Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff Mom Never Told You from how stup
Speaker 1: works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: Caroline and I'm Kristen. And today on another episode of
Speaker 1: podcast Summer Camp, or are Amazing talks with the podcasting
Speaker 1: women this summer, we are talking with Lauren Shacker, Maggie Levin,
Speaker 1: and Emily Blake of Chicks Who Script. Yeah. This Fearsome
Speaker 1: threesome are a group of filmmakers and more specifically screenwriters
Speaker 1: out in Hollywood. And we've talked about Hollywood and women
Speaker 1: and gender and feminism so many times on the podcast, Caroline.
Speaker 1: We've talked about women behind the camera, in front of
Speaker 1: the camera, diversity representation, the importance of Hollywood not ghetto
Speaker 1: izing women into romcom only territory. And these are three
Speaker 1: women we were so excited to talk about because they
Speaker 1: have boots on the ground experience with all of these
Speaker 1: kinds of issues. Yeah, And it was actually really refreshing
Speaker 1: to hear from them not only about their experiences and
Speaker 1: how they got into this line of work and also
Speaker 1: how to keep their motivation up and just keep writing,
Speaker 1: but it was also so refreshing to hear that they
Speaker 1: do think that things are slowly but surely getting better
Speaker 1: for women in Hollywood, specifically screenwriters. Yeah, even in the
Speaker 1: past few years, they've noticed how the tone of their
Speaker 1: podcast Chicks Whose Script has become a little bit more positive.
Speaker 1: They are still issues that we're going to talk about, UM,
Speaker 1: and challenges for being a woman's screenwriter. UM. And a
Speaker 1: woman who doesn't necessarily want to be a Hollywood starlette.
Speaker 1: That's mind blowing to a lot of people in l
Speaker 1: A and elsewhere. Um. But they had so many great insights.
Speaker 1: And first I wanted to give a little bit of
Speaker 1: a historical shout out Caroline to set the tone for
Speaker 1: this episode. I discovered this morning a woman named June Mathis. Now,
Speaker 1: have you ever heard of June Mathis? No, neither had I.
Speaker 1: But she's a woman that we should absolutely know when
Speaker 1: it comes to Hollywood history, because she was the very
Speaker 1: first female executive in the industry, and she got her
Speaker 1: start as a screenwriter because back in the Silent era
Speaker 1: a lot of women were writing a lot of notable
Speaker 1: screenplays at the time, and she ended up amassing one
Speaker 1: four screenwriting and co writing credits to her name. So
Speaker 1: go get her that she was obviously in she was
Speaker 1: appointed head of MGM's script department, making her the first
Speaker 1: ever executive and I think the highest paid executive at
Speaker 1: the time. I bet she were snappy suits. She might
Speaker 1: have one snappy suits from what I could tell thanks
Speaker 1: to Google image. She had a short brown hair, and
Speaker 1: she had a clever smile. Good. Yeah, it's good to
Speaker 1: keep a smile on your face when you're a woman
Speaker 1: in Hollywood. And not surprisingly, as a woman who has
Speaker 1: over a hundred screenwriting credits, she had quite a way
Speaker 1: with words. And not surprisingly as someone with over one
Speaker 1: hundred film credits, she absolutely had a way with words.
Speaker 1: So would you like to hear an inspirational quote to
Speaker 1: kick off this interview with Chicks Who Script? Would I
Speaker 1: need Pinterest content for later? So yes, please? Well, here
Speaker 1: you go write it down, Caroline so June Mathis once said,
Speaker 1: if you're vibrating on the right plane, you will inevitably
Speaker 1: come in contact with others who can help you. It's
Speaker 1: like tuning in on your radio. If you get the
Speaker 1: right wavelength, you have your station. Oh I love that.
