bigger, problem with the film: the ending, which was reshot after negative responses from test audiences. In the original finale, Alex commits suicide, making it look like a murder, for which she frames Dan; his wife Beth then finds an audio recording which proves his innocence. But after test audiences “hated” the ending, the studio decided to reshoot so Dan would get revenge. Glenn Close adamantly opposed the idea of the reshoot, as did studio head Sherry Lansing. “Here was this wonderful film about how all your actions have consequences, and now they wanted to change the whole point. I felt it was morally wrong, and if I agreed to do it, I’d be selling out,” Lansing said. Glenn Close fought to keep the original ending and “categorically refused to do the reshoot.” As Lansing described, Close “felt sympathy for Alex, a woman battling mental illness, and fiercely resisted clichés about another female psycho.”15 When all was said and done, the ending was reshot, and the film went on to critical acclaim. But immediately following its release, there was backlash. In her 1987 review in The New Yorker, Pauline Kael had this to say about the ending: “The violence that breaks loose doesn’t have anything to do with the characters who have been set up; it has to do with the formula they’re shoved into.” And she had this to say about the film as a whole: “The horror subtext is the lawyer’s developing dread of the crazy feminist who attacks his masculine role as protector of his property and his family.”16 For his part, screenwriter James Dearden never felt the final film was his. The studio wanted to ensure audiences could root for Dan, the protagonist, despite his infidelity. Dearden said, “I kept getting notes to make him more innocent and Glenn Close’s character more ravenous, like he’s her victim. And after those changes people did not sympathise with her.”17 Lessons Learned

So what is the screenwriter’s responsibility in creating female characters that struggle with their mental health or engage in behaviors that deviate from societal expectations? Let’s not worry for now about what might happen in production and instead focus on the lessons we can apply in the development process. First, as we saw with the example from Diary of a Mad Housewife, it’s clear that opinions and perspectives change over time. We’re more sensitive today than we were 50 years ago, so we can only consider current positions on these issues and shouldn’t concern ourselves about possible changes in the future. Worrying about what readers or viewers might think of our work decades from now is a perfect recipe for paralyzing ourselves into writer’s block or avoiding this representation altogether.

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Instead, we should focus on the depth of character. Regardless of the genre we’re writing in, we can build our characters with careful attention to their individual and complicated histories. Again, whether we choose to reveal the why or not, we must know it. We must understand all the complexity behind their choices. In the last chapter, I discussed looking to real life for inspiration, whether from personal experiences, observing people who surround us, or those we learn about from the news. Another terrific source for understanding the human condition is documentaries and docuseries. Nonfiction screen stories often allow us intimate windows into the minds and behaviors of people forced to contend with unbearable struggles. The choices they make, the words they utter, the behaviors they engage in – these can offer fascinating insights into how real people respond under duress. For example, Sam Now (2022) is a riveting and thoughtful story of a family coming to terms with the mother who abandoned them. As the film unfolds, we slowly learn about the mother’s childhood trauma and the effect it had on her mental health. We hear about it, but we also witness it. (See earlier discussion of Joanna in Kramer vs. Kramer and Beth in Ordinary People.) Also, in thinking about sensitivity and ensuring we build our characters respectfully, it’s key to distinguish between what we know about character development and real humans navigating the complexities of mental health conditions. We are accustomed to thinking about creating characters with flaws and weaknesses that contribute to their external struggle. But for people living with substance abuse or psychiatric disorders, a critical component of their wellbeing is to recognize their condition as an illness and not as a flaw or weakness. In other words, we must treat our characters with the same compassion we treat our friends and loved ones. Yes, we’re building a conflict-ridden story around this character. And yes, our critical mind is aware of the ways in which the illness affects her journey. But we don’t judge our character. We have compassion for her struggles, and we accept these struggles as an effect of her illness. Finally, unless we happen to be educated in psychology or psychiatry (like Eleanor Perry) or have personal experience (like David O. Russell and Maria Bamford), we might choose not to put a psychiatric label on our character’s problem. To begin with, real women are more than any one label, and as you can see with the term “mad,” words can have multiple meanings and interpretations. But also, characters take time to reveal themselves to us. So rather than classifying our character with a label, let’s fully explore who she is and how she behaves and the ways in which her illness affects her life and her loved ones. Let’s allow our character space to come alive and breathe and speak

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and take action, and then mine her backstory and internal monologues to figure out why she behaves the way she does. We’ll learn something if we give her a chance to show us who she is. And remember that it’s necessary to distinguish between characters who don’t play by the “rules” due to dire circumstances, those whose behavior is a result of a chemical imbalance or substance dependency, and those who have simply come up against the final straw. In some cases, all three may be true – but not always. Avoiding the labels will help with this distinction, but just being aware of it will allow you to craft a story around a woman with a fully complicated backstory that influences her narrative journey. ∗∗∗

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN WRITERS & DIRECTORS SPOTLIGHT ON: BETTINA OBERLI (SWITZERLAND)

Leading Swiss filmmaker Bettina Oberli has directed one television mini-series and six feature films, including the award-winning Late Bloomers (2006), which is ranked as one of the top three Swiss films, with more than 560,000 admissions in Switzerland. Her film My Wonderful Wanda (2020) premiered at Tribeca, where it won a jury special mention for the Nora Ephron Prize, and it opened the 16th Zurich Film Festival. An ensemble film written by Cooky Ziesche and Oberli, the film stars Agnieszka Grochowska as the central character, a young Polish mother who accepts a job in Switzerland caring for the bedridden, elderly patriarch of a wealthy Swiss family. An engaging and unexpected glimpse into the complexities of modern family life, class injustice, and the extreme measures a woman goes to as she attempts to take ownership of her life, My Wonderful Wanda is absurdly funny, examining a difficult social problem with heart and empathy. In this interview, Oberli discusses the development of the film and her desire to explore a difficult but profitable career for many Polish women, as well as her own career as a filmmaker in Switzerland, and her family’s influence on her screen stories.18 I love the balance of drama and comedy in this film. Did you know from the outset that you wanted to explore this subject with humor? Oh, yes. We knew we wanted to offer something funny since the subject is so serious. I think sometimes the best humor comes out of despair, so we wanted to put this family in a desperate situation and really explore the humorous side of life. Not making fun of the characters, we wanted the audience to feel for them in a very empathetic way. But that was important in the telling of the story, that the viewer can find relief in laughter.

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For sure. You’re left with the reminder that life is just difficult and strange sometimes, and laughter is often the only way through. Laughter and also holding onto self-confidence and pride, that’s what’s necessary for Wanda. No matter what she does, she has to maintain her sense of self. What was the origin of this story? I was interested in telling a story about a woman who has to leave her country – her family, her children – so she can earn enough money to have a good life in her home country. This was the origin of the idea. But then I soon realized, together with my writing partner, Cooky, that we wanted to also study a woman coming here to serve, almost owned by this wealthy family, but never losing the belief that she’s the one in control of the situation. Did you interview women who had worked in this capacity? Oh, there were a lot of interviews with women who are in this situation, and I can tell you, each of these women, they all told me, “I am not a victim.” They really are self-confident. They come here to Switzerland and make the most out of it. Did you talk with anyone who went so far as to sleep with the elderly person she was caring for? There wasn’t anyone who saw sex as a service; that was our invention. But there were love stories, men falling in love with their caretaker. There was one who even wanted to get divorced so he could marry the young caretaker. Oh wow. Yeah, some real drama. But the sex was our invention, and I know it’s provocative, but everyone talks about the win-win situation when these women come from the East to take care of the old men here. They earn much more than they would do in Poland or Hungary, so it’s always discussed as a win-win. But emotionally, of course, it’s not a win for these women, leaving their families, their children, their own parents. You know, they don’t have their own lives anymore. They give up something in an emotional way to come here and fulfill our needs. So Cooky and I, we were thinking about what could happen in the story so it really is a win-win for Wanda. How she could become someone with power on the same level as her employers. And as soon as she’s pregnant with Josef’s baby, of course then she is on that level. The sex scene is strangely compelling and horrific all at once. Thank you. I worked with my female DP on this. Wanda just sees this as a part of the pragmatic work, so we wanted to show it as an act of work. Not

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with a beautiful sunset. There are no cuts. It was important to show the whole sex act, from beginning to end. You had me guessing right up until the end with this film. I had no idea which way it was going to go with Wanda and Elsa. I was exploring this idea that it’s the first time someone asked her what she wants to do. For the first time in her life, it’s not her parents, not her children, not her boss, not her patient. Elsa asks her, “Do you want to leave, or do you want to stay?” And so, for the first time in her life, she has a choice. And I think this is very important to get her to that place where she can decide for herself. A great character arc. And the answer isn’t important. We don’t need to know what she decides, just that she will be able to make that choice. This was the first time you wrote with Cooky? Yes, the first time, but I’ve known her work for a long time. I admired her work that she did with other filmmakers in Germany. It was really a happy day for me when she agreed to work on the project. I’m curious about your work in Switzerland as a female filmmaker. Is it a tight community of filmmakers? Switzerland has a tiny film community. Film, it’s not important in Switzerland. We have banks and insurance and watches and chocolate. But it’s a very small film business. So we all know each other. I know pretty much all the other female filmmakers, and with some of them I have a lot of exchange. We even have a female filmmakers association here. I love it, because it’s important that we make it very normal, women writing and directing. Has it been a challenge, as a woman, to get to this level of success in your career? I started making movies from the moment when I left school, so I was really lucky. But I also had a lot of confidence. I was educated by very strong women – my mother, my grandmother. I come from a family where it’s totally normal to have that feeling that everything is possible. Your mother and grandmother, did they work outside of the home? Always. And that’s not unusual in Switzerland. But some of the women in my family – my great-grandmother even – they were married to artists and dreamers, very charming, fantastic men who, of course, passed down their artistic genes. But these women always supported their men, earned the money for the family.

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That’s interesting. Raising the kids and working. Yes, always, including my mother. But in a very self-confident way. I’ve honestly never known it differently. Do you find it a challenge to balance motherhood with your work as a filmmaker? The father of my sons is an artist, a cameraman, so we have always shared the responsibilities. It’s always felt very natural that we share the profession and the family and household duties. Honestly, though, I find these last months quite challenging because the boys are teenagers now, much more challenging than when they were babies. I love it, and it’s interesting, all the debates and how they develop as personalities. But I still have to work. I don’t come from a financially privileged background where I don’t have to worry about finances. This September, in the fall, I will make a TV series in Germany for about four months. I’ll be shooting in Munich, and I will take my older son with me. He’s 17. Oh, how wonderful for him. Yes, he will intern there. He wants to be a musician. Look, I love my job, and I want to make my films, but for a long time still, my children will be my top priority. They are teenagers now, but still, I feel 100 percent responsible for my boys. Does your family life, your parenting, inspire your work? Yeah, because I’m really interested in the psychology of my children, and that has shown me that we are fragile and strong creatures. I’m really exploring and elaborating this subject. It’s always about family and relationships – that’s what all my movies are about. Your first movie came out in 2004. So your son was born at that point? My first baby was born at the end of 2002. I got pregnant very quick after film school. I was in panic mode, and I wrote and wrote and wrote like crazy. I was so scared that if I don’t produce scripts now, I’ll never make a movie. So I was really strategizing my career, and I thought, of course, I want to have babies, but I want to handle both – my career and mothering. Tell me about your time in New York. Were you studying in New York after film school? It was during school. I was interning with Hal Hartley. I adored his work, so I wrote him a letter to see if there would be any opportunity to come work with him, and he wrote me back. He said, “I’ll be shooting in three months,

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and of course you can come. I can’t pay you, but I can offer you an internship and contacts.” Anyway, so I went to work in New York for half a year, and I got to know his circle, actors like Steve Buscemi. It was a terrific learning experience. What a great reminder for young people, that you have to be proactive, write those emails. Mine was a fax! There was no email then. I remember writing the fax and putting it in the machine and then waiting and waiting. I loved his work so much. I adored this guy. I always liked the Hollywood movies, but I was more into the arthouse films. I watched all of Hal’s movie with such great pleasure. So when he wrote me back, it was like heaven. Do you have mentors now, at this stage in your career? Anyone you can turn to for advice? I talk a lot actually to Cooky. She’s become a bit of a mother figure for me. She lives in Berlin, which is like 500 miles away, so we talk a lot on the phone. Honestly, I would love to have more women as mentors. I’d love to have Jane Campion as a mentor. Susanne Bier too! Do you do any mentoring with the younger generation of women filmmakers? I’m in touch with younger generations. I’m really interested in what they are doing. Lisa Brühlmann, who has now directed some episodes of Killing Eve, she’s great and ambitious and very talented. She and I went to the same school, so we try to keep in touch. She’s shooting a series in the UK now – I think she’ll have a great career. What are you working on now? Any new scripts? I’m co-producing now because I really want to work on and also be more responsible for my projects. I don’t just want to be someone’s employee, especially when it comes to my own ideas. I have a new series I’m creating, a Swiss production. It’s about a doctor who is new in town and tries really hard to do her job and be a good doctor but ends up getting involved with all the psychology of her patients. A female lead. You tend to have women in central roles in your films. Do you feel a responsibility to have female leads, or to present women in a particular light? Totally, and I feel very empowered to offer the female point of view. It just feels natural to me – I know that I can touch the audience telling these stories. Honestly, I feel self-confident about it, and I will never doubt that and don’t want to take it for granted, that I have this opportunity to tell stories from a female perspective.

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You mentioned you come from a lineage of male artists, women who support their male partners in their artistry. Are you the first female dreamer in your family who is making a living as an artist? You know, I never thought of this, but yes, that’s cool. It’s very interesting because all the other artists in the family were men. I’ll have to keep thinking about that. My father also is a dreamer, but in another way – he puts all his blood, sweat, and tears into medical projects in the South Pacific. And if my sons want to be dreamers and artists, I’ll always support them. ∗∗∗

INTERNATIONAL FILMS DIRECTED BY WOMEN FEATURING WOMEN’S MENTAL HEALTH & WOMEN BREAKING RULES

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Sea of Roses (1978) directed by Ana Carolina, Brazil A Question of Silence (1982) directed by Marleen Gorris, Netherlands Sweetie (1989) directed Jane Campion, Australia I Shot Andy Warhol (1996) directed by Mary Harron, England Disco Pigs (2001) directed by Kirsten Sheridan, Ireland Morvern Callar (2002) directed by Lynne Ramsay, Scotland Take My Eyes (2003) directed by Icíar Bollaín, Spain The Headless Woman (2008) directed by Lucrecia Martel, Argentina Where Do We Go Now? (2011) directed by Nadine Labaki, Lebanon Augustine (2012) directed Alice Winocour, France Prevenge (2016) directed by Alice Lowe, England Raw (2016) directed by Julia Ducournau, France On Body and Soul (2017) directed by Ildikó Enyedi, Hungary The Nightingale (2018) directed by Jennifer Kent, Australia Touch Me Not (2018) directed by Adina Pintilie, Romania The Ground Beneath My Feet (2019) directed by Marie Kreutzer, Austria My Wonderful Wanda (2020) directed by Bettina Oberli, Switzerland Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon (2021) directed by Ana Lily Amirpour, England • The Unforgivable (2021) directed by Nora Fingscheidt, Germany • Clara Sola (2021) directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, Costa Rica/Sweden • Revoir Paris (2022) directed by Alice Winocour, France Notes 1 Grace Glueck, “A Funny and Incisively Human ‘Housewife,’” The New York Times, August 23, 1970, https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/23/archives/a-funnyand-incisively-human-housewife.html. 2 Carol Lawson, “Eleanor Perry Dies; Wrote Screenplays,” The New York Times, March 17, 1981, https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/17/obituaries/elwanor-perrydies-wrote-screenplays.html.

