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kleinbl00  ·  2931 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: An Analysis of Gender in Films Based on Scripts (Male vs. Female Lines)

As a man whose screenplays regularly feature female protagonists, I take exception to this.

Actors are chosen for profitability. Full stop. You've heard of A-list, B-list, C-list actors? That's actually a thing. These are metrics determined by independent accounting firms to determine the likely financial impact of any given star in any given role in any given market. These scores and metrics are actually used in prospectii when getting films funded.

And of the films you've seen, the majority of them are written by an insane plurality of writers, the majority of which will never be credited (because WGA rules deliberately obscure the reality of the process). Yes - the overwhelming majority of them are white men under 35. But the idea that a white man under 35 is incapable of writing a woman well enough to satisfy an executive looking to make a chinese boy happy is absurd.

Finally, actors drive movies. Salt was a black list screenplay starring a dude until Jolie grabbed it and decided to star in it. For a while, Leonardo DiCaprio's people would guarantee that Leo would read your script if you gave them a million dollars. Hancock was written in '78 and didn't go anywhere until Will Smith decided to be in it. Unforgiven was written in '72 and went nowhere until Clint Eastwood decided it was time.

Hollywood is a deeply imperfect place but laying the problem at the feet of screenwriters (whom Julia Phillips famously called "the ni__ers of Hollywood") because "men can't write women" is absurd.