Speaker 1: That is something Oprah would totally say, absolutely and something
Speaker 1: that probably Maggie, Lauren and Emily of Chicks Who Script
Speaker 1: would agree with because listeners, if you're someone who obviously
Speaker 1: if you're an aspirational screenwriter, filmmaker, actor, anyone who is
Speaker 1: interested in that industry, but also just someone curious about
Speaker 1: what it takes to maintain self promotion and motivation when
Speaker 1: the gender odds might seem stacked against you, then this
Speaker 1: is a conversation for you. You have tuned in, As
Speaker 1: June Mathis would say, to the right station, that's right,
Speaker 1: and so without further ado, let's hear it from Lauren,
Speaker 1: Maggie and Emily Chicks Who's Script. Thanks so much for
Speaker 1: talking to us today. Thanks for having us. We're super excited. Also,
Speaker 1: you're welcome. So for listeners who haven't heard of you,
Speaker 1: could you just introduce yourselves and also introduce the podcast absolutely.
Speaker 1: Um my name is Maggie Levin, I'm Lauren Shacker on
Speaker 1: Emily Blake and you'll hear that a lot of the podcast. Yes,
Speaker 1: together we are Chicksie Script, which is a podcast about
Speaker 1: screenwriting and filmmaking. Um it's for everyone, but by women
Speaker 1: and with a emphasis on women's perspective and representing women
Speaker 1: well in cinema. Um, so we sort of talked about
Speaker 1: the whole scope of movies and movie making from the
Speaker 1: female perspective. Great, Well, just to continue a little bit
Speaker 1: more getting to know you, because you all collectively do
Speaker 1: so many things. Could you just talk about each of
Speaker 1: your backgrounds and sort of the origin story of chicks?
Speaker 1: Who script Why? Why started a podcast? Well, I'm Emily. UM.
Speaker 1: I went to there's a very popular podcast in the
Speaker 1: screenwriting world called um script Notes. It's run by John
Speaker 1: Augustin Craig Mazin, and they did a love episode of
Speaker 1: their show, which was a superhero spectacular. It was all
Speaker 1: about superheroes and UM. So they had a lot of
Speaker 1: Baldo guys on the stage, UM and one woman and
Speaker 1: she probably said a little less than all the guys did.
Speaker 1: I mean, she was great, but she didn't talk as much.
Speaker 1: And that was the episode where Craig Mason started talking
Speaker 1: about split Hulk and how she Hulk had only been
Speaker 1: created as a character for the Hulk to sleep with,
Speaker 1: which is not true even remotely. UM. And on top
Speaker 1: of that, the only people who spoke who has questions
Speaker 1: that Q and A were all guys. Women had gotten up.
Speaker 1: But by the time all the guys finished talking, it
Speaker 1: was too late, and the thing was over, so there
Speaker 1: was barely any female representation during the night. And I
Speaker 1: was complaining about that. Not necessarily Craig and John's fault,
Speaker 1: but it happened. And I was talking about that, complaining
Speaker 1: about that on Twitter, and Lauren commented about it, and
Speaker 1: I was like, this is because you know, we all
Speaker 1: listened to script Notes. It's a it's a popular podcast
Speaker 1: for a reason. And and so I was just joining
Speaker 1: in with Emily and being like, is there a podcast
Speaker 1: where women talked about screenwriting? And is there anything where
Speaker 1: women talk about screenwriting? Uh? And we couldn't think of
Speaker 1: any and we were talking and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: people on Twitter We're just like, we'll listen, and we
Speaker 1: were like what uh, And then we decided that, okay,
Speaker 1: we were just going to do it, make a podcast,
Speaker 1: and then we roped Maggie in and then it was
Speaker 1: too late to turn back, so uh, the podcast just
Speaker 1: we kind of just announced that we were doing it,
Speaker 1: and we got our first guest, huge support from the community.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, because the screenwriting Twitter is a real thing.