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3 Paula Mejia, “Summers and Swimmers,” The Paris Review, June 16, 2017, https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/06/16/summers-and-swimmers/. 4 See “Gena Rowlands receives an Honorary Award at the 2015 Governors Awards,” Oscars, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MweCcZfbE2Q. 5 Michael Schulman, “How Meryl Streep Battled Dustin Hoffman, Retooled Her Role, and Won Her First Oscar,” Vanity Fair, March 29, 2016, https://www. vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/03/meryl-streep-kramer-vs-kramer-oscar. 6 See This Changes Everything (2018). 7 Victoria Szabo and Angela D. Jones, “The Uninvited Guest: Erasure of Women in Ordinary People,” in Vision/re-vision: Adapting Contemporary American Fiction by Women to Film, ed. Barbara Tepa Lupack (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1996), 45. 8 Sara Vilkomerson, “The Untold Story of Ordinary People,” Entertainment Weekly, 2016, http://microsites.ew.com/microsite/longform/ordinary/. 9 Robert Lloyd, “Maria Bamford Returns with a Bang in ‘Lady Dynamite’s’ Second Season,” Los Angeles Times, November 17, 2017, https://www.latimes.com/ entertainment/tv/la-et-st-lady-dynamite-season-two-20171117-story.html. 10 Jordan Zakarin, “David O. Russell’s Very Personal ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ Finds Comedy in Mental Illness,” The Hollywood Reporter, November 13, 2012, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/silver-linings-playbookdavid-o-389780/. 11 Mental Health Europe, “7 Tips for Portraying Mental Health in a Movie or Series,” February 12, 2021, https://www.mhe-sme.org/7-tips-for-portrayingmental-health-in-media/. 12 Anthony D’Alessandro, “Bridesmaids’ Box Office Achievements: Analysis,” IndieWire, July 15, 2011, https://www.indiewire.com/news/general/bridesmaidsbox-office-achievements-analysis-185249/. 13 Dena Potter, “‘CSI Effect’ Draws More Women to Forensics,” NBC News, August 17, 2008, https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna26219249. 14 Yohana Desta, “30 Years Later: Why Fatal Attraction Never Sat Right with Glenn Close,” Vanity Fair, September 18, 2017, https://www.vanityfair.com/ hollywood/2017/09/fatal-attraction-30-year-anniversary-glenn-close. 15 Stephen Galloway, “Sherry Lansing Book Excerpt: Screaming Matches and Tears on ‘Fatal Attraction’ Set (Exclusive),” The Hollywood Reporter, March 29, 2017, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/sherry-lansing-biography-fatal-attraction-book-excerpt-989565/. 16 Pauline Kael, “The Feminine Mystique,” The New Yorker, October 11, 1987, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1987/10/19/pauline-kael-fatal-attractionreview-the-feminine-mystique. 17 “James Dearden Interview: “You Can’t do “Fatal Attraction” Without the Bunny,’” TimeOut, March 25, 2013, https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/ james-dearden-interview-you-cant-do-fatal-attraction-without-the-bunny. 18 Adapted from an interview originally published in 2021 in Film International. Republished with permission. http://filmint.nu/bettina-oberli-my-wonderfulwanda-interview-anna-weinstein/.

Screenplays Cited Kramer vs. Kramer, written by Robert Benton; Columbia Pictures. Ordinary People, written by Alvin Sargent; Paramount Pictures. Bridesmaids, written by Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig; Universal City Studios.

7 SHE SPARKS CHANGE Trailblazing Women

Here’s a challenge. Take five minutes and write a list of all the women you can think of whose accomplishments have gone down in history as worthy of recognition. Create headings for yourself if that helps: women artists, writers, politicians, activists, scientists, athletes, inventors, entrepreneurs, and entertainers. You might also categorize by topic or subject matter, like women’s rights, civil rights, western expansion, leadership, technology, and so on. Or you might categorize by century or decade; race, religion, or culture; country or continent. Truly, step away and take some time to jot down these women’s names and see how many you can come up with. (No searching the Internet for help!) Got your list? Great. Now see if you can recall when and how you learned about these women. Did you read a book or news article? Did you watch a documentary? A feature film? A television movie or series? Or did you learn about these women in college survey courses? In high school? In elementary school? As you might know, in the United States, there are educational content standards for each state that determine what teachers teach and what students are expected to learn across the curriculum. There are learning objectives (LOs) that define what students should know and understand, and what they should be able to do to demonstrate their understanding. In the social studies standards, there are specific historical figures teachers must introduce students to in each grade, and by the time students graduate from high school, they should be able to achieve certain learning goals associated with those individuals. You can probably guess where I’m going with this. DOI: 10.4324/9780429287596-8

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In 2017, the National Women’s History Museum published a comprehensive analysis of the status of women in the United States K-12 social sciences standards. The 250-page report titled “Where Are the Women?” details a dramatic lack of representation of women’s historical accomplishments in social studies standards. In short, as of 2017, K-12 public schools were required to cover 737 historic figures, and only 178 were women. As the study states, “The list of individual women named in standards offers insight into how state departments of education define what it means to be a woman of accomplishment.”1 WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?

This is a good question. For decades, most biographical feature films centered on men’s conquests and accomplishments. Do a quick Internet search for “top biographical films” or “best movies about people from history” or any other genderless phrases, and the lists that emerge are almost exclusively stories about men. Movies have been made about famous artists (Vincent & Theo, Pollock, Basquiat), war heroes (Patton, The Pianist, Valkyrie, Schindler’s List), politicians (Nixon, Lincoln, W.), athletes and coaches (Ali, Miracle, Remember the Titans, Moneyball, Prefontaine), inventors and scientists (The Social Network, Flash of Genius, The Theory of Everything), authors (Trumbo, Capote, This Boy’s Life), and on and on. Prior to the turn of the century, there were so few features about historical “women of accomplishment” that it was cause for celebration when these films made it to the theaters. We may have learned about Harriet Tubman in school, but it took more than 100 years before a feature film was made about her life: Harriet (2019), directed by Kasi Lemmons. Cicely Tyson starred in a miniseries about Tubman in the 1980s, but it was another three decades before a Black female director was successful in shepherding the story to the big screen. I mention the race and gender of the director because it’s relevant. We also learned about Rosa Parks in school, but it took another renowned Black female director, Julie Dash, to get a television movie made about her life, The Rosa Parks Story (2002), starring Angela Bassett. Where are the films about activists Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, or Sojourner Truth? These women are all included in the state standards. They are women just about everyone growing up in the United States is required to learn about. It’s only been in the past 20 years that we’ve seen films and television series about groundbreaking scientist Marie Curie, artist Frida Kahlo, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and activist Gloria Steinem. And these

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are just the women we all already know about (though not through the standards in most states). What about the women whose names haven’t made it into the history books assigned in K-12 and college? In the past few years, we’ve delighted in learning about the accomplishments of mathematicians Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson (Hidden Figures, 2016), artist and activist Catherine Weldon (Woman Walks Ahead, 2017), and entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker (Self Made, 2020); the films and series made about these women brought their successes to life for audiences across the globe. Consider, though, all the other historically significant women whose accomplishments we know nothing about. QUEENS FROM THE ARCHIVES & AROUND THE GLOBE

I was recently combing through Goodwill Online, a favorite pastime of mine, and I came across a vintage photo of a woman playing billiards. Wearing a floor-length dress and leaning over the table, the woman posed for the camera, proudly displaying her facility in handling the cue stick. I was immediately drawn away from the Goodwill site and began a haphazard online investigation of famous woman pool players. I didn’t discover the name of the woman in the photo, but I did find my way to Ruth McGinnis. Born in 1910 in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, Ruth began playing pool at age seven in her father’s barbershop and went on to become a champion player. In the early 1930s the World Billiards Association gave her the title “Queen Billiard Player of the World,” and in the early 1940s she was the first woman to compete in a men’s tournament, the New York State Championship.2 The photographs of Ruth McGinnis are striking. As a child, her hair was adorably bobbed, her tiny frame atop large shoes; and later as an adult, she wore classy dresses and peered across the pool table, focused and confident. I couldn’t look away from these images, couldn’t stop searching and bookmarking articles from old billiards magazines. Why had I never heard of this trailblazing woman? Why hadn’t a movie been made about her? A limited series? Something? Here’s another example. Several years ago, I was in an antique store and stumbled across two vintage books with stunning full-color original etchings of nude women. The spine of the books boasted, “Etchings by Clara Tice.” I purchased the books and quickly dashed home for another frenzied search. Who was Clara Tice? Turned out, her story was fascinating. Given the name “Queen of Greenwich Village” in the 1920s, she became famous after Anthony Comstock, founder

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of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, tried to confiscate her art on display in a bohemian restaurant in Greenwich Village. This was during the time when people were prosecuted for “immoral” behaviors such as lewdness, excessive drinking, blasphemy, and the like, which apparently included displaying paintings of female nudes. As a point of comparison, this was just a decade before the Hays Code was established to ensure no studio film would “lower the moral standards of those who see it.”3 Tice’s life in Greenwich Village in the 1920s was remarkable. Speaking of bobbed hair, she was apparently the first to don this style, she frequently published risqué paintings and illustrations in books and magazines, and she ran with a crowd of famous male artists, the likes of Robert Henri and Marcel Duchamp, as well as groundbreaking women artists, poets, and writers such as Mina Loy and Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven.4,5 “Queen Billiard Player of the World,” “Queen of Greenwich Village” … We give women this title of “Queen” when they are respected in a particular sphere or profession. They are distinguished in some capacity – breaking barriers, making a ruckus, dominating their industry, or against all odds achieving success or changing the course of history. These women’s lives and legacies are captivating, and in most cases, it’s astonishing they’ve never been explored in feature films or television series. The “Queen of Soul” finally had two screen stories made about her life and work: the film Respect (2021), written by Tracey Scott Wilson and Callie Khouri, and the limited series Aretha: Respect (2021), created by Suzan-Lori Parks, as part of National Geographic’s Genius series. Mira Nair directed Disney’s Queen of Katwe (2016), which depicts the life of Phiona Mutesi, the first female player to win the open category of the National Junior Chess Championship in Uganda. The film is based on the 2012 book The Queen of Katwe: One Girl’s Triumphant Path to Becoming a Chess Champion, written by Tim Crothers. If Crothers hadn’t written his book, would there be a film today? Highly unlikely. Disney optioned the rights to Crothers’s book, and executive Tendo Nagenda developed the story and recruited Nair to direct. Both Nagenda and Nair have connections to Uganda: Nagenda’s father is from Uganda, and Nair has a home there.6 Women Who Make the News

Screenwriters turn to nonfiction books, news stories, and documentaries to learn about the lives and work of fascinating people. We rely on journalists and documentarians to help us find these stories, and we’re fortunate so many women’s accomplishments are deemed newsworthy in the 2020s.

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Still, according to the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), there remains “abundant evidence of underrepresentation of women as subjects of coverage.”7 In 2020, the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) reported that only 25 percent of all people interviewed or as subjects in 30,172 news stories from 116 countries were women. This included people “seen, heard or read about in print and broadcast news media.”8 Clearly, the underrepresentation was even more significant prior to the advent of the Internet. When news was only published in print or produced on radio or television, there was limited space and journalists had to fight for the opportunity to get their stories in print or on the air. Women’s work outside the home wasn’t as prominent or considered as relevant as men’s, and as such, their professional accomplishments were made public far less frequently. Who is doing the reporting matters. It’s long been recognized that journalism is a male-dominated field. According to the IWMF’s “Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media,” in 2011, across more than 500 media companies in nearly 60 countries, male reporters held close to “two-thirds of the jobs as compared to 36 percent held by women.” This is at the rank of reporter. In upper management positions, according to the report, 73 percent of the management and editorial positions were held by men.9 Editorial leadership also matters. Editors have significant influence over which stories are published and the manner the stories are shared with the public. This is why Ms. Magazine was so revolutionary in the 1970s. This was the first news magazine featuring stories for and about women that covered germane cultural and political topics as well as stories of prominent women’s accomplishments. It wasn’t offering advice for domestic concerns – dating, marriage, raising children, and so on. It was treating its readers as thinking individuals eager for news stories of substance. (See the interview with Julie Taymor at the end of this chapter and our discussion of her film The Glorias (2020) based on Gloria Steinem’s 2016 autobiography, My Life on the Road.) WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR SCREENWRITERS?

We’re all looking for our next great story idea. We know we need a story with a protagonist that has an active goal and overcomes increasingly challenging obstacles on the journey to achieving her goal. We also know real-life stories are particularly appealing to producers, executives, and audiences alike. And we’re aware that inspirational stories tend to do especially well at the box office. Throughout this book, I’ve been discussing the notion that we needn’t think of female characters as “heroines.” But here’s a category of representation where we can embrace the concept of celebrating heroic women in screen stories. These women are (internally) just as complicated and

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multilayered as all the other female characters we explore, but ultimately, their journey is one of (external) accomplishment. Their ability to succeed in pursuit of their goal is the magic of the story. So let’s find more women heroes. Let’s make some magic with women figures from history! We can turn to books and documentaries and news stories, and we can also do our own research in the archives. Many public archives in universities and state and national government agencies are now digitized for online access. There are also grants available from many organizations to facilitate research. We can search for historical women who worked in professions of particular interest to us. We can look for women who were involved in activities or hobbies we enjoy. We can study specific decades or time periods we find compelling, located in parts of the world we’re intrigued by, or covering historic events that fascinate us. We don’t need to limit ourselves to the news stories that come through our notification feeds. We can – and should – go down our own rabbit holes of discovery. I can say with certainty that once you get started in this pursuit, you’ll discover so many trailblazing women, you’ll have more ideas for films and series than you know what to do with. Begin With a Passion

Are you passionate about gardening? Cooking? Politics? Education? Women’s rights? Civil rights? Art? Sports? Cars? It’s far more pleasurable to read about things we’re passionate about than things we have little interest in. School librarians know half the battle in getting children to read is helping them find books about people and topics that excite them. The same is true for screenwriters. When we’re curious about an idea or person or place or subject, the process of research is a joy. But more importantly, following our passion just makes good sense story-wise. It was no surprise to anyone who enjoyed Nora Ephron’s writing over the years that her final film was about Julia Child (Julie & Julia, 2009). Ephron was as prolific a cook as she was a writer. Cooking was her passion. Likewise, it made sense that Mimi Leder directed a film about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, On the Basis of Sex (2018). Though Leder is legendary as a “woman filmmaker” who made action movies, she was at the forefront of women’s push for equality in the film and television industries. She was the first woman admitted into the American Film Institute (AFI) in the 1970s, and she has stated that she seeks gender parity in every show she produces. As she said of On the Basis of Sex:

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I felt that I related to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life; I felt many commonalities with her … breaking the glass ceiling, and her tireless fight for equality … Being a mother – a Jewish woman in a long-term marriage – those were things that she was up against in those times, and she tackled all of them with her fight for equal rights, and continues to.10 Begin with your passion and see where it takes you. Search for Memoirs by Women of Accomplishment

There’s no better way to learn the complexities of a woman’s thoughts about her experiences than to read her memoir. And you’d be surprised how many women have published memoirs that have gotten very little attention or readership. It’s true, Cheryl Strayed’s Wild is no longer available to option, but there are countless books detailing women’s adventures and accomplishments – women you’ve never heard of and women you’d be shocked to learn that nobody has optioned their story. Interested in women screenwriters? You might want to check out Vicki Baum’s 1964 memoir, It Was All Quite Different. Baum was an Austrian novelist and screenwriter best known for Grand Hotel (1932), starring Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford, which won the Oscar for Best Picture, adapted by William Drake from Baum’s bestselling 1929 book Menschen im Hotel. Baum lived an extraordinary life, immigrating from Nazi Germany to the United States in the early 1930s. She was a highly successful novelist. Her first bestselling book, Stud. chem. Helene Willfüer (1928), which sold more than 100,000 copies, told the story of a woman working toward her PhD in chemistry in male-dominated academia in Germany.11 Dorothy Arzner’s Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) is based on a story by Baum, adaptation by Tess Slesinger and Frank Davis. That’s just one example. Screenwriter Liz Hannah fell in love with Katharine Graham after reading her 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography, Personal History, and she wrote the first draft of The Post (2017) in three months. “I had never read a memoir where somebody was so willing to talk about their mistakes and talk about their relationships and really analyze them,” Hannah told IndieWire.12 The film, directed by Steven Spielberg and co-written by Josh Singer, starred Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks and went to international acclaim, launching Hannah’s screenwriting career. Perhaps the most famous film based on a trailblazing woman’s autobiography first began as a play. The Miracle Worker (1962) was written by William Gibson, based on his 1959 play of the same title, which he wrote after reading Helen Keller’s 1903 autobiography, The Story of My Life. Directed by Arthur Penn and starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke, the

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film was nominated for five Oscars, and Bancroft and Duke won for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. There are countless autobiographies written by women who achieved success against all odds. Again, begin with your passion and see what you find. Ebay and AbeBooks are a good starting place if you’re looking for outof-print memoirs. Or head to your local or university library. And while you’re there … Pick Up a Few Biographies & Nonfiction Books

We all know the remarkable success story of Hidden Figures (2016), based on the book of the same title by Margot Lee Shetterly. Think of all the other books detailing the lives of fascinating groundbreaking women. Books by academic researchers can be an excellent resource. For instance, Christina Lane’s 2020 Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock is a remarkable history of Harrison’s contributions to Hitchcock’s films and legacy. Before the film Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980), directed by Michael Apted and starring Sissy Spacek, who won an Oscar for her role, the story of Nashville legend Loretta Lynn’s life was published in a book written by Lynn and George Vecsey. Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), directed by Martha Coolidge and starring Halle Berry, was co-written by Shonda Rhimes and Scott Abbott and is based on the 1991 biography, Dorothy Dandridge by Earl Mills. The recent film She Said (2022), written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz and directed by Maria Schrader, is based on the nonfiction book by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, in which they detail their New York Times investigation into allegations against Harvey Weinstein, leading to his arrest and conviction. The list goes on and on. Biographies and nonfiction books are a gift to screenwriters, as are short essays and articles. Read Essays & Articles

You’ve probably noticed all the films and limited series in recent years with the credit “Inspired by the article [fill in the blank]” or “Based on the article [fill in the blank].” Producers and screenwriters often option these works because they see the potential for longer-form screen stories. Susannah Grant’s limited series Unbelievable (2019), which she cowrote with Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, was inspired by the Pulitzer Prize-winning article, “An Unbelievable Story of Rape” by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong. It tells the gripping story of two female detectives who track down a serial rapist, clearing the victim’s name who had been accused of making up the story.13 Though the characters are

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fictionalized, they are based on real-life detectives Stacy Galbraith and Edna Hendershot, who worked together to solve the case.14 (By the way, Grant’s Oscar-nominated script for Erin Brockovich, 2000, is another script my students and I study each semester. A phenomenal read if you have yet to discover it.) This idea of fictionalizing characters based on real-life women and girls is another option for crafting films and series, especially in telling stories about historical figures. Be Inspired!

