Yet another two examples of how male actors get the breaks that female actors don't.
In 1997 the National Theatre staged a highly successful stage production of Patrick Marber's play CLOSER.
The cast was -
Dan .... Clive Owen
Alice .... Liza Walker
Anna .... Sally Dexter
Larry .... Ciarán Hinds.
21 years on the two men work on first-rate productions - films, TV and stage work.
The very brilliant Liza Walker does not appear to have worked for some time. The equally good Sally Dexter is currently in EMMERDALE. Good TV soap as it is, it is not Hollywood.
Some years ago I released a micro-budget film UNDERSTANDING JANE.
The lead cast was -
Kevin McKidd ... Elliot
Amelia Curtis ... Dallas
John Simm ... Oz
Louisa Milwood-Haigh ...Popeye
15 years on the two men work on first-rate productions - films, TV and stage work.
The brilliant Louisa Milwood-Haigh does not appear to have worked for some time. The equally good Amelia Curtis has recently been in EMMERDALE, DOCTORS, CORONATION STREET. Good TV soaps as they are, they not Hollywood.
In both productions, the women we just as good as the men, in fact, I would say they had the edge over them…just.
My friend Sarah Berger, founder of the So & So Arts Club says women don’t get roles because the parts are just not written for women, especially once they get older.
This is true. Almost every production I seem to watch on stage, TV, and film has far more men than women.
Within the British TV arena though all the good producers and TV executives are women.
So, why are all my actress friends, especially those over the age of 40 not getting better roles and more of them?
With major players like Netflix and Amazon entering the production, drama sector is going through an explosion of commissions. Ted Hope head of Amazon Studios told me in the summer of 2016 there were over 400 TV series in production from all the English-speaking broadcasters.
I bet that the subscribers of both Netflix and Amazon Prime are pretty equal between men and women. If so do their algorithms show an equal demand for programming of interest to women as much as men or are women watching a lot programming aimed at men?
If women are interested in watching more stories about women, directed and written by women with the majority of the roles played by women then this should lead to an increase in more productions with more female characters than men?
Shouldn’t it?
I for one think it will change and for the better.
Am I right or am I right?
I made two films in the 1980's base on very famous books by women, Virginia Woolf's TO THE LIGHTHOUSE and Rosamond Lehmann's THE WEATHER IN THE STREETS but all the key important roles - producer, screenwriter, director, editor, DOP were all done by men. Not great.
My advice for producers out there is to start developing more projects written and directed by women with more female actors to meet the upcoming demand.
I for one think it will change and for the better.
Am I right or am I right?
I made two films in the 1980's base on very famous books by women, Virginia Woolf's TO THE LIGHTHOUSE and Rosamond Lehmann's THE WEATHER IN THE STREETS but all the key important roles - producer, screenwriter, director, editor, DOP were all done by men. Not great.
My advice for producers out there is to start developing more projects written and directed by women with more female actors to meet the upcoming demand.