Speaker 1: It's a pretty tight knit community, some novices, some like
Speaker 1: superheroes in the screenwriting world, and and yeah, people were
Speaker 1: really responsive and supportive right off the bat, and like
Speaker 1: I think, within a week of announcing we were doing
Speaker 1: the podcast, I was on the phone with Nicole Pearlman,
Speaker 1: who wrote Guardians of the Galaxy, and she was super
Speaker 1: on board, and then we were off to the races.
Speaker 1: Well that's amazing. What does screenwriting Twitter look like? And
Speaker 1: did everybody did everybody immediately pile on when you said
Speaker 1: you were doing this and and commit to listen? And
Speaker 1: what was the excitement and the response? Like I think
Speaker 1: it was, yeah, we we just happened to find a
Speaker 1: niche that hadn't been filled before. Because as soon as
Speaker 1: I mean as soon as I joined the conversation, it's true,
Speaker 1: people people that we didn't know from all over the
Speaker 1: world and people of some renown in Hollywood, We're all like, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a need for this. Um, we would love to listen.
Speaker 1: And then it became pretty clear from early on, UM,
Speaker 1: the sort of guest recommendation level was super high. From
Speaker 1: the get go. It was like girls really wanted to
Speaker 1: talk about screenwriting, and then people wanted to talk to
Speaker 1: the girls about screenwriting. It was a cool thing. And
Speaker 1: it's weird because trying to explain this to be two
Speaker 1: friends of mine who are not screenwriters, Like, they're like, wait,
Speaker 1: you know people on Twitter? Has that? Like you have
Speaker 1: mutual friends on twit And yeah, screen running on Twitter
Speaker 1: is actually pretty insulated world. Everybody kind of knows each other. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: and if you think about it, screenwriting is a completely
Speaker 1: isolated profession, right, So you've got all these people who
Speaker 1: aren't used to being out talking to other people. In fact,
Speaker 1: they aren't there sitting in their home office or like
Speaker 1: studio office or wherever, just writing. And now they have
Speaker 1: a chance to be communicating in public. It's like it's
Speaker 1: it's sort of a happy accident and it's small enough
Speaker 1: that we are in it. Yeah. Yes, well, and it
Speaker 1: became a really I don't know, Twitter became a really
Speaker 1: easy access place for screenwriters to give each other advice
Speaker 1: and help each other through the various uh highs and
Speaker 1: lows of this industry. Um, but it's it's pretty cool
Speaker 1: the screenwriting Twitter click. It is something that we repeatedly
Speaker 1: recommend to anybody who wants to get into screenwriting, is
Speaker 1: that they at least get on Twitter for this community
Speaker 1: because it's because it's so strong and informative and it's
Speaker 1: a very supportive place to ask advice. Yeah, So did
Speaker 1: Twitter influence y'all's friendship, your collective friendship? Or how did
Speaker 1: you meet? I? R L offline? Lauren? Lauren and I
Speaker 1: went to a theater conservatory together, um in New York,
Speaker 1: a place called the Neighborhood Playhouse. So we were already
Speaker 1: connected that way. Um. And then Emily and I knew
Speaker 1: each other, I think from from Twitter initially, Yeah, and
Speaker 1: us and then I walk Maggie's Talk. Yeah, and um,
Speaker 1: you know when I joined in, I'm really lucky because
Speaker 1: Lauren and Emily were already sort of these tenants of
Speaker 1: the feminist screenwriting community, and they just tenants tenants. I
Speaker 1: don't know what I'm trying to pillars that. Um, I'm
Speaker 1: putting that on my resume. Community on Twitter. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: um yeah, but the trust level was there with our
Speaker 1: with our audience right away. It was pretty cool. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And Lauren and I hadn't met until the day we
Speaker 1: all three gots like in person, until the day all
Speaker 1: three of us got together and whether our computers and
Speaker 1: we're just like, okay, how do we make this happen?
Speaker 1: Deciding whether or not to have a website, that's all them.