For many historical women of accomplishment, you may not be able to find enough information to tell a story “of their lives.” This shouldn’t stop you from writing about these women and their achievements. Some of the greatest films and television series are “inspired by” rather than “based on.” You may also be interested in creating a character that is an amalgamation of several real-life women. This might be a good choice if you’re looking to examine a fictional story about a noteworthy historical event and a woman who didn’t receive credit for her contributions. This was the case with Suffragette (2015), directed by Sarah Gavron and written by Abi Morgan, the first feature film centered on the suffragette movement in the United Kingdom. For context, that’s 100 years of filmmaking before a feature was made about women’s fight for voting rights in the United Kingdom. The story follows Maud (Carey Mulligan), a working-class wife and mother who becomes involved in the suffragette movement after endearing years of abuse and hard labor. Gavron worked closely with her producer Alison Owen – who also produced Gavron’s feature debut, Brick Lane (2007) – to uncover the stories of working-class women from the movement. They visited the archives of the Museum of London and the Women’s Library, reading “testimonials, unpublished diaries, memoirs and letters.”15 From there, it took six years for Gavron and Morgan to find the heart of the story and develop a script around these women’s activities. The result was a character that represents multiple women’s experiences. Gavron explained, “We thought by telling the story of a woman with no platform, no entitlement, who had so much to lose, following their journey would connect to today in a way, rather than a biopic of an extraordinary woman.”16 Gavron describes her interest in making films about unknown women “in the shadows” and doing the research to dig out their stories. What’s the takeaway for screenwriters? Extraordinary women are ordinary women who do extraordinary things. Our job is to find their stories.

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Don’t Forget Documentaries Documentaries and docuseries about women’s experiences offer a wealth of material on specific eras, events, professions, or women who were often at the vanguard of change. It’s particularly helpful, with some documentaries, to see footage of these women – to watch their gait and the nuanced movements they make, to hear their voices and the way they speak.

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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN WRITERS & DIRECTORS SPOTLIGHT ON: JULIE TAYMOR (USA)

Julie Taymor was the first woman to receive the Tony Award for directing a musical. The Lion King premiered on Broadway in 1997 and to date is the most successful entertainment in the history of box office entertainment, including both theater and film, with a worldwide gross of nearly $10 billion. Twenty-seven productions of The Lion King have played on every continent but Antarctica,17 with more than 112 million audience members around the globe. Taymor’s films include Titus (1999), starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange, Frida (2002), starring Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina, Across the Universe (2007), starring Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturges, The Tempest (2010), starring Helen Mirren, Djimon Hounsou, Ben Whishaw, and Felicity Jones, and her most recent film, The Glorias (2020), which premiered at Sundance and stars Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Janelle Monáe, and Bette Midler. Taymor got her start in the theater in the 1970s, beginning her career in Indonesia where she created a theater company of Javanese, Balinese, and a few European actors, dancers, puppeteers, and musicians. She has directed plays, musicals, and operas in the United States and across the globe, including multiple collaborations with her partner, composer Elliot Goldenthal, who won an Oscar for Best Original Score for Frida. Taymor received a Guggenheim in 1989, a MacArthur Fellowship in 1991, a Primetime Emmy Award in 1993, two Obie Awards in 1996, and in 2012, Gloria Steinem presented Taymor with the Athena Award at the Athena Film Festival. In this interview, Taymor discusses her career in film and theater, her mother’s influence on her work, her creative process in developing screen stories, and the origins and development of The Glorias, based on Steinem’s bestselling book, My Life on the Road (2015).

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I’d love to hear about your inspiration in film. You started in the theater, but I’m curious about the filmmakers who inspired you before you began making movies. Kurosawa. He’s probably my favorite filmmaker. And Fellini, I’m a Fellini fan. Of course, the women filmmakers I heard about later in life, like Alice Guy-Blaché, she was astounding. The documentary that came out a few years ago, that was my first exposure to her extraordinary oeuvre. And her tale is tragic, what happened to her – the lack of attention, the lack of credit to her being the first storyteller in film. If you really look, there are many great early women filmmakers we all didn’t know about because they didn’t get the exposure. But as far as role models, I would say Kurosawa and Fellini. I’m glad you mention this about role models in filmmaking. You’re such an inspiration for the women coming up today. Can you share your thoughts about the importance of all of us having role models in the arts, in our careers? Well, I don’t really love the idea of being in a book about women. I’ve never liked that, because it’s a part of the problem. Being labeled a “woman director”? Yes, and the idea that you’ve made a “woman’s film.” Like The Glorias – when people say, oh, every woman should see it. No, not every woman, every person! It’s ironic that I made The Glorias because I haven’t had a lot of issues with sexism in my life. With misogyny, yes, but I always did what I needed to do in my career. But at this point in my career, I am having problems, and I do think being female is part of it. I mean, the fact that there are no women directors nominated this year when there are so many astounding films made by women! Not only American directors but great foreign language films from the rest of the world. The Woman King by Gina Prince-Bythewood, that film took tremendous courage. It’s very well done, and it was hard to do. You want to talk about lifting up women and women of color? Hello! But there will always be men who just don’t want to watch women’s stories. The animated film Turning Red [directed by Domee Shi] is astounding, by a Chinese American woman filmmaker. It’s the best-animated film by far, and what do you get men saying? I can’t identify with a 13-yearold girl who is menstruating. My partner, Elliot Goldenthal, he’s a composer, he loved it. It’s so well done on every level. It’s brilliant and it hasn’t gotten any attention. This is what I mean. All the women making movies 50 years ago, 100 years ago, they didn’t get attention either. I’ll tell you, I help choose the foreign language films for the Academy, and all 10 that I selected this year weren’t picked. So I’m looking at the selections, and I’m going, these films

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are fine, but they’re not as good as Corsage [directed by Marie Kreutzer]. Have you seen that? I haven’t! You must. It’s a phenomenal film, an Austrian empress, told from a completely different point of view. It’s so original. Vicky Krieps is the lead, a sensational actress. Another film that I absolutely loved and should have been nominated is The Blue Caftan [directed by Maryam Touzani]. That’s actually not the transcription of the title. The title is Le Bleu du Caftan, and when you see the movie, it’s heartbreaking to think about what that means. There are three characters – the wife, the husband, and the lover. And it’s the most beautiful telling, so simple, low budget, all in one or two rooms, just stunning. And there are several other brilliant female-directed films, and they’re not getting the attention they should. This is the trouble. Several years ago when Alfonso Cuarón won for Roma, I voted for it because I hadn’t seen this other film yet, Capernaum [directed by Nadine Labaki]. It’s genius, just jaw-dropping. So there are films out there made by women, but where is the publicity? I know The Glorias was released during COVID, so it didn’t get the theatrical release. But how did the publicity for the film work? It’s such a magnificent film. Very few people even know it exists. It’s really disheartening. When COVID happened, our distributors wanted us to wait a year to release, but Gloria and I wanted it to come out prior to the election, so we had it come out in October. But no, we didn’t get financial support. The fact is most of my films were not well distributed. They just weren’t, for one reason or another. Titus wasn’t put out. The Tempest wasn’t put out. Frida did okay, but Harvey wasn’t behind it for the Academy Awards. They’d already gotten their money back on the first week of dailies presales so they didn’t need to campaign for it. So when we were nominated for six awards, it was a surprise since we didn’t have the support from Miramax. I’m curious to hear how you have had to fight for credit or support during your career, or if there are things you would do differently now that you wish you’d done earlier in terms of standing up for yourself as a woman director. Here’s a story for you. I did something 25 years ago where I created the whole second half of The Lion King storyline for the Broadway production. There were a lot of things with the original movie that I had trouble with, so they said, go ahead, do what you want. So I worked with the writers to create the storyline, and I could have had creative credit, but I didn’t take it.

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I do get a percentage as a creator, but at the time, I thought, oh, director, designer, creator – it’s too much credit. I wouldn’t do that now. That was a classic female move, not wanting to take too much credit. Which brings me back to The Glorias. What was the origin of the film? When did you first meet Gloria Steinem? Years ago. Gloria knew my mother. She says my mother was one of the reasons she even did what she did. My mother was in politics in Massachusetts; she was a real advocate for women working in politics. So I knew Gloria because she knew my mom. And then a friend of mine gave me her book, and it was a story that had never been told. The second wave of feminism had never been put into a movie. I read you had trouble raising the financing for the film. Oh yeah, that was impossible. But again, they labeled it a “woman’s movie.” Unbelievable considering it’s Gloria Steinem! I’m having trouble getting funding for a movie I want to do right now. I have Salma Hayek and Evan Rachel Wood attached. It’s based on a great book called Gun Love, and it’s just an astoundingly beautiful screenplay that a young woman wrote – I worked with her on it, guided her. But I don’t think I’m having trouble raising money because we’re women. It’s a mother-daughter story in a trailer park about the ubiquitousness of guns. People are still slow on doing dramas since COVID. Is it a horror film? No. Is it about vengeance? Yes, it has vengeance, but it’s not one of these big genre films people are producing now. How much money are you trying to raise? We would like to have $10 million, which is low, but my producer and I feel it’s possible. There aren’t a lot of visual effects. I also have a $100 million film I’m trying to make right now, which should be made. I’ve actually had Hollywood people read it and love it and then say it’s too “original.” But look, everything I do is slightly out of the box. And what are they producing? Dune, Spiderman, Godzilla. Look at the directors this year – the only one who got to do something original was Jim Cameron because he did Titanic. And you did The Lion King! In the theater! I didn’t get hired to direct the feature film. But you wanted to direct the film? I didn’t know about that. The musical has made billions of dollars! Right. And yes, I would have loved to make the film. So I don’t know, does that have something to do with being female? Yes, of course.

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Gloria’s mother in The Glorias, she’s such a compelling character. It’s a very loving, very sensitive depiction of a woman struggling with her mental health and the effect that has on Gloria. This was an important part of Gloria’s story that she had to become a mother to her mother. You know, her mother was a journalist. She had a career. The father was irresponsible, he went off and left them. So I think in the film, it very rightly shows why her mother was so troubled – being pushed aside by the father. But there were many women during the 1940s and 1950s who were sublimated there. They were talented, they had aspirations. Why did all those women in the 1950s go “nuts” quote unquote? They didn’t. It had to do with being unfulfilled as women, not being able to carry out their dreams beyond having a family. I’d love to know more about your mother’s work. She was in politics when? In the 1950s? Yes, in the 1950s and 1960s. She was the force behind the men. She campaigned for John Kennedy and Senator Kennedy. When I was little, I would go out and campaign with her, and when she knocked on doors, women would say, why don’t you go home and take care of your family? You know, very hostile. And my mother would say, my daughter’s right here with me! Fine, maybe she didn’t make cookies all the time, but she made enough cookies, and I was very proud that my mom was out there. She was ahead of her time. She ran for State representative; she was a delegate; she was the head of the Democratic Committee. She held a lot of big positions, but running for office was so difficult for women at that time. It still is. So finally, my mom said, enough of this, I’m going to help women. She saw a lot of women who just dropped out once they had their family. So she started programs at several colleges in Massachusetts – Boston College, Smith College – to help women who had children and didn’t finish their graduate degrees. It still exists. If you look up the Betty Taymor Fund, you’ll see, she’s helped so many women run for office. Was that inspiring to you, having your mother working in this capacity? I’m curious how you think this might have influenced your career. I think her being out of the house and working was a tremendous inspiration. She wrote a book called Running Against the Wind, which says a lot, that title, right? She gave me tremendous respect and independence. She trusted me. She let me go to Sri Lanka when I was 15, and then I went to Paris to live for a year when I was 16. She allowed me to take these journeys. When I was very young, nine or ten, I was acting in Boston Children’s Theater, and I took the T from the suburbs every day by myself. People can’t do that anymore. So I was a traveler from a very young age, and my mother

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really let me have that freedom. She wasn’t a protective mother. She gave me clay, but she never was pushy. It was never a talk; it was just a release. She was always very proud of what I was doing. When my mom was a kid, she acted all the time, but her father forbade her from being an actress. He was from the era when prostitution and acting was the same thing. So she went into politics instead. She was tremendous on the stage, a phenomenal speaker. But I’ll tell you, I watched her struggle – also with her women friends who weren’t supportive. She was an attractive woman, so she got that kind of hostility as well. Gloria understood that. That’s a big part of Gloria’s story – the conflict of her being attractive, caring about her appearance, wearing the makeup and the clothes and saying, this has nothing to do with my brain. I’ve heard you talk about the bus in The Glorias. I’d love to hear about your creative process, how you approach a new film, discovering the story within. Well, with The Glorias, her book wasn’t a biography. It was a road book, My Life on the Road. So I had to find a key into the film. How to tell this story of all these different events and chapters without it being a narrative? And that ended up being the bus out of time where I could have them talking to each other. It was such an important discovery and key link into the idiographic concept of the film. So the bus is the dominant theme; she was forever traveling to the next conference or speech or demonstration or book signing. It’s a road picture. It’s a love story amongst the women, a nonsexual love story; women loving to work together – a very rare subject in any entertainment. I didn’t concentrate on the men except for her father, because he was her inspiration to travel. Daddy was all fun for Gloria, freewheeling travel. But the film is really about being on the road, about travel. As Gloria says in her book, the safest place for most women is on the road, not at home. It’s a horrifying statement. The ending of the film is incredibly powerful, with Gloria speaking to the crowd. One of the things that’s so wonderful about your films is the way you’ve been able to bring attention to important women’s work. I’m thinking of Frida, too, how that film brought her artwork to such a wide audience. Well, Frida was already famous, but that movie made her a household name for a lot of people. She would roll her eyes at how she’s been commodified since the movie – pictures of her being used to sell this and that. It’s all over the place. But there are a lot of reasons for the success of Frida – Elliot’s music is astounding, and Salma and the actors are wonderful. But I think it’s the

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paintings coming alive, too – and that is me as a filmmaker and an artist. With Frida, I had to figure out, how could I tell her story? And what I loved about Frida was that her paintings were her biography. She told her story through her paintings. So it wasn’t just gratuitous to do, going into the paintings. This made sense to me. You know, there are a lot of films that people want to make about important women, but not every one of them is cinematic. I get offered these films all the time, and I turn them down. I don’t want to do biopics. How did The Tempest with Helen Mirren come into being, changing the role to a woman? I directed The Tempest three times in the theater with a man, and it works better with a woman. I remember thinking that there were no great Shakespearean parts for women like Meryl Streep and Helen and Judi Dench, women of that age, because Shakespeare didn’t write them. So when I ran into Helen at a party and I was talking about that with her, a bell went off for me. I thought, well, King Lear doesn’t work with a woman – it’s a very male character. I just saw Ran again, and he [Kurosawa] had to make the daughters sons, but he made the female characters so interesting. But I thought, The Tempest, that could work! It’s about being accused of sorcery and witchcraft, and women were the ones who were burned for these accusations. And not protecting her daughter, all of that works much more intensely with a woman. When she has to go back to Milan and put the corset on, that scene in the play, Prospero, the man, just puts on his robe and he’s content, restored. He’s going to become a Duke again. But for her, now returned to the conventional role of a woman, she will lose her power. As soon as she leaves the island, she will lose. So there’s so much more at stake and many more layers with the gender change. I heard you talk once about how having an outsider’s perspective can be helpful in shining a light on a story, allowing the audience to see something of themselves in the characters. I believe you were talking about Frida. But I wonder if you could share your perspective on this concept of authenticity in storytelling, who has the right to tell certain stories. I think anybody can tell any story. If you’re an artist, that’s what you do. If you look at my work, you’ll see that a lot of it is in Asia, Africa, Mexico, Uruguay. I was just having this conversation with a phenomenal woman I met in Abu Dhabi. She’s in charge of culture and tourism and education in Abu Dhabi. We were there with the last leg of the Asian tour of The Lion King, and we were talking about this issue, and she said, “Julie, you’re transnational.” And she’s right. Where was I born? As an artist, I would say I had a full-fledged birth in Indonesia when I was 21. I had a theater company there, creating original

