Street roots., September 25, 2015, Page 8, Image 8

With women still woefully
underrepresented in
leadership roles in film,
T V and advertising,
groups such as the ACLU
and the 3% Conference
are stepping up
Galling the shots
entertainment industry. This spring, the ACLU called
upon the federal government to launch an investigation
STAFF W RITER
__________ ________ . .
into what it calls the “systemic failure to hire women
directors at all levels of the film and TV industry in
henever Juliana Lukasik is in need of motivation,
violation of state and federal civil rights laws.”
she turns on the movie “Miss Representation.
Pulling from numerous studies by unions, the Directors
Guild of America and other sources, the ACLU has
The 2011 documentary explores how women
compiled some alarming statistics: Fewer than 2 percent
are represented in.the media and its impact on people and
of directors of the top-grossing 100 films of 2013 and of
culture. One line in particular always gets her fired up. It’s
by Gloria Steinem, and it’s become the motto of the film:
2014 were women. Of the 1,300 top­
grossing films from 2002 to 2014,
“You can’t be what you can’t see.”
only slightly more than 4 percent of
After more than two decades in the film industry,
directors were women. The numbers
Lukasik knows it to be true.
are only slightly better for television
“I realized that during my career in the film industry -
and I’ve worked since 1990.1 worked freelance, I own a
series, and many female directors
reported being shut out of television
production company — all those years, I never once*
worked with a woman director. And quite frankly, never
work entirely, according to the
really thought of it as an option for me.”
ACLU’s research.
It wasn’t a quirky sentim ent At
the time
Lukasik
was one of only a few
"How do yon
“Miss Representation” was in theaters,
commercial directors the ACLU
women made up only 3 percent of the contacted, and she emphasized the
tru ly give
creative directors in the commercial
ACLU should consider the ever­
women the
advertising business. Today, that growing influence of advertising,
same ©bailees
number has inched up a few
from television to tweets, in its
as mea l i yon
points and includes Lukasik,
investigation.
are focused
who owns ©Large Films in
This week, Lukasik and other
Portland and directs
so
much
commercial directors converged on
commercials full time.
Portland for the 3% Conference mini- more on their
Lukasik was one of 50
con - named for the fraction of
looks, and
directors interviewed by
women directors in the commercial
everything
the ACLU Women’s
industry. It’s a gathering to empower
bat their
Rights Project on
and educate women and men and
» issues of
move the industry toward gender
brains? And
discrimination and
equality.
that's what
the gender
Correcting the imbalance is not
media does."
disparity in the
just a social or civil rights issue; it’s
film and
good business, Lukasik said.
JULIANA LUKASIK
©LAR G E FILMS
Because while the vast majority of
O W NER
people making commercials are
men, the vast majority of the people
buying the products are women.
There’s money being left on the table, she said.
“The thing that baffles me and has baffled me for years
is that women make the purchase about 80 percent of the
time, on average,” Lukasik said. “But for the most part, we
haven’t been advertised to very well. We’ve been pandered
to: Make it pink, and that will work. Make it cute; that will
work. I’ve heard situations where women are doing a pitch
for a male-dominated product, and women directors have
been told, /You can’t sell to men.’ But on the reverse
BY JOANNE ZUHL
W
at Gordon, an advertising executive, entrepreneur
and consultant out of Palo Alto, Calif., organized
the first 3% Conference three years ago in hopes of
changing the ratio. Thursday’s mini-conference, hosted
K
Rosie the Riveter was the star o f a government campaign aimed at recruiting female workers during World War II.
Directors of the top-grossing
of 2013 and 2014 who were
shows with no women directing a single
sode in the 2013-14 season
3-14 who were women
American Civil Liberties Union