Initiative is in response to allegations of discrimination against female filmmakers
By Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --The government has yet to respond to the American Civil Liberties Union's allegations of discrimination against female filmmakers, but Hollywood is certainly talking about it.
More than 1,700 industry professionals have signed a petition supporting the ACLU's call last month for a federal investigation into Hollywood hiring practices, ACLU attorney Melissa Goodman said Monday. Celebs are also discussing the issue on red carpets.
"Obviously we need to create more opportunities. It's not an even playing field," Nicole Kidman said Tuesday as she arrived at Women in Film's Crystal + Lucy Awards. "By having a dialogue, it helps."
Goodman agrees. While she's optimistic for a formal response, she's gratified by the informal one so far.
"We have been very excited by… the conversations this has started," she said. "One of the most amazing things is just the sheer number of women who have spoken out about gender bias they've experienced. I feel like it's so much more in the public consciousness, which is so important."
In letters to federal and state agencies, including the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the ACLU cited statistical evidence from various studies and anecdotal accounts from more than 50 female directors to support its allegations of discrimination. The agencies are not obliged to respond, though the EEOC has investigated unfair treatment against women and other minorities in the entertainment industry before.
Actress Kate Mara suspects discrimination could be at play, based on her experiences.
"I've been acting for more than half my life and I could count on one hand the amount of female directors I've worked with — and I've worked with countless male directors," she said at the Women in Film event. "So I don't know. I really hope that changes."
Studies show women represent a tiny percentage of directors of studio movies, and have for decades. One study shows women directed four percent of top-grossing films over a 12-year period ending last year. Another puts the number around seven percent for last year. But men and women attend film schools in equal numbers and are equally likely to have their work accepted at festivals.
"Transparent" creator Jill Soloway is keenly aware of the challenges facing female directors in Hollywood, and she gets why men keep hiring men, but she only recently considered it might be a crime.
"We all write and create things that make us feel safe, so straight white males are naturally going to write things that make them the hero, and they are naturally going to hire their friends who make it easier for them to tell stories about people like them. I used to actually believe that that wasn't illegal," she said at Tuesday's award ceremony. "Since the ACLU (action), and over the past couple years really understanding what privilege looks like and what inherent bias looks like, it actually is amoral and it is illegal to only tell stories about straight white men and always make them the hero."
She advocates "disrupting and questioning practices all the way from beginning to end: Who's acting? Who's writing? Who's producing?"
"Selma" director Ava DuVernay, one of the Women in Film honorees, said every effort matters when it comes to diversifying the entertainment business.
"I applaud anyone who is looking into what the unequal nature of our industry is and is really deconstructing it to try and solve it," she said. "So whether it's the ACLU or artists like myself who are just doing the work every day, it's all really important."
Increased attention on the issue, and knowing the government might get involved, could prompt some to take action, said actress and "The Mindy Project" creator Mindy Kaling in a recent interview.
"I think if it can make employers like me hire more women — you hope people are inspired to do it out of excitement to have different points of view or just to have varied types of talent working for you — but if you have to do it out of fear, great. Whatever it takes," Kaling said. "I do think things like this are what can spur change."
Associated Press writer Nicole Evatt contributed to this report.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More