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work. I lived in Indonesia for four years. And now I’ve spent so much time in Asia. I have nothing to do with a white suburban Jewish background. Nothing. The only film I’ve made that even comes close to my background is Across the Universe. Look, I would never be hired to direct The Lion King today. It just wouldn’t happen. But The Lion King speaks equally to the Japanese audience as it does to the Brazilian audience as it does to the Spanish audience as it does to the English audience. It’s not an American piece of theater. It’s theater. It’s transnational and transcultural. It’s about the human condition. Everybody goes through this coming of age, the prodigal son, men being called “king” when it’s really the women who are the lionesses. Almost every culture has that misunderstanding of the power of women. We can’t miss the point of what it means to create art. You step outside of yourself. You imagine yourself in another person’s body. Look at any of the great filmmakers. If you look at Ingmar Bergman, he was all about women characters. Are we going to say men can’t write female parts? Or if you’re American you can’t write parts for Germans? You’re creating art. It’s all about, does it touch you? Does it move you? This is what I tell my students. We’re here to give feedback that will improve their classmates’ stories, not to decide whether they should be writing them in the first place. Yes, is it a story that has authenticity to you? Does it speak to you? Just because I’m a woman, I don’t only want to do “women’s stories.” I am a world theater person. I have created a fellowship for theater directors so they can travel, like I did, and see theater from all parts of the world. But not to Europe – they have to go to Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, South America, or Japan and Indonesia like I did when I was young. That’s what made me the artist that I am. I was inspired. All artists should be inspired! The Julie Taymor World Theater Fellowship launched in 2016. Each year, up to four directors receive a $30,000 travel stipend to immerse themselves in artistic experiences outside the United States. For more information on the fellowship, visit https://www.tjtwtf.com. ∗∗∗

INTERNATIONAL FILMS DIRECTED BY WOMEN FEATURING WOMEN AS TRAILBLAZERS

• Janet Frame in An Angel at My Table (1990) directed by Jane Campion, Australia • Ruby Bridges in Ruby Bridges (1998) directed by Euzhan Palcy, Martinique

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• Alice Paul and Lucy Burns in Iron Jawed Angels (2004) directed by Katja von Garnier, Germany • Gwen Araujo in A Girl Like Me (2006) directed by Agnieszka Holland, Poland • Amelia Earhart in Amelia (2009) directed by Mira Nair, India/U.S. • Gabrielle Chanel in Coco Before Chanel (2009) directed by Anne Fontaine, France • Kathryn Bolkovac in The Whistleblower (2010) directed by Larysa Kondracki, Canada • Joan Jett and Cherie Currie in The Runaways (2010) directed by Floria Sigismondi, Italy/Canada • Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady (2011) directed by Phyllida Lloyd, England • Hannah Arendt in Hannah Arendt (2012) directed by Margarethe von Trotta, Germany • Dido Elizabeth Belle in Belle (2013) directed by Amma Asante, England • Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti in Dalida (2016) directed by Lisa Azuelos, France • Phiona Mutesi in Queen of Katwe (2016) directed by Mira Nair, India/U.S. • Catherine Weldon in Woman Walks Ahead (2017) directed by Susanna White, England • Antonina Żabiński in The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017) directed by Niki Caro, New Zealand • Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in Mary Shelley (2017) directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia • Mary Stuart in Mary Queen of Scots (2018) directed by Josie Rourke, England • Marie Curie in Radioactive (2019) directed by Marjane Satrapi, Iran • Ifrah Ahmed in A Girl from Mogadishu (2019) directed by Mary McGuckian, Ireland • Ensemble in Nomadland (2020) directed by Chloé Zhao, China • Shakuntala Devi in Shakuntala Devi (2020) directed by Anu Menon, India • Fahrije Hoti in Hive (2021) directed by Blerta Basholli, Kosovo • Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor in She Said (2022) directed by Maria Schrader, Germany • Mamie Till-Mobley in Till (2022) directed by Chinonye Chukwu, Nigeria/U.S. • Empress Elisabeth of Austria in Corsage (2023) directed by Marie Kreutzer, Austria Notes 1 Elizabeth Maurer, Jeanette Patrick, Liesle Britton, and Henry Millar, “Where are the Women?” A Report on the Status of Women in the United States Social Studies Standards,” National Women’s History Museum, 2017, https://www.

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womenshistory.org/sites/default/files/museum-assets/document/2018-01/ NWHM_Status-of-Women-in-State-Social-Studies-Standards.pdf. Eliza McGraw, “Ruth McGinnis: The Queen of Billiards,” Smithsonian Magazine, March 22, 2018, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ruth-mcginnis-queenbilliards-180968563/. Nicole Walsh, “The Origins of the Hays Code,” American Library Association, December 20, 2017, https://www.oif.ala.org/origins-hays-code/. Ro Gallery, “Clara Tice,” https://www.rogallery.com/artists/clara-tice/. Kristine Somerville, “Clara Tice and the Art of Being Bohemian,” The Missouri Review, 44-4, 2021, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/843436. Angela Watercutter, “The Inside Story Behind Disney’s ‘Radical’ Queen of Katwe,” Wired, September 30, 2016, https://www.wired.com/2016/09/queen-of-katwe/. Carolyn M. Byerly, “Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media” (Washington, DC: International Women’s Media Foundation, 2011), 7, https:// www.iwmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf. Global Media Monitoring Project, “Who Makes the News?,” 2020, 4–5, https:// whomakesthenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/GMMP2020.ENG_. FINAL_.pdf. Byerly, “Women in the News Media,” 9. Matt Grobar, “Mimi Leder Discusses ‘On the Basis of Sex’, Apple’s Morning Show Drama & the Long Road to True Gender Parity,” Deadline, December 20, 2018, https://deadline.com/2018/12/on-the-basis-of-sex-mimi-leder-ruth-baderginsburg-interview-news-1202519840/. Marina Sassenberg, “Vicki Baum,” Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women, December 31, 1999, https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/baum-vicki. Jenna Marotta, “‘The Post’: Screenwriters Liz Hannah and Josh Singer on Revisiting History with Meryl Streep and Steven Spielberg,” IndieWire, December 1, 2017, https://www.indiewire.com/awards/industry/the-post-screenwriters-liz-hannah-joshsinger-meryl-streep-tom-hanks-steven-spielberg-1201902755/. Allison Considine, “Writing Advice That Led to ‘Unbelievable’ + ‘Erin Brockovich,’” Backstage, September 15, 2020, https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/ susannah-grant-interview-writing-advice-netflix-68910/. Laura Barcella, “All About the Female Detective Duo Who Caught the Serial Rapist in Netflix’s ‘Unbelievable,’” People Magazine, December 12, 2022, https://people.com/crime/netflix-unbelievable-female-all-about-detectives/. Nikki Baughan, “‘Suffragette’ Director Sarah Gavron on Putting Women Behind the Camera,” Screen Daily, October 7, 2015, https://www.screendaily.com/ features/suffragette-director-sarah-gavron-on-women-behind-the-camera/ 5095123.article. Kristy Puchko, “‘Suffragette’ Director Sarah Gavron on the Importance of Representation and Those Controversial T-Shirts,” IndieWire, October 22, 2015, https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/suffragette-director-sarah-gavronon-the-importance-of-representation-and-those-controversial-t-shirts-56311/. Michael Paulson, “How ‘The Lion King’ Got to Broadway and Ruled for 25 Years (So Far), The New York Times, November 16, 2022, https://www.nytimes. com/2022/11/16/theater/the-lion-king-25th-anniversary.html.

8 SHE IS SEEN Developing “Reel” Women

Kate Winslet signed onto Mare of Easttown (2021) within 48 hours of reading the first few episodes, which she consumed in one sitting. As she told Variety in a video interview, “I was working on something else at the time that was quite demanding, and I just thought, ‘You know what? F*** it. I’ll just read it right now.’ Just sort of dropped everything else and sat up through the night and read episodes 1 and 2.” When you come across the “greatest female role [you’ve] ever read on a piece of paper,” she said, “it’s worth staying up all night to meet her.”1 Can you imagine Kate Winslet describing your female character that way? This is our goal as screenwriters, to develop characters so deep, so layered, so intriguing and complicated, situated in a story that poses question after question and meanwhile delivers just enough partial answers that our readers remain hooked on the line, ravenously reading until they reach the final FADE OUT. How do we achieve this goal? What makes a reader drop everything and lose herself in a stack of scripted pages? CHARACTER, CHARACTER, CHARACTER!

Always, every time, with every screenplay or television pilot, it comes back to character. No matter the high concept or genre or plot twists we’ve woven into our script, it’s our characters that will make or a break the story. Readers respond to the humanity of a character. Whether our characters are trees or flies or lions or aliens or humans, it’s our job as creators to make the characters come to life on the page. Our DOI: 10.4324/9780429287596-9

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readers are desperate to lose themselves in our story. They’ve read so many bad or mediocre screenplays and pilots, they are hungry for the script that will make them feel the way Kate Winslet felt about Mare of Easttown. At the 2021 Emmy Awards, Winslet thanked screenwriter Brad Ingelsby in her acceptance speech for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series: “Brad Ingelsby, you created a middle-aged, imperfect, flawed mother and you made us all feel validated, quite honestly.”2 Ingelsby made Winslet feel seen. WOMEN WANT TO BE SEEN

That’s what this final chapter is all about – deciphering what it takes to create characters that make women feel seen on screen. Women want to be seen. Not gazed at or lusted after. They want people see them for who they really are. Every single one of us deserves to watch screen characters that reflect who we are. In fact, we need to see characters like us in film and television. If we don’t see these reflections of ourselves, with every passing series or film we watch, we silently come to believe we are alone in our experiences – the complexities of navigating life in our religious or cultural community, in our skin (color), or in our age bracket. We’re doing a better job in recent years bringing to the screen stories with women of color, but how many of these films and series are centered on these women rather than just as members of a diversified cast of characters? How many films and series feature indigenous women and girls? Women in samesex marriages? Women over age 60? Women of all physical abilities? Women in all types of occupations? It makes a difference. We are shaped by our upbringings, our communities, careers, and work environments. We’re shaped by peoples’ reaction to our physical appearance, our dialect, our intellect. All these things make up our identity. We’re not just women and girls. We refer to ourselves based on what we want the world to know about who we are. We use titles to identify ourselves, whether related to family, career, race, ethnicity, cultural or religious affiliation, sexual or gender identity, and so on. We want people to know – this is me! And there’s a layer beneath all that, the side we don’t want to share with the world. Our secrets, our oddities, our human frailty, our fears, our vulnerability, our darkness – all those bits and pieces of ourselves that we work so hard to hide, whether we see these truths reflected back to us on screen, they still exist within us. And if we don’t see them, we begin to feel we’re living in obscurity. Invisible. Insignificant. Irrelevant. Sure, perhaps we see female characters that inhabit some of our hopes and dreams or the positive aspects of our lives. But how often do we see female characters grappling with the dirtier, more embarrassing parts of themselves?

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In the late Audrey Wells’s screenplay for Shall We Dance (2004), based on the Japanese film by Masayuki Suô, she wrote a monologue for Beverly (Susan Sarandon), who hires a private investigator to follow her husband. Beverly says to the private investigator, “All these promises that we make and we break, why is it do you think that people get married?” “Passion,” he responds quickly. “No,” she says, leaning in. “Because we need a witness to our lives. There’s a billion people on the planet. I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you’re promising to care about everything – the good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things. All of it. All the time, every day. You’re saying, your life will not go unnoticed, because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed, because I will be your witness.” This is the extraordinary opportunity we have as screenwriters. With our stories, we can bear witness to the lives of people we love or admire or are intensely frustrated with – or simply find fascinating. If we choose to do so, we can weave into our characters traits and characteristics of the people who have been influential in our lives. We can celebrate these people, honor them, try to understand them. We can attempt to really see them and make their lives visible for others to see. It’s a romantic comedy, Shall We Dance. It’s a light, feel-good movie with a male protagonist (Richard Gere) and an inspiring leading lady (Jennifer Lopez) who shakes up his life – but behind these two characters, at the center of the story, there’s a supporting “wife” character that inhabits the heart of the tale. She’s not just window dressing, along for the ride. She’s an active character in the story. Her story line is integral to the shape of the narrative. Susan Sarandon wouldn’t have signed up for the role if it didn’t speak to her, if it didn’t say something significant and compelling about the sanctity and heartache and beauty of walking decades through life struggling to hold onto the people we love most. Each semester when I teach Pariah (2011), I inevitably have a student say something along the lines of, “I feel like I’ve seen this film before.” I’m always grateful to this student because it gives me the chance to lead a discussion about sharing our personal truths in our work, whether explicitly or implicitly. In response to this student’s statement, I tell the class that if they feel they’ve seen this story before, it’s because Dee Rees opened the door for all the women who came after her. Prior to 2011, there weren’t Black women filmmakers making features about Black queer women. These women didn’t have the financing and opportunities to bring their stories to wide audiences. Outside of Cheryl Dunye’s mockumentary The Watermelon Woman (1996), which was the first feature film directed by a Black lesbian, screen stories about Black lesbians simply didn’t exist. And to my knowledge, Pariah was

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the first feature film about a Black queer teenage girl struggling to find her way. Dee Rees wanted to see a version of her experiences on screen. And in making that dream a reality, she allowed millions of young women to finally see themselves reflected back to them – and as my students so often point out, she enabled many contemporary women screenwriters to follow in her footsteps. WE CAN ALL WRITE WOMEN

As I’ve discussed throughout this book, you don’t have to be a woman to write a beautifully flawed and complicated female character. You won’t have personally experienced all of your characters’ struggles and successes. You can’t be all people, with all backgrounds and beliefs and upbringings in all communities. You’re a writer. You do research to develop characters that live outside your own experience. And you collaborate or invite readers who do have that life experience to review your scripts to ensure your characters are representational. But regardless of where you differ from your characters, you can still mine the ways you are similar. You know women. You have loved women. You have been loved by women. There are women who helped shape your childhood and adolescence and contributed to your life as an adult. You can draw on what you know about the human condition and the women you’ve witnessed struggling within their own personal turmoil. You can paint an intricate portrait of a woman, making use of light and shadows, and you can layer on colors that offer depth to her character. You can perform this artistry regardless of your gender identity. Brad Ingelsby created the “greatest female role” Kate Winslet had ever read. Statistics on viewership of the series finale suggest audiences worldwide agreed with Winslet – millions tuned in the last week of May 2021, making it the “most-watched episode” of an original series on HBO Max.3 How did Ingelsby achieve this? Well, for one thing, he tricked us. He made us believe we were watching a mystery crime drama when what we were actually watching was the story of a middle-aged mother trudging through her daily grind, all the while doing everything in her power to bury her grief about her son’s recent suicide. The plot of this miniseries involves a detective searching for a missing girl, but the theme of the series has to do with motherhood – the lengths mothers go to protect their children and the ways in which they punish themselves for their failures.

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And it’s not just Winslet’s character, Mare, tangled up in this thematic struggle; nearly all the supporting characters in the series are in some way tied to the complexities of motherhood. There’s Mare’s mother, Helen (Jean Smart), who repents for her missteps as a mother by moving in with her grown daughter and grandchildren to help out after her grandson’s suicide. There’s the girlfriend of the deceased son, Carrie (Sosie Bacon), who wants more than anything to beat her drug addiction so she can gain custody of her young son. There’s Mare’s best friend, Lori (Julianne Nicholson), who goes to lengths so extreme to protect her child, we can barely breathe as we watch her struggle to accept her circumstances. And this is just scratching the surface. I can name five more supporting characters in the show whose lives and actions are influenced by their role as mother or caretaker. But few would describe this series as a meditation on motherhood. It’s a mystery crime drama with surprising yet convincing plot twists that keep us binging, episode after episode until the final seventh hour. And yet, the story is compelling because of the characters. We watch them because they read as real. We root for them because we hurt for them. Their lives are intricately connected in this small town, with histories we understand to be thorny and difficult, though we’re given only pieces of that backstory – just enough to make us want to find out more. How did Ingelsby create a character as sympathetic and memorable and heroic and tragic as Mare Sheehan? In short, he used a trick as old as the very first screenwriting books: he sold us one thing (plot) and delivered another (character). If this is all sounding vaguely familiar, it might be because you’ve heard of the screenwriting cheat for sneaking exposition into a scene: trick the reader into focusing on some sort of spectacle. Deliver a shiny treat to distract the audience, and you can quietly slip in those expository details that would otherwise read as on the nose and off-putting. This is essentially what Ingelsby did with Mare of Easttown – just on a broader scale. The plot was a delivery device for his fascinatingly layered characters.

Introduction to Mare Sheehan Few would describe this series as a meditation on motherhood, but the clues are right there in the introduction to Mare in the opening pages of the pilot episode. Have a look at how Ingelsby describes who this woman is:

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(Continued)

INT. MARE’S HOUSE – MASTER BEDROOM – MORNING –– BUZZING OF MARE’S iPHONE. Mare’s dead asleep in her bed. She stirs now, throws her hand over to the night stand and answers the call without opening her eyes –– MARE This is Mare. EXT. CARROLL HOME – EASTTOWN – MORNING MARE SHEEHAN, 43, tall and lean with short brown hair and not a trace of make-up, stands outside the wreathadorned front door of a modest split-level home. She wears a quilted barn jacket over a flannel button-down, Levis and Asics Gels. Clipped onto her belt is a Gold Easttown Township Detective Badge and a holstered S&W M&P SHIELD 9MM. She’s a woman that still bears the imprint of her parents – devout, working-class Irish Catholics who taught her the value of hard work and the futility of complaining and that life is hard and all there is to do is grin and bear it. It’s an education that has served her well in her career, but left her hamstrung and unextraordinary as a mother. Growing impatient -- and cold -- she rings the doorbell over and over to no avail.

LET’S GET TO WORK

In this final chapter, I will leave you with some actionable plans to ensure your female characters are richly developed and firmly rooted in the complexities of girlhood and womanhood. We are fortunate for the changes in the film and television industries in the last decade. It’s no longer as simple as ensuring your script will pass the Bechdel-Wallace test. Readers today are looking for stories with women characters that make them feel something, that surprise them and ignite their imagination. They’re looking for stories about women who are recognizable and memorable, who stay with them long after they’ve put down the script. Let’s begin with some traps to steer clear of as you’re developing your female characters, and then we’ll move onto some suggestions to consider.

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PITFALLS TO AVOID

There’s been so much public discourse in the past few years about the representation of women in film and television. Hop onto Reddit and you’ll find endless conversations about what irks audiences when it comes to how women are depicted on screen. Educated viewers discuss clichéd or ridiculous representations involving women characters “running for their lives in high heels,” or the “frigid, stuck-up corporate woman taken down a peg by a rough and tumble guy with big heart” who she winds up falling in love with, the “nagging overbearing shrew of a wife,” or the prostitute who falls for her “john.”4 There are discussions of trophy wives, cool girls, damsels in distress, oversexualized girls, sassy Black best friends, and spicy Latina girls. There are particularly egregious lines of dialogue viewers point to, like, “Seeing all this money makes my pussy wet” (Spring Breakers, 2012). There’s no shortage of demeaning scenarios and misrepresentations of women on screen. Our audiences today are well versed in screen stories and the ways in which women and girls can be used to entice viewers, move story lines forward, provide depth for the male protagonist, or encourage laughter or repulsion in response to women’s bodies. Audiences can spot these sloppy or derisive representations in a heartbeat – and they’ll be quick to judge. So let’s examine a few especially problematic portrayals and consider ways to avoid them in our own stories. She Needs a Man’s Help (AKA “Damsels in Distress”)

Women and girls don’t need to be saved by men and boys. It’s not often anymore that we see the damsel in distress trope on screen, but if you’re someone who enjoys watching classic films, you’re likely accustomed to seeing a fragile woman who would be toast without her lover. Yes, men traditionally build more muscle mass than woman, but audiences today aren’t interested in watching the burly man rescue the frail woman. They’re much more excited by the woman who saves the man. Or the woman who outsmarts a roomful of men. Or the woman who saves another woman from humiliation. Or the woman whose arc involves saving herself. Blake Snyder famously coined the phrase “save the cat”5 to illustrate how we can permit our characters all sorts of illicit behaviors as they journey through their screen story as long as we offer a moment where they “save the cat” sometime early on in the film. This should not be mistaken for an opportunity to have your male protagonist “save” a woman. Yes, it’s polite behavior to hold the door open for those coming in after us, but when a male protagonist holds the door open in

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a coffee shop for a beautiful young woman he’s attracted to … what does that tell us about him? Only that he’s willing to behave in a socially acceptable way in the presence of a beautiful young woman. Nothing more. If he’s terribly rushed and has an important meeting to get to where his job is at stake, but he takes the time to hold the door open for an elderly man or a woman and her grocery cart filled with her belongings … good, we’re getting somewhere. If he’s just received terrible news and he’s in a rush, and he finds the inner strength to not only stand politely holding the door for someone but he also brings them to laughter or delights them with a compliment … even better. Or if he holds the door open and tries desperately to be polite but simply can’t help himself and winds up saying some rude … terrific! We’re actually learning something about this character. You get the point. Don’t use a beautiful woman to demonstrate how wonderful your male protagonist is. But more importantly, don’t position a woman as a weak (physically, emotionally, or intellectually) character that needs to be saved by a man. There are all kinds of ways to illustrate a man’s strength and kindness and willingness to self-sacrifice, and the least interesting of those ways involves protecting and saving random women. Now, if your lead character is a family man and his journey involves protecting his partner and children from a home invader or saving his daughter from a captor, that makes good sense. But wouldn’t it be an interesting character arc for this man to learn that his daughter didn’t need saving? That all his testosterone and worry were in vain because his daughter had it taken care of all along? Or wouldn’t it be even more interesting if we replace the family man with a family woman (a la Mare of Easttown)? We all know women who are physically, emotionally, and intellectually stronger than men. Let’s see these women on screen. Contemporary audiences are consistently drawn to these female characters. We have stunt women for a reason. We want to watch women performing dangerous, unthinkable, brave acts of heroism. We’re tired of the man holding out his hand to the woman dangling from the side of the cliff. Yes, we loved watching Keanu Reeves reach out his hand to save the woman in the elevator in Speed (1994). But she was a walk-on character at the beginning of the film. The real supporting character, Sandra Bullock’s Annie, was far from a damsel. She was distressed, certainly. But remember, she was behind the wheel. The passengers’ lives were in her hands. And though Jack (Reeves) may have been the brains behind the operation, Annie was the muscle. She was a true partner to Jack throughout the film. She took control. Her facility at the wheel (which made sense given

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she was riding the bus due to a suspended license as a result of multiple speeding tickets) is what enabled Jack to do his job. Annie’s role in the film was not merely a plot device. Sure, she was the love interest to the male lead, but the role propelled Sandra Bullock to stardom because it enabled her to demonstrate her acting chops. She was able to bring levity to a terrified group of strangers despite the fact that she was shouldering the responsibility of keeping them alive. She was terrified and brave and kind and funny and fierce. She didn’t need saving. She was the hero. She Wants Sex (AKA “Slutty Girls”)

It can be tempting to include a sex-crazed girl in a story. It’s titillating to see a young woman try to entice the male protagonist. Hey, it gives him a chance to demonstrate he’s not the kind of man who will cheat on his wife or girlfriend! It’s good solid conflict. But it’s been done 100,000 times before. Or maybe a million. How will you make this girl different from all the others we’ve already seen? Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig did it in Bridesmaids (2011) by introducing that character as a “tomboy” in her 30s, looking “a bit odd in her floral dress.” Melissa McCarthy arguably stole the film with her portrayal of Megan, beginning with her first flirtation with the tall gentleman smoking a pipe at the engagement party. “Oh man, what an asshole I am,” she says. “Where’s my manners? You must be Annie’s husband. I’m Megan.” She holds out her hand to shake his, and Annie (Kristen Wiig) quickly corrects her. “No, Megan, I’m not with him.” To which Megan replies, excited, “Alright, I’m glad he’s single ‘cause I’m gonna climb that like a tree.” We laugh because it’s new and different. Bridesmaids offers a unique female character interested in finding a man to have sex with. The film defies expectations of gender representation and sexuality by gifting audiences a character they’ve never seen before. She doesn’t unbutton her shirt and adjust her breasts to attract men. She “swings her leg up, blocking the door” to trap the man she desires. “Uh oh, what’s that? Somebody found a souvenir,” she says. “You feel that steam heat coming? That’s from my undercarriage.” If you are going to include a character who flirts and makes it clear she’s sexually open and adventurous, try to image someone we’ve never seen on screen.

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In real life, we’ve observed countless strange or beguiling ways women try to seduce men. These women aren’t all 110 pounds with Wonderbras and shiny red lips. They also aren’t all particularly talented in their attempts at seduction. Their sexual exploits are often funny or sad or frightening. Use your imagination to bring these women to life in your scripts. Use what you know and have witnessed about the wide range of women walking around in the world trying to find a sexual partner. Also, remember why Nora Ephron is respected for her portrayal of women in romantic comedies. Her characters may desire romance, but they have full lives and career ambitions. They are intelligent and witty. They want the “dream,” but they live in reality. Keep this in mind as you develop female characters that inhabit this role. And remember, too, Megan in Bridesmaids may want sex and romance, but one of the most delightful aspects of this character is our discovery that she’s a highly successful career woman, working for the government, owning six houses, an 18-wheeler, etcetera. Here are a few more important stereotypical or harmful representations: She’s the B Word (AKA “Mean Girls”)

Tina Fey made famous this representation, but the film has become a classic because of the thematic social commentary and the fact that the characters read as authentic. I can’t tell you how many of my female students cite Mean Girls (2004) as one of their favorite films, a depiction of teenage girls that allowed them to process their own experiences when they were coming of age. One of the problems that’s happened in the years since that film was released is that so many screenwriters have created derivative female characters that don’t have the same depth and complexity, situated in stories that lack the thematic heart that drove Mean Girls to blockbuster success. Again, we want our antagonists to create conflict for our protagonists, but these characters should be equally as rich and developed as our leads. If you have a mean-girl antagonist, be sure to position her role in the story so her cruelty is part of the protagonist’s journey. And don’t make her mean just because. People are mean for a reason. What’s the reason? How does that meanness manifest? And most importantly, don’t imitate what you’ve seen on screen with depictions of mean teenage girls. Look to real life for inspiration. She’s Not Very Bright (AKA “Clueless Girls”)

Similarly, Amy Heckerling’s film has become a cult classic because of her commentary on the traps of wealth and aspirations for social status – and

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especially on the way young women are treated in the media and how they’re raised to think they should present themselves to attract men. Cher (Alicia Silverstone) isn’t dumb. She’s behaving the way she thinks she’s supposed to. But how many clueless girl portrayals have we seen in films and television shows that aren’t commenting on the ridiculousness of this representation? Far too many. In real life, women and girls are equally as smart as men and boys, and our characters should reflect this reality. Make your female characters intelligent. Please. She’s a Man’s Fantasy (AKA “Cool Girls”)

Gillian Flynn turned this trope on its head when she called it out in her nowfamous “Cool Girl” monologue in Gone Girl (2014). The cool girl is fun, game, hot. She likes the same thing her boyfriend likes. She puts his needs first. She doesn’t get angry at him. She likes to have sex – better yet, she likes to give blowjobs. We’ve seen countless representations of this woman in film and television. It’s a male fantasy. It’s not real. This woman doesn’t actually exist. Or if she does, it’s only for a short time, and then she grows up. So if that’s the character arc – a young woman who plays the part of the cool girl but then recognizes that’s not at all who she really is – then fine. That’s a worthy exploration. But thematically, what you’re exploring with this story is what happens to women when they feel forced into playing a role for men. Just remember, your female character is a full and complete girl or woman. She has dreams and goals and fears. Her position in the story should not be as a man’s fantasy. This is especially important when you’re writing for young audiences. Children are negatively impacted when they see depictions of women and girls as sex objects. It’s critical for girls and boys to see female characters that reflect the real-life women and girls they know. Not the male fantasy. She’s White, Young, Cisgender, & Straight (AKA “Normal”)

You might remember screenwriter and novelist Emma Donoghue discussing in Chapter 5 her experience being “othered,” her understanding of what it feels like to be perceived as different, something other than the norm. The norm in Hollywood is white, cisgender, heterosexual, and young. Everyone else is an “other.” Let’s change this. We screenwriters have an opportunity to fill our stories with characters that reflect the vastness of the human experience. Your female lead doesn’t

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need to be under the age of 40, and she doesn’t need to be white, cisgender, or straight. The industry and viewers alike are desperate for fresh stories with new characters and perspectives. Producers are looking for material with the potential to reach wide audiences. We’re all eager to watch characters in film and television that represent our experiences and the experiences of the people we know and love. Let’s open the playing field. SUGGESTIONS TO CONSIDER

The Big Sick (2017), written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, was born from their real-life courtship. It’s a complicated interracial love story that’s both comedic and dramatic, interweaving conflicts tied to cultural expectations from Nanjiani’s family and Gordon’s (Zoe Kazan) illness. It’s a beautifully crafted story that audiences around the world responded to. Nanjiani isn’t the traditional male lead in a Hollywood film, and the script didn’t fall prey to the trappings of conventional love stories. It broke so many screenwriting “rules,” but Gordon and Nanjiani shaped a narrative around characters that are both unique and relatable. Let’s begin by looking at opportunities to diversify our female characters. Women & Girls of Color

When Sandra Oh saw The Joy Luck Club (1993), she felt seen for the first time. “The Joy Luck Club was the first time I saw myself and my mother on screen,” she said. “It impacted me so deeply emotionally, way beyond what the content of the film was.”6 If Amy Tan hadn’t shared her story, Sandra Oh wouldn’t have been able to watch this reflection of her experiences. Of course, it took a lot of people to get Tan’s book to the screen – and as discussed earlier, it was two decades before we saw another all-Asian cast in a feature film. But the moral of this story is: share your story. Again, not necessarily the factual details of your life – but the truth of your experience. Don’t limit yourself to what you think Hollywood is looking for. As so many have said before, studio and network executives don’t know what they’re looking for until they read it. So write your truth. Write what you know about the human condition in your community. Trust that those who live in your community will recognize it, and those who don’t will be eager to learn about it. Here’s something else to keep in mind: We want our stories to be relatable to wide audiences. So be sure to identify and home in on the theme of your story – what you want to say about the problems your female character is grappling with. That struggle should be universal. It’s the specificities that will be unique to your character, whether to do with religion, race, ethnicity, culture, sexuality, gender, or otherwise.

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Women & Girls of All Ages

For decades, Hollywood thought nobody would want to see a film about a girl going through puberty. Domee Shi’s animated feature Turning Red (2022) proved Hollywood wrong. Better yet, it’s a film about a Chinese Canadian 13-year-old girl. The experience of puberty is universal. Everyone understands it and can relate. It’s astonishing it’s taken Hollywood so long to embrace the idea that this might be a theme audiences would like to see explored in a screen story. Kelly Fremon Craig’s adaptation of Judy Blume’s classic novel, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (2023) also centers on a young girl grappling with her changing body, and in this case, the film explores the complexities of being raised without religion by a Christian mother and Jewish father. Both films are beautiful, intricate portraits of young girls, rooted in the challenges of their cultural upbringing, and dealing with the emotional turmoil of transitioning from girlhood to womanhood. Why haven’t we seen more of these stories? And what about women over age 60? How many mature women actors can you name who carry films and television series? In Hollywood, Susan Sarandon, Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Sally Field, Glenn Close, Jessica Lange, Annette Bening, Holly Hunter. Who else? Ellen Burstyn, Shirley MacLaine, and Jane Fonda are about a decade ahead of these women. From the United Kingdom, Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, and Emma Thompson immediately come to mind. We can’t rattle off a long list of names because they simply don’t exist. Not that the actors don’t exist – they do, of course. But where are the opportunities? And you probably noticed that the list above includes only white women. Women of color over the age of 60 are rarely featured in starring roles in films and series, which is one of the reasons Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) was so celebrated. Though Michelle Yeoh has been working consistently for decades, it’s probably safe to say most viewers didn’t know her name until recently. Write for women of all ages. And weave into your stories struggles that are genuine and representative of what girls and women contend with in real life. When it comes to young girls and mature women, there’s been such a gap in the market, there are nearly endless story ideas to play with. As discussed in Chapter 3, mature women in romantic stories are rarely examined in film and television. And women over 60 who seek sex specifically, how often have we seen that portrayal? Oscar-winning actor and screenwriter Emma Thompson appreciated the opportunity to play the lead character in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022), the story of a woman ready for sexual adventure who hires a young

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male sex worker. “I just thought [Brand’s script] was one of the most interesting things I’d read in years,” she said. “Here was this woman who, if she’s represented at all on screen, is next to the person who’s doing the big heroic thing, or the interesting thing, and suddenly there she is, central to the story. We haven’t seen these people be heroes before – I found it completely original.”7 At the age of 63, Thompson is nude in one scene in the film, which made headlines across the globe. Time Magazine’s review is titled, “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Is the Perfect Movie for Anyone Who Feels Invisible,” because as the reviewer states, “at a certain age – maybe 50, maybe 60 – you become invisible to most other people on the street, especially men.”8 Women of all ages want to be visible. Let’s allow them the opportunity. Women With Agency

We understand as screenwriters that we want active protagonists rather than passive protagonists. Our lead character shouldn’t be meandering through the story. She should have a goal and pursue that goal actively. With a female character, specifically, we want to think about her goal in connection to her ability to act on her will. This is what it means to have agency. So many films and television series position their female characters in such a way that they are not in control of what happens in their lives. The male characters have control, and the women go along for the ride. Our characters should be intelligent. They should be resourceful. They should be determined. They should be competitive. There will be obstacles in their way. But these women and girls are in the driver’s seat. Let’s get them out of the passenger seat and behind the wheel. Again, whether audiences consciously thought about the significance of Annie, Sandra Bullock, behind the wheel in Speed, her capacity to control that bus was half the thrill in watching the film. She had agency. Power. Women Who Behave Badly

Don’t shy away from portraits of women characters who engage in behaviors that are illegal, immoral, or socially unacceptable. We see men in these roles all the time, and it’s always refreshing to see complicated female characters who succumb to their worst temptations or commit crimes, whether premediated or impulsive. The key is to do the work to fill these characters’ lives so they read as rich, intricately layered women. These are never easy scripts to write, particularly since we know there’s an unconscious bias against women and girls who are anything other than well behaved, kind, and “likable.” But if you have a

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story you’re itching to tell about a woman who goes to extreme measures, it’s worth the effort to develop this character. Naomi Foner was nominated for an Oscar for her script Running on Empty (1988), which features a teenage male lead (River Phoenix) whose dilemma involves wanting to pursue his dreams, but doing so would mean he’d be forever separated from his parents (Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti) who are on the run from the law. It’s one of the most moving films I’ve ever seen, and a beautifully complex portrayal of a mother coming to terms with her past criminal behavior and, ultimately, doing what’s best for her child. Patty Jenkins’s Monster (2003) was groundbreaking in its sensitive and disturbing depiction of a female serial killer, for which Charlize Theron won the Oscar for Best Actress. Mary Harron’s I Shot Andy Warhol (1996) launched her career, and Marleen Gorris’s A Question of Silence (1982) launched her career as well. As noted, women actors are looking for opportunities to embody roles that are intriguing and messy and different from the usual parts they are offered. What you’re aiming to do with a character like this is find a compelling reason for her to behave the way she does. Think of the opening of John Wick (2014). Screenwriter Derek Kolstad trusted that by killing John’s puppy, we would be willing to go along with his journey of destruction. And to date, it’s carried us through four films. So far, we’ve looked at big-picture facets of character development for our female characters, but I’d like to quickly discuss a few things to keep in mind about the way our words appear on the pages of our screenplays. Women’s Character Introductions

You’d be surprised how many screenplays introduce female characters in ways that are off-putting or downright appalling. You’ve taken all this time to craft the perfect screenplay, and the last thing you want is to lose your reader on page 1. I invite you to review a sample of critically acclaimed screenplays and pilot scripts with female leads and study how the writers introduce the characters. I can assure you, they don’t describe them as “sexy,” “voluptuous,” and so forth. Much like the example with Mare of Easttown, writers of brilliantly crafted scripts find ways to reveal who the women are. There may be descriptions of what these women look like, but if it’s a male fantasy, this will not attract actors of Kate Winslet’s caliber. Just remember, no woman actor wants to read a description that tells men how they should visualize her character. And they definitely won’t respond to characters that appear to be in the script to tantalize the reader. More importantly, we all know there are gatekeepers who will read our scripts before they ever make it the inboxes of our most beloved women

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actors. The first of those will be the script readers. These readers are young and smart and sensitive and educated, and they won’t be impressed by this type of character introduction. Women’s Voices

Every female character you create should have her own unique voice, which should be a result of where she grew up, where she lives now, her world view, her education, and so on. Listen to the women in your life. Notice how they share their thoughts and ideas. What is the specific rhythm of their language? How is it similar to and different from the way other women speak? Take notes, jot down snippets of dialogue. Screenwriters do this all the time. But how often do we pay attention to women’s voices? Or do we just trust that we already know how women sound? Or do we intentionally try to emulate the voices we hear in film and television? This isn’t only about dialogue and the words female characters say. In creating complicated female characters, we can give voice to women and girls who otherwise wouldn’t have a chance to share their perspective. So give your character something significant to say. What is her worldview? Why is that how she views the world? Particularly in thinking about the supporting characters that inhabit your story – they shouldn’t only be talking about trivial things. Let them speak about something of relevance. Let their words influence the direction of the story. Otherwise, why are they included in the script? I’ve mentioned the Bechdel-Wallace test several times. Traditionally, women characters in film and television exist solely to support the male lead’s journey. Either they don’t speak, they speak only to men, or if they speak to women they’re talking about the men. The Bechdel-Wallace test is a quick check to ensure female characters speak to each other about something other than the men in the story. When Alison Bechdel first came up with the idea for a comic in the 1980s, it was during the AIDS crisis, and she wanted herself and her queer friends to be seen. As she told NPR in 2023, “I was like, oh, if we can make ourselves visible to the world, which doesn’t seem to recognize us or see us, then how can they not help but like us? How can they not want to, like, give us civil rights? That was the thinking, you know? We just have to make ourselves visible.”9 This is by no means a failsafe test, and as Bechdel points out, there are terrific films that fail the test. (She was referring specifically to Fire Island, 2022, a story about a group of gay men with only one major female character in the film.) But if you’re going to include women in your script, it will serve you well to keep the Bechdel-Wallace test in mind.

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Let your female characters speak to other female characters about something that matters. In doing so, you will make women and girls visible. FINAL THOUGHTS

As I write these final thoughts, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (2023) has just reached $1 billion at the international box office. This is a revolutionary moment for women’s representation in film and television. Women and men around the globe are coming out in droves to delight in women’s screen stories and share in the collective experience of supporting films that lift up women’s voices. Now it’s your turn to develop and shape the female characters you would like to see on screen. There is no formula for creating complex female characters. For that matter, there’s no such thing as a step-by-step approach to crafting compelling stories with complicated characters of any gender. But we can begin to intentionally reflect on how we think about gender representation in film and television. We can think about the people we love and consider how the screen stories they see will impact their lives, today and in the years to come. We all want our loved ones to feel confident and empowered and inspired. We’ve recommended films and television shows to our family and friends not only because we think they’ll enjoy them, but also because we think the stories will in some way be helpful to them. Our stories can help. They can make viewers laugh when they feel down. They can help them process their feelings and experiences, escape into a fantasy, or visualize possibilities for their future. The benefits of screen storytelling are limitless. And if we populate our stories with characters that represent all of humanity, in all its complexity … who knows? Maybe someday this conversation will be outdated and unnecessary. Let’s hope! Notes 1 Selome Hailu, “Kate Winslet Lost Sleep Over the ‘Mare of Easttown’ Script,” Variety, https://variety.com/video/kate-winslet-mare-of-easttown-tv-fest-limited/. 2 Jazz Tangcay, “’Mare of Easttown’ Star Kate Winslet on Emmy Win: ‘You Made Us All Feel Validated,’” Yahoo!, https://www.yahoo.com/now/mare-easttownstar-kate-winslet-023749468.html. 3 Denise Petski, “‘Mare Of Easttown’ Finale Hits Series Highs, Most-Watched Episode Ever On HBO Max,” Deadline.com, https://deadline.com/2021/06/mareof-easttown-finale-series-highs-most-watched-episode-hbo-max-1234767451/. 4 Rokas Laurinavičius and Mantas Kačerauskas, “‘Written By A Man’: Women Are Calling Out 30 Unrealistic Female Character Tropes They See In Books And Movies,” boredpanda.com, https://www.boredpanda.com/female-characterswritten-with-no-women-involved/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic& utm_campaign=organic. 5 Blake Snyder, Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need (Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese, 2005).

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6 See Sandra Oh interview in This Changes Everything (2018). 7 Valentina Valentini, “Emma Thompson doesn’t want to be called “brave” for ‘Good Luck To You, Leo Grande,’” December 19, 2022, https://www.screendaily. com/features/emma-thompson-doesnt-want-to-be-called-brave-for-good-luck-toyou-leo-grande-nudity/5177588.article. 8 Stephanie Zacharek, “Good Luck To You, Leo Grande Is the Perfect Movie for Anyone Who Feels Invisible,” Time, June 17, 2022, https://time.com/6188914/ good-luck-to-you-leo-grande-review/. 9 Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouie, “What is the Bechdel test? A shorthand for measuring representation in movies,” National Public Radio, April 5, 2023, https:// www.npr.org/2023/04/05/1168116147/what-is-the-bechdel-test-a-shorthand-formeasuring-representation-in-movies.

Screenplays and Episodes Cited Bridesmaids, written by Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig; So Happy for You! Productions, LLC, Universal City Studios, Inc. Mare of Easttown, written by Brad Ingelsby; Home Box Office, Inc. Shall We Dance, written by Audrey Wells (adapted from a screenplay by Masayuki Suô); Miramax Films.

INDEX

Note: Page numbers in italics refer to figures. 9 to 5 (1980) 75 21 (2008) 29 21 Grams (2003) 123 Abbott, Scott 150 About Time (2013) 28 Abrahamson, Lenny 110 Academy Awards, women screenwriters see Oscar Awards, women screenwriters Ackie, Naomie 66 Across the Universe (2007) 152, 159 action 2, 8, 14, 20–22, 41, 51, 61, 81, 119, 128, 132, 134, 147, 165 active women characters 15, 147, 164, 175 actors, learning from 4, 14, 15, 162–163, 176 Act, The (2019) 5 Ade, Maren 71, 95 Adlon, Pamela 104 Adore (2013) 11, 118 Affleck, Ben 60 AFI see American Film Institute (AFI) age, of women characters 3–4, 9, 65–66, 174 agency, for women characters 15, 175 Ahmed, Ifrah 159 Ali (2001) 143 Alias Grace (2017) 11

Alice (1976–1985) 74 Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) 3, 74 All About Me (2018) 45 All About My Mother (1999) 10 Allen, Woody 122 Al-Mansour, Haifaa 48, 95, 160 Almodóvar, Pedro 10 Aloft (2014) 117 Amelia (2009) 158 American Film Institute (AFI) 147; Directing Workshop for Women (1974–1975) 3, 19 American Psycho (2000) 11 Amini, Hossein 67 Amirpour, Ana Lily 140 Anderson, Jane 10–11 Andini, Kamila 48 Andor (2022) 67 Angel at My Table (1990) 158 Angelou, Maya 19 Aniston, Jennifer 78, 87, 92, 97, 103 Annaluise & Anton (1999) 45 antagonist 37, 75, 123, 126, 128, 132, 170 Anthony, Susan B. 143 Antonia’s Line (1995) 44, 117 Apatow, Judd 10, 130 Apted, Michael 149 Araujo, Gwen 158

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Archer, Anne 132 Arendt, Hannah 158 Aretha: Respect (2021) 145 Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (2023) 174 Arlen, Alice 74 Armstrong, Gillian 50–51, 71, 74, 95 Armstrong, Ken 150 Arnold, Andrea 48 artistry, in development of women characters 165 Arzner, Dorothy 148 Asante, Amma 48, 117, 158 Assistant, The (2019) 95 Atlantics (2019) 71 audience, writing for 31, 37, 47, 54, 62, 78, 109–110, 130–131, 134, 158, 168–178 audience expectations, defying 100–102 Augustine (2012) 139 “authentic” characters, development of 84–87 authenticity: in screenwriting 31; in storytelling 157, 158 Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, The (1974) 85 Avedon, Barbara 73 Avilés, Lila 95 Away From Her (2006) 52, 117 Azuelos, Lisa 158 Babadook, The (2014) 117 Baby Boom (1987) 75 backstory 109, 136, 166 Bacon, Sosie 164 Bamford, Maria 129, 134 Bancroft, Anne 122–123, 148 Barbie (2023) 176 Barker, Ellen Frye: Art of Photoplay Writing, The 50 Basholli, Blerta 159 Basquiet (1996) 143 Bassett, Angela 143 Bat-Adam, Michael 117 Bates Motel (2013–2017) 44, 87 Baum, Vicki: It Was All Quite Different 149; Menschen im Hotel 149; Stud. chem. Helene Willfüer 149 beats, story 29, 36, 40, 53, 59–61, 63, 74, 101, 124, 130, 164 Bechdel, Alison 175–176 Bechdel-Wallace test 7, 175, 176 Belle (2013) 158

Belle, Dido Elizabeth 158 Bemberg, Maria Luisa 71 Bendinger, Jessica 27 Benning, Annette 172 Benton, Robert 123 Berliner, Alain 10 Berry, Halle 149 Better Things (2016–2022) 104 Beyond Silence (1996) 31, 44, 45 Beyond the Lights (2014) 66 Bier, Susanne 117, 138 Big House, The (1929) 17 Big Little Lies (2017) 5 Big Sick, The (2017) 171 Billions (2016) 67 biographies and nonfiction books, as inspiration 150 Birch, Alice 109 Bird Box (2018) 117 Blanchett, Cate 51 Bleak House (2005) 67 Blue Caftan, The (2022) 152 Boardwalk Empire (2010) 67 bodies, and women characters 28, 168, 174 Bolkovac, Kathryn 158 Bollaín, I. Cíar 139 Bones and All (2022) 66 Bookshop, The (2017) 95 Booksmart (2019) 27 Boston Public (2000) 87 “Both Sides Now” 33 Boys Don’t Cry (1999) 10 Brady, Pam 129 Breadwinner, The (2017) 48 Breakfast on Pluto (2005) 10 Break-Up, The (2006) 52, 78 Breillat, Catherine 48 Brick Lane (2007) 150 Bridesmaids (2011) 10, 129–131, 168–169 Bridges, Ruby 158 Bright Star (2009) 71 Bring It On (2000) 27 Broadcast News (1987) 10 Brooks, James L. 10, 11, 73, 84, 101 Brühlmann, Lisa 138 Bullock, Sandra 168 Burnham, Bo 26 Burns, Allan 10, 11, 73, 84 Burns, Lucy 158 Burstyn, Ellen 3–4, 14, 19, 20, 74, 172 Buscemi, Steve 138

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Cagney and Lacey (1981–1988) 73 call to action 20–22 Camila (1984) 71 Campion, Jane 69–70, 71, 138, 139, 158 Cannes Film Festival (2017) 14 Cannon, Kay 27 Capernaum (2018) 152 Capote (2005) 143 Caramel (2007) 71 career, a woman character’s 8, 12, 52, 62–64, 73–95 Carell, Steve 90 Caro, Niki 48, 95, 158 Carol (2015) 17 Carolina, Ana 139 Cassavetes, John 122 catalyst, or inciting incident 54, 59–62, 74 Chabon, Michael 149 Chagall, Marc 28 Chair, The (2021) 79–81, 84–85 Chambermaid, The (2018) 95 Chandler, Elizabeth 27 Chanel, Gabrielle 158 character arc 99, 129, 136, 168, 170 character development 80, 122, 133, 174 character’s internal weakness, selfexploration of 63–64 character’s need 88, 89 Charlotte Grey (2001) 51 Chastain, Jessica 14–15, 20, 67 Cholodenko, Lisa 17 Christensen, Erika 44 Chukwu, Chinonye 159 Chytilová, Vera 48 Clara Sola (2021) 140 classroom environment, creation of 6–7 clichés, to avoid 78, 116, 168–173 Close, Glenn 132, 133 Clueless (1995) 27 Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) 149 Coco Before Channel (2009) 11, 158 CODA (2021) 30–38, 45, 54 Cody, Diablo 8, 64 Coixet, Isabel 94, 95, 117 collaboration, screenwriters and women actors 4, 85, 92 Collateral Beauty (2016) 29 Collette, Toni 21 comedy 10, 26, 41, 52, 64–66, 75, 79–81, 104, 105, 107, 121, 128–131, 135, 163, 169, 171 Comencini, Cristina 71

compassion, for women characters 13–14, 135 complexity, of character 2, 4, 7–8, 12, 14, 20–22, 30, 37, 47, 78, 82, 86, 106–107, 116, 126–135, 149, 163, 166–178 complications 8, 51, 81, 103, 104 Comstock, Anthony 144 conflict 13, 26, 27–30, 33, 39, 41–44, 50, 52–55, 59, 62, 64, 76–77, 79–82, 86, 90, 99, 103, 105, 107, 108, 121, 134, 155, 168, 170–171 Coolidge, Martha 149 Cooper, Bradley 53–54 Coppola, Francis, Ford 122 Corday, Barbara 73 Corliss, Richard: Mom in the Movies 97 Corpo Celeste (2011) 48 Corsage (2023) 152, 159 Corsini, Catherine 71 Cotillard, Marion 21 Crawford, Joan 148 Crazy Rich Asians (2018) 66 Creating Unforgettable Characters 13 critics, film and television 3, 7, 9, 38, 60, 64, 133–134 Crothers, Tim: Queen of Katwe: One Girl’s Triumphant Path to Becoming a Chess Champion, The 146 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) 17 Crying Game, The (1992) 10 CSI effect 131 Cuaron, Alfonso 152 Cure, The (1995) 26 Curie, Marie 143, 159 Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The (2008) 28–29 Currie, Cherie 158 Curtis, Richard 28, 50 Daisies (1966) 48 Daisy Jones & the Six (2023) 5 Dalida (2016) 158 Damon, Matt 60 Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) 148 Dangerous Method, A (2011) 121 Daniels, Jeff 101 Dargis, Manhola 109 Dash, Julie 143 David and Lisa (1962) 120–121

Index 183

Davis, Bette 89 Davis, Frank 148 Davis, Geena 1–2, 60, 124, 126; Institute on Gender in Media 1, 7 Davis, Judy 78 Davis, Viola 20, 21, 79, 82, 86 Dearden, James 132, 133 Dearest Sister (2016) 48 Dempsey, Patrick 62 Dench, Judi 156 De Niro, Robert 122 Denis, Claire 95 de Passe, Suzanne 17 description, of women characters 77, 122, 166–167, 176–177 desire, a character’s 8, 20, 25, 40, 45–46, 53, 61–65, 81, 103, 106, 170–171 details, revealing of 100, 104, 166 Deuce, The (2017) 67 Devi, Shakuntala 159 DGA see Directors Guild of America (DGA) dialogue 58, 59, 102, 167, 175 Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) 3, 120, 122, 133 Diop, Mati 71 Directing Workshop for Women (1974–1975) (AFI) 3 Directors Guild of America (DGA): DGA Women’s Committee 19 Dirty Dancing (1987) 52 Disco Pigs (2001) 139 Disney 145 diversity 10, 17, 19, 69 Djansi, Leila 48 Do, Mattie 48 Donoghue, Emma 17, 109–117; on crafting female characters 109–110, 115; on decisions during writing 110; on eating disorders 114–115; on motherhood 111–112; on novel adaptation 111; on otherness 116; on parenting 112; on screenwriting 113–114; on stereotypes 115; on writing of lived experiences 113 Douglas, Michael 75, 133 Drake, William 149 drama 26, 41, 43, 45, 52, 61, 62, 64–69, 79–81, 102, 104–109, 119,

121–128, 135, 136, 143, 154, 164, 165, 171 Dressmaker, The (2015) 95 Dropout, The (2022) 5 Ducournau, Julia 26, 139 Duke, Patty 148 Dunham, Lena 8, 10 Dunye, Cheryl 163 Duplass, Jay 80 DuVernay, Ava 66 early women screenwriters 16, 149 Earhart, Amelia 158 editorial leadership 146 Education, An (2009) 71 EEOC see Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Ehrin, Kerry 44, 87–94, 97; on career 87–88, 91, 93; on pitching 93; on planning of characters 92–93; on social issue 89; on “strong” female character 88; on work–life balance 92; on writers’ rooms 88 Eighth Grade (2018) 26 Elkabetz, Ronit 117 Elkabetz, Shlomi 117 English, Diane 73 Enos, Mireille 108 Enyedi, Ildikó 139 Ephron, Delia 27 Ephron, Nora 1, 21, 64, 65, 74, 147, 169 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) 19 Ergüven, Deniz Gamze 26, 48, 117 Erikson, Erik 76 Erin Brockovich (2000) 149 Everyone Else (2009) 71 Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) 172 Exit Marrakech (2013) 45 exposition, weaving in 165 Falk, Peter 122 Faludi, Susan: Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women 99 Farmer, Frances 123 Farmiga, Vera 87 Fatal Attraction (1987) 131–133 Fat Girl (2001) 48

184

Index

female characters, new era for 4–6, 6 female love interest, crafting 53–59 female protagonists falling in love 64–67; age of 65–66; race of 66–67 female screenwriters 4, 8, 10, 15–17, 73–75, 149, 164–165, 176 Fetters, Will 53 Feud (2017) 5 Fey, Tina 27, 169 Fiala, Severin 117 Field, Sally 74 Fiennes, Ralph 67 Film International 12 film and television critics see critics, film and television Finding Me (2022) 82 Fingscheidt, Nora 48, 140 Fire (1996) 71 Fish Called Wanda, A (1988) 130 Fisher, N. Carrie 10, 102 Fish Tank (2009) 48 Five Star Life, A (2013) 95 Flame (1996) 117 flawed women characters, developing 5, 6, 11, 63, 113, 132, 163–165 Flash of Genius (2008) 143 Fleabag (2016) 89 Flynn, Gillian 8, 170 Fogel, Susanna 27 Fonda, Jane 74, 172 Fontaine, Anne 11, 117, 158 Forbrydelsen (2007–2012) 108 Ford, Harrison 75 Forrest Gump (1994) 28 Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) 28 Frame, Janet 158 Frances (1982) 123 Frank, Harriet, Jr. 74 Frank, Scott 4 Franz, Veronika 117 Frida (2002) 151, 153, 156, 157 Friday Night Lights (2011) 87 friendship, in adolescent female characters 26 Galbraith, Stacy 149 Garbo, Greta 148 Gavron, Sarah 48, 95, 150 Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media 1, 7, 19

gender: diversity 10; representation 10–13, 47; as socially constructed category 12; studies 12 Generation Kill (2008) 67 genre 21, 26, 27, 44, 51–53, 60, 66, 67, 69, 79, 107, 108, 121, 129–131, 133, 154, 161 Gere, Richard 163 Gerwig, Greta 26, 176 Giese, Maria 19 Gibson, William 148 Gigliotti, Iolanda Cristina 158 Ginger & Rosa (2012) 48 Ginsberg, Alice 12 Ginsburg, Ruth Bader 143, 147 Girl, Interrupted (1999) 121 Girl from Mogadishu, A (2019) 159 Girlhood (2014) 48 Girl Like Me, A (2006) 10, 158 girls, representation of 25–48, 171–172, 174 Girls (2012–17) 10 Glatter, Lesli Linka 27 Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) 2145 Glorias, The (2020) 146, 151–156 GMMP see Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft 158 Goldbacher, Sandra 94 Goldenthal, Elliot 151, 152 Gone Girl (2014) 170 Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022) 173 Goodnight Mommy (2014) 117 Good Wife, The (2009–2016): nurturing women 105–106 Good Will Hunting (1997): romance as a catalyst 60 Goonies, The (1985) 26 Gordon, Emily V. 171 Gorris, Marleen 44, 117, 139, 174 Governess, The (1998) 94 Graham, Katharine: Personal History 148 Grand Hotel (1932) 148 Granik, Debra 26 Grant, Susanna 149 Green, Kitty 95 Grey’s Anatomy (2005–): romance as a catalyst 62–63 see also Shonda Rhimes

Index 185

Griffith, Melanie 75 Grochowska, Agnieszka 134 Ground Beneath My Feet, The (2019) 140 Gun Love 154 Gyllenhaal, Maggie 67 Hacks (2021–) 78 Half of It, The (2020) 52, 67 Halpern, Emily 27 Hamm, Jon 131 Handmaid’s Tale, The (2017) 5 Hanks, Tom 148 Hannah, Liz 148 Hannah Arendt (2012) 158 Hansen-Løve, Mia 71, 117 Hardwicke, Catherine 27 Harper, Valerie 73 Harriet (2019) 143 Harron, Mary 10, 11, 139, 174 Hartley, Hal 138 Haskins, Sarah 27 Hausner, Jessica 48 Hayek, Salma 151, 153 Hays Code 144 Headless Woman, The (2008) 139 Heartburn (1986) 52, 65 Heckerling, Amy 27, 170 Heder, Siân 30, 31 Hello Sunshine, and Reese Witherspoon 2 Hendershot, W. Edna 149 Henning-Jensen, Astrid 117 heroic women 146 Hidden Figures (2016) 144, 148 High Art (1998) 52 Highmore, Freddie 87 Hirsch, Judd 127, 174 history, women from 144–146 Hive (2021) 159 Hoffman, Dustin 122 Holes (2003) 26 Holland, Agnieszka 10, 158 Hollywood Reporter, The 14, 103 Hook (1991) 102 Hopkins, Anthony 151 horror, women in 26, 29, 122 Hoti, Fahrije 159 Hounsou, Djimon 151 Hours, The (2002) 121 How to Get Away With Murder (2014–2020) 79, 81–85

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) 52 Huang, Shuqin 94 humor, writing of 21, 102, 130–132, 136–137 Hunter, Holly 172 Hurwitz, Mitchell 129 Husbands and Wives (1992) 52 Hutton, Timothy 126 I Am Not a Witch (2017) 48 I Shot Andy Warhol (1996) 11, 174 identity crisis 76 I’m Your Man (2021) 71 Ingelsby, Brad 162, 164, 165 Inside Higher Ed 12 Insider, The (1999) 28 inspiration, in screenwriting 149–150 internal monologue, a character’s 136 internal weakness, a character’s 63–64 international films directed by women 48, 71, 95, 118, 141, 159–160 International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) 2145; “Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media” 146 Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999) 149 Iron Jawed Angels (2004) 158 Iron Lady, The (2011) 158 I Shot Andy Warhol (1996) 10, 139 “It’s a Man (Celluloid) World” report 20 see also Martha Lauzen IWMF see International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) Jacir, Annemarie 71, 117 Jackson, Mary 144 Jane Eyre (2006) 67 Jankel, Annabel 71 Jenkin, Patty 174 Jett, Joan 158 Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer 17 jobs, for women characters 73–96 see also working women Johnson, Katherine 144 John Wick (2014) 174 Jones, Felicity 151 Jordan, Neil 10 journalism 146 Joy Luck Club, The (1993) 66, 171–172 Julie & Julia (2009) 147 Just Go With It (2011) 29

186

Index

Kael, Pauline 132–133 Kahiu, Wanuri 71, 117 Kahlo, Frida 143 Kantor, Jodi 149, 159 Katims, Jason 30, 41, 43, 87 Kazan, Zoe 171 Keaton, Diane 65, 75 Keining, Alexandra-Therese 71 Keitel, Harvey 122 Keller, Helen: Story of My Life, The 148 Kelly, David 87 Kent, Jennifer 117, 140 Khouri, Callie 60, 145 Kids Are All Right, The (2010) 17 Killing Eve (2018) 138 Killing, The (2011–2014): nurturing women 108–109 Kim, So Yong 48 King, I. Marlene 27 King Lear (2018) 156 Kings (2017) 117 Kings of Summer, The (2013) 26 Kiss Me (2011) 71 Knight, Arthur 3 Kolstad, Derek 174 Kondracki, Larysa 158 Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) 123–126, 133 Kreutzer, Marie 140, 152, 159 Krieps, Vicky 152 Krisha (2015) 121 Kwapis, Ken 27 Labaki, Nadine 71, 139, 152 Ladd, Diane 121 Lady Bird (2017) 26 Lady Dynamite (2016–2017) 129 Lady Gaga 54 Lady Sings the Blues (1972) 17 La Famille Bélier (2014) 30 Lahti, Christine 174 Land (2021) 121 Land, Stephanie 79 Lane, Christina: Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock 148–149 Lange, Jessica 11, 123, 151, 172 Lansing, Sherry 132 Larson, Brie 109 Late Bloomers (2006) 134 Lauzen, Martha 5–6, 15, 18 see also SDSU’s Center for the

Study of Women in Television and Film lead character, or protagonist 37, 65, 78, 79, 102, 107, 108, 127, 128, 168, 173 learning objectives (LOs) 142 Le Bleu du Caftan (2022) 152 le Carré, John 67, 68 Lelio, Sebastián 109 Lemmons, Kasi 143 Lenkiewicz, Rebecca 149 Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) 17 Lewis, Damian 67 LGBTQ+ representation: in screenwriting 17, 38, 117; in characters 5, 38–41, 66, 111, 114, 117, 164–165 Light, Judith 105 likable female characters, creation of 37–38 Like Cotton Twines (2016) 48 Lincoln (2012) 143 Lindon, Suzanne 71 Ling, Wang Hui 17 Link, Caroline 31, 44–48; on challenges of women female directors 46–47; on childhood influence on storytelling 45; on gender representation 47; on nurturing 47; on process of directing 47; on stories about families 45; on storytelling from the point of view of children or young people 46; on writing and directing 46 Lionheart (2018) 95 Lion King, The (2019) 150–151, 154, 157 Lipstick Under My Burkha (2016) 95 Lithgow, John 101 Little Fires Everywhere (2020) 5 Little Women (1994) 51, 71 Liu, Rene 71 Llosa, Claudia 117 Lloyd, Phyllida 158 Loeb, Allan 29 loneliness, as a theme 50 Look Both Ways (2022) 117 López, Issa 48 Lopez, Jennifer 66, 163 Lord of the Flies (1990) 26 LOs see learning objectives (LOs) Lost Boys, The (1987) 26

Index 187

love 25–27, 50–71; falling out of 52; female love interest, crafting 53–59; female protagonists falling in love 64–67; identification of 51–53; interest 4, 51, 53–59, 67, 130, 168; purpose of 51–53; romantic 51 Love Actually (2003) 28 Love & Basketball (2000) 66 Lovely Rita (2001) 48 Lowe, Alice 139 Lynch, David 121 Lyne, Adrian 132 Lynn, Loretta 149 MacLaine, Shirley 3, 20, 97, 101, 172 “mad” women 119–140 Maid (2021) 79 Man in the Moon, The (1991) 52 Mare of Easttown (2021) 161, 162, 165–166, 168, 175 Marion, Frances 17 Marriage Story (2019) 52 Marry Me (2022) 66 Martel, Lucrecia 139 Mary Shelley (2017) 158 Mary Tyler Moore Show, The (1970–1977) 10, 73–74, 84 Masters of Sex (2013) 67 mature women characters 3–4, 65–66, 174–175 Ma Vie en Rose (1997) 10 May, Elaine 10 McCarthy, Melissa 169 McGinnis, Ruth 144–145 McGregor, Ewan 67–69 McGuckian, Mary 159 Mean Girls (2004) 27, 169–170 media responses, to women screenwriters 8; to screen stories 9 Meghie, Stella 71 Mehta, Deepa 71 memoirs, as inspiration 149–150 memorable characters, creating 7, 9, 13, 166–178 men, in support of women 10, 73, 85, 123, 129, 162–167 Menon, Anu 159 mental health 119–140; in comedies 128–131; in dramas 121–128; laughing 128–129, 135;

screenwriter’s responsibility in 131–134; sensitivity in screenwriting 120–121 Mesén, Nathalie Álvarez 140 Metcalf, Laurie 78 Metzler, Molly Smith 79 Meyers, Nancy 65, 75 Middle of Nowhere (2012) 66 Midler, Bette 151 Mid90s (2018) 26 midpoint, in screen stories 36, 55, 59, 61 Miller, T. Christian: “Unbelievable Story of Rape, An” 149 Mills, Earl: Dorothy Dandridge 149 Miracle (2004) 143 Miracle Worker, The (1962) 148 Mirren, Helen 21, 151, 156–157 Mississippi Masala (1991) 71 Mitchell, Joni 33 Molina, Alfred 151 Monáe, Janelle 151 Monaghan, Michelle 79 Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon (2021) 140 Money Ball (2011) 143 Monster (2003) 174 Moonlighting (1982) 87 Moore, Jason 27, 151 Moore, Mary Tyler 126, 127 Moorehouse, Jocelyn 95 Morgan, Abi 150 Morning Show, The (2019–present) 5, 44; nurturing women 103–104; working women 87, 89–92, 97 Morvern Callar (2002) 139 Mostly Martha (2001) 94 mothers on screen, depictions of 97–118 Ms. Magazine 146 Mudbound (2018) 17, 38 Mulligan, Carey 150 Mumolo, Annie 10, 130, 168–169 Munich (2005) 28 Murphy Brown (1988–1998) 73 Mustang (2015) 26, 48 Mutesi, Phiona 145, 158, 245 Muylaert, Anna 95 mystery: in character 12, 110; as genre 26, 51, 80, 109, 165–166 My Brilliant Career (1979) 74, 94 My Life Without Me (2003) 117 My Wonderful Wanda (2020) 134–136, 140

188

Index

Nagenda, Tendo 21, 45 Nagy, Phyllis 17 Nair, Mira 71, 145, 158 Nanjian, Kumail 171 Nanny McPhee Returns (2010) 67, 69 National Women’s History Museum: “Where Are the Women?” 143 Netflix 5, 7; Queen’s Gambit, The (2020) 4 Nettelbeck, Sandra 94 news stories, as inspiration 146–147 Nichols, Mike 74, 75 Nicholson, Jack 65, 164 Nightingale, The (2018) 140 Nixon (1995) 143 Nnaji, Genevieve 95 Nomadland (2020) 17, 159 Normal (2003) 11 North Country (2005) 95 Noth, Chris 106 Notting Hill (1999) 28 Nowalk, Peter 81, 86 Now and Then (1995) 27 Nowhere Boy (2009) 117 Nowhere in Africa (2001) 44 nurturing women 97–117; audience expectations, defying 100–102; leaning on real life, as inspiration 102–107; vast obligation as caretakers 107–109; wives and mothers 98–100 Nyoni, Rungano 48 Obaid-Chinoy, Sharmeen 11 Oberli, Bettina 134–140; on balancing drama and comedy 135; on career 137; on film community 136–137; on laughing 135; on mentoring 138; on mentors 138; on new scripts 139; on time in New York 138; on work–life balance 137–138 obstacles, for screen characters 9, 53, 81, 146, 173 Oh, Sandra 20, 79, 86, 171 Olde, Erika 70 On Body and Soul (2017) 139 One Fine Morning (2022) 71 One Thousand and One (2023) 103 Only Living Boy in New York, The (2017) 29

On the Basis of Sex (2018) 147 Opening Night (1977) 122 Or (My Treasure) (2004) 94 Orchestra Seats (2006) 95 Ordinary People (1980) 126–128, 133 “Original Six,” DGA 19 Oscar Awards, women screenwriters 16–17 othering, of LGBTQ+ characters 116 Our Kind of Traitor (2016) 67, 68 Outsiders, The (1983) 26 Owen, Alison 150 Pacino, Al 122 Pakistan’s Open Secret (2011) 11 Palcy, Euzhan 158 Parade’s End (2013) 67 Parent, Gail 19 Parenthood (2010–2015) 30, 41–44, 87, 88 Pariah (2011) 38–41, 66, 163 Parks, Rosa 143 Parks, Suzan-Lori 145 Paronnaud, Vincent 48 Party, The (2017) 95 passion, as inspiration for screenwriting 147 passive women characters 15, 175 Patton (1970) 143 Paul, Alice 158 Peet, Amanda 80, 84–85 Peirce, Kimberly 10 Penn, Arthur 148 Perfect Candidate, The (2019) 95 Perry, Eleanor 3, 5, 120, 122, 134 Perry, Frank 122 Persepolis (2007) 48 Phoenix, River 174 Photograph, The (2020) 71 Pianist, The (2002) 143 Piano, The (1993) 69, 70 Pieces of a Woman (2020) 121 pilot scripts 5, 29, 41, 51, 60–63, 80–81, 85, 92, 107, 163–167 Pintilie, Adina 140 Pitch Perfect (2012) 27 Pitt, Brad 60 plot device 51, 55, 127, 129, 168 Polley, Sarah 71, 117 Pollock (2000) 143 Portman, Natalie 14, 20 Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) 71

Index 189

Post, The (2017) 148 Postcards from the Edge (1990) 10, 102; mother–daughter relationship 97–98 Potter, Monica 44 Potter, Sally 48, 95 Pre-Code Hollywood 8, 19 see also silent film era Prefontaine (1997) 143 Pretty Woman (1990) 52 Prevenge (2016) 139 Prince-Bythewood, Gina 66, 152 private life, a character’s 32–33, 64, 100, 106–107, 132 protagonist, goal or “want” 8, 20, 26, 29, 31, 36, 52–53, 65, 108–109, 147–148, 172, 175 Proxima (2019) 95 psychology, screenwriting and 76, 107, 135, 139 puberty, depictions of 30, 174 public life, a character’s 31, 35, 64, 107, 129, 132 Puenzo, Lucía 48 Pugh, Florence 109 Pumpkin Eater, The (1964) 122 Queen of Katwe (2016) 145, 158 Queen of Scots (2018) 159 Queen’s Gambit, The (2020) 4 Question of Silence, A (1982) 139, 174 Quick, Matthew 129 Quillévéré, Katell 95 Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020) 95 Rachel Getting Married (2008) 121 Radioactive (2019) 159 Rafiki (2018) 71 Ramsay, Lynne 117, 139 Ran (1985) 156 Ratched (2020) 5 Raw (2016) 26, 139 real life: as inspiration 102–107 Redford, Robert 122, 126, 127 Reed, Nikki 27 Reed, Peyton 27 “reel” women, development of 161–176 Rees, Dee 17, 38, 66, 163–164 Reeves, Keanu 65, 168 Reeves, Saskia 67 Reinventing Marvin (2017) 11 Remember the Titans (2000) 143 representation, of women on screen

Requiem for a Dream (2000) 121 research, in crafting women characters 13, 98, 117; in development process 46, 113–114; in story ideation 148–152 Respect (2021) 145 Revoir Paris (2022) 140 Rhimes, Shonda 62–64, 82–87, 149 Riggen, Patricia 117 Rise (2018) 87 Ritter, Jason 43 Rocks (2019) 48 Rockwell, A. V. 102 Rohrwacher, Alice 48 Roma (2018) 152 romance 25–278, 51–54, 67, 75, 104, 130, 169; as a catalyst 59–63, 61 romantic comedy 26, 52–53, 65, 131–132, 164, 171 romantic drama 52, 64–66 Romancing the Stone (1984) 75 Room (2015) 17, 109–113, 116–117; nurturing women 106–107 Room with a View, A (1986) 17 Rosa Parks Story, The (2002) 143 Roth, Eric 28–29, 50, 53, 54 Rourke, Josie 159 Rowlands, Gena 122 Ruby Bridges (1998) 158 Runaways, The (2010) 158 Running on Empty (1988) 174 Russell, David O. 129, 134 Russell, Taylor 66 Ryan, Meg 64 Ryder, Winona 51 Salt of This Sea (2008) 71 Sam Now (2022) 133 Sandlot, The (1993) 26 Sarandon, Susan 163, 172 Sargent, Alvin 126 Satrapi, Marjane 48, 159 Saturday Night Live (1975) 54 scenes, writing of 17, 18, 31, 33, 34, 36, 43, 56, 64, 78, 82–84, 88–90, 101, 115, 123, 125, 130, 131, 136, 157, 165, 173 Scenes from a Marriage (1974; 2021) 52 Scherfig, Lone 71 Schindler’s List (1993) 143 Schrader, Maria 71, 149, 159 Schumer, Amy 10 Sciamma, Céline 10, 48, 71

190

Index

Scorsese, Martin 3, 122 screenwriters: responsibility 131–134; and women actors, connection between 4 SDSU Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film 5, 6, 15, 18 see also Martha Lauzen Sea of Roses (1978) 139 Second Mother, The (2015) 95 Secret Life of Words, The (2005) 94 secrets, a character’s 28, 39, 43, 64, 86, 105–106, 132 secret truths, exploring of 131 second lead, women as 53–59, 169–170 Seger, Linda 13 Self Made (2020) 144 self-observation 13 Selma (2014) 66 sensitivity, in screenwriting 116, 121–122, 129, 135 sex, and sexuality 8, 25, 26, 39, 51, 60–62, 67, 86, 106, 121, 132, 137–138, 168, 170–173 Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989) 1 Shakuntala Devi (2020) 159 Shall We Dance (2004) 162–163 Sharp Objects (2018) 5 Shepitko, Larisa 94 Sheridan, Kirsten 139 She Said (2022) 149, 159 Shetterly, Margot Lee 149 Shi, Domee 48, 152, 172 Shoot the Moon (1982) 52 Shrivastava, Alankrita 95 Shyer, Charles 75 Sigismondi, Floria 158 silent film era 8, 19, 50 Silkwood (1983) 74 Silver Linings Playbook (2012) 129 Silverman, Treva 73 Silverstone, Alicia 170 Simon, David 67 Sinclair, Ingrid 117 Sister Act (1992) 102 Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The (2005) 27 Skarsgård, Stellan 60, 67–69 Slesinger, Tess 148 Smart, Jean 164 smitten women 50–71 Snodgress, Carrie 120 Snyder, Blake 167 Social Network, The (2010) 143

Society for the Suppression of Vice 144 Soderbergh, Steven: Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989) 1 Soloway, Joey 11, 84, 105 Something’s Gotta Give (2003) 65 Soul Haunted by Painting, A (1994) 94 So Young (2013) 48 Spacek, Sissy 149 specificity, in character development 26, 31, 51, 77, 86, 101–102, 131, 173, 177 Speed (1994) 168 Spencer, Octavia 20 Spring Blossom (2020) 71 Stand by Me (1986) 26 Stanton, Elizabeth Cady 143 Stanton, Harry Dean 121 Star Is Born, A (2018) 53–60, 55; romance as a catalyst 59–60 “stay-at-home moms” 98–99 Steinem, Gloria 143, 151, 153–154; My Life on the Road 146, 151, 155 Steinfeld, Peter 29 stereotypical women characters, avoiding of 27, 77, 116, 133 Still Alice (2014) 121 story beats see beats, story Story of Us, The (1999) 52 Strayed, Cheryl: Wild 148 Streep, Meryl 4, 20, 65, 74, 97, 123, 124, 148, 156, 172 strength, a character’s 8, 20, 44, 59, 62–63, 110–111, 133, 169 “strong” women characters 3, 6, 12, 80, 88, 110, 133, 139 structure, in screen stories 36, 54–55, 59–60, 74, 126, 128 Stuart, Mary 159 Sturges, Jim 151 subtext 133 Suffragette (2015) 95, 150 Summertime (2015) 71 Sundance Film Festival, and Institute 66, 103, 129, 152 Suô, Masayuki 162 supporting characters 44, 51, 53, 77, 164, 165, 168, 175 surprise, elements of 100, 131, 167 Sutherland, Donald 127 Suzanne (2013) 95 Swank, Hilary 10 Sweet Home Alabama (2002) 52 Sweetie (1989) 139

Index 191

Swept Away (1975) 71 Switch, The (2010) 29 System Crasher (2019) 48 Take My Eyes (2003) 139 Take This Waltz (2011) 71 Tambor, Jeffrey 105 Tan, Amy 171 Taylor, Teyana 102 Taylor-Johnson, Sam 117 Taylor-Joy, A. 4 Taymor, Julie 146, 150–158; on career 153; as director 152; on inspiration 151, 155; on mother 154–155; role models in filmmaking 151 teenage girls, conflicts for 28 Tevis, Walter 4 Tell It to the Bees (2018) 71 Tempest, The (2010) 151, 153, 156–157 Terms of Endearment (1983) 10, 101–102 Thatcher, Margaret 158 Thelma & Louise (1991): romance as a catalyst 60–61, 61 thematic conflict 28, 50 themes 27, 45, 50, 51, 54, 156, 164, 172; of developing independence and identity 30–44; personal understanding of 28–29 Theory of Everything, The (2014) 143 Things to Come (2016) 117 Things We Lost in the Fire (2007) 29 Thin Line, A (1980) 117 Thirteen (2003) 27 This Boy’s Life (1993) 143 This Changes Everything (2018) 19, 124 Thomas, Diane 75 Thompson, Danièle 95 Thompson, Emma 67, 173 Thousand and One, A (2023) 102–103 Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017) 48 Till (2022) 159 Till-Bradley, Mamie 159 Titus (1999) 151, 153 To All the Boy’s I’ve Loved Before (2018) 67 Tognazzi, Maria Sole 95 To Leslie (2022) 121 Tom Boy (2011) 10 Toni Erdmann (2016) 95 To Take a Wife (2004) 117 To the Bone (2017) 121

Touch Me Not (2018) 140 Touzani, Maryam 152 trailblazing women 142–159 Trainwreck (2015) 10 Transparent (2014–2019) 11, 84; nurturing women 104–105 Treeless Mountain (2008) 48 Tribes of Palos Verdes, The (2017) 121 tropes, in screenwriting 27, 76, 111, 168, 172 Trucker (2008) 78–79 Trumbo (2015) 143 Trust (2018) 67 Truth, Sojourner 143 Tubman, Harriet 143 Turner, Kathleen 75 Turning Red (2022) 48, 152, 172 Twohey, Megan 149, 159 Twomey, Nora 48 Tyson, Cicely 82, 83, 85–86, 143 Unbelievable (2019) 149 Under the Same Moon (2007) 117 Unfaithful (2002) 52 Unforgiveable, The (2021) 140 United Kingdom, A (2016) 117 Us and Them (2018) 71 USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative 5 Valkyrie (2008) 143 Vaughan, Dorothy 144 Vecsey, George 149 Vecsey, Lynn 149 Vikander, Alicia 151 Vincent and Theo (1990) 143 voice: finding one’s 30–36, 61, 70; women characters’ 20, 54–55, 70, 92, 127, 177 von Garnier, Katja 158 von Trotta, Margarethe 158 W 143 Wade, Kevin 75 Wadjda (2012) 48 Waldman, Ayelet 149 Walker, C. J. 144 Walk on the Moon, A (1999) 52 Wall Street Journal, The 65 Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) 29 Waller-Bridge, Phoebe 8 Wanda (1970) 122 WandaVision (2021) 5

192

Index

War of the Roses, The (1989) 52 Water Lilies (2007) 71 Watermelon Woman, The (1996) 163 Waters, Mark 27 Wayans, Kim 39 weakness, a character’s 8, 20, 44, 59, 62–64, 135 Weaver, Sigourney 75 Weldon, Catherine 67, 144, 158 Wells, Audrey 162–163 Wells-Barnett, Ida B. 143 We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) 117 Wertmüller, Lina 71 Whale Rider (2002) 48 When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) 41 When Harry Met Sally (1989) 1, 52, 131 When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (2019) 45 When I Saw You (2012) 117 When the Night (2011) 71 Where Do We Go Now? (2011) 139 Where Hands Touch (2018) 48 Whishaw, Ben 151 Whistleblower, The (2010) 158 White, Susanna 67–71, 158; on Campion’s The Piano 69–70; on career 69; on character–story relationship 70; on creation of screen stories with female characters 70; on documentaries vs television 69; on family–career balance 70–71; on marriage 68–69 White Material (2009) 95 Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022) 66 “why,” revealing 126 Wiig, Kristen 10, 130, 168–169 Wild at Heart (1990) 121 Wilde, Olivia 27 Wilder, Billy 69 Wilkinson, Tom 11 Williams, Robin 60 Williams, Virgil 38 Wilson, Tracey Scott 145 Winfrey, Oprah 74 Winger, Debra 101 Wings (1966) 94 Winocour, Alice 95, 139, 140 Winslet, Kate 161, 162, 164 Winterborn (1978) 117 Winter’s Bone (2010) 26 Witcombe, Eleanor 74

Witherspoon, Reese 20, 87, 92, 103; Hello Sunshine 2 wives and mothers on screen, depictions of 98–100 Woman King, The (2022) 152 Woman Under the Influence, A (1974) 122 Woman Walks Ahead, A (2017) 67, 70, 144, 158 women: of accomplishment, search for memoirs by 147–150; actors, listen to 14–15; with agency 173; bad behavior 174; character introductions 174–175; characters, development of 13–15; of color, representation of 66–67, 85, 153, 163, 174; definition of 143–144; directors, history of 19–20; “mad” 119–140; nurturing 97–117; reel, development of 161–176; representation, in film and television 4–22; role on screen, evolution of 7–9; screen storytelling, brief history of 15–18, 15–20; screenwriters, media responses to 8; smitten 50–71; trailblazing 142–159; voices 175–176; working see working women, on screen; see also individual entries women studies see gender studies Women Talking (2022) 117 Wonder, The (2022) 109, 114, 115 Wonder Years, The (1990) 87 Wood, Evan Rachel 151, 153 Working Girl (1988) 10, 75, 77 working women 73–95; as assistant 76–77; “authentic” characters, development of 84–87; as boss 77–78; character, building 75–76; in contemporary TV series 79–84; creative 78; history of 74–75; as manual laborer 78–79; types of 76–79 work–life balance 76, 92, 137–138 World Billiards Association 144 Writers Lab, The 4 Wu, Alice 67 Wu, Constance 66 Wyman, Annie Julia 80 XXY (2007) 48

Index 193

Yamashita, Iris 17 Year Ago in Winter, A (2008) 45, 48 Yedaya, Keren 94 Yeoh, Michelle 172–173 Yesterday (2019) 28 young women 25–49; friendship 26; love 25–27; romance 25–27; teenage girls, conflicts of 28; themes, exploring 28–29

Yuni (2021) 48 Żabiński, Antonina 160 Zbanic, Jasmila 95 Zemeckis, Robert 75 Zhao, Chloé 17, 159 Zhao, Wei 48 Ziesche, Cooky 134 Zookeeper’s Wife, The (2017) 160