Speaker 1: I was like, let's have a tumbler page. So this
Speaker 1: was facilitated through Twitter. That's so cool. Yeah, Twitter and
Speaker 1: dog walking, Yeah exactly. Um, well, you mentioned feminism and
Speaker 1: I definitely want to get back to that, But first,
Speaker 1: can you give our listeners just a quick glimpse into
Speaker 1: sort of what a day in the life of a
Speaker 1: screenwriters like, if there even is a day in the
Speaker 1: life of a screenwriter. I know you mentioned, like, you know,
Speaker 1: being locked away in a room solitary all day typing.
Speaker 1: I think everybody's is different, really. I mean some people
Speaker 1: like to go to coffee shops, some people like to
Speaker 1: sit at their offices. Some people sit on their couches. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, you and a laptop, and that's that's the job.
Speaker 1: So you can't do it anywhere. I mean the if
Speaker 1: that's one thing we've taken away from the podcast, it
Speaker 1: is that there there's a million different ways to go
Speaker 1: at this, and you know, the as you start to
Speaker 1: do this for money, then it becomes inclusive of a
Speaker 1: lot of meetings, a lot of going to very fancy
Speaker 1: buildings where they hand your water bottle and then you
Speaker 1: talk about your awesome story and how excited you are
Speaker 1: about it, and you hope that they get excited to um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, there's there's coffee shop writers, there's pajamas writers. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's all over the map. Some people write for very
Speaker 1: long spans of time. Some people only write for like
Speaker 1: an hour of time. Some people were at midnight. Some
Speaker 1: people right, you know, keep regular business hours. Everybody's individual. Yeah,
Speaker 1: writing is the only uh so sort of trend across
Speaker 1: the board is that you have to be writing to
Speaker 1: be a writer. Let's say you got to write all
Speaker 1: day or as for as many hours as you can.
Speaker 1: I think the thing I hear the most often is
Speaker 1: uh work hours um or office hours rather so that
Speaker 1: people studying certain hours in their day that they are
Speaker 1: going to be writing just as if they had a
Speaker 1: nine to five job, sort of to keep them streamlined.
Speaker 1: But again that's not everybody. It's just something that I
Speaker 1: have heard a lot. I hope I do that for
Speaker 1: myself and get me too. Well. I'm really curious to
Speaker 1: know what you do to stay motivated, whether it is
Speaker 1: through just the writing process, kind of being in the
Speaker 1: slog of getting that work down or pitching the work
Speaker 1: self promoting. I mean, because these are sounds like this
Speaker 1: is long term project management that is largely self directed. Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: Um yeah. Well, in terms of staying motivated and staying inspired,
Speaker 1: you know, it's tough. At different stages, it can become
Speaker 1: incredibly challenging. You know, there's there's some stuff with projects
Speaker 1: once they're once a project is sort of often running,
Speaker 1: it has its own legs, then it gathers momentum. But
Speaker 1: when you're starting from zero on a project, I mean
Speaker 1: that is I'm going to keep coming back to Twitter.
Speaker 1: That's one of the reasons why Twitter has been helpful
Speaker 1: is because it is like a group of like accountability
Speaker 1: buddies and people to keep you, um, moving forward. Um.
Speaker 1: But also it's like you gotta, like any other area
Speaker 1: of something that's art related. I think it's like if
Speaker 1: you want to be an actor, director or a dance
Speaker 1: or paint or whatever, you just have to really want
Speaker 1: to do it, and that means getting up in the
Speaker 1: morning and making sure that you do it. I think
Speaker 1: it also really helps if you take control and do
Speaker 1: some of your own stuff. All three of us have
Speaker 1: done some of our own projects, and that makes such
Speaker 1: a huge difference because if you of just if all
Speaker 1: you do is right screenplay, send them out, wait for
Speaker 1: someone to read them and get back to you, and
Speaker 1: hope that someone likes it enough to hire you. That
Speaker 1: gets really disheartening. That can take years and years. So
Speaker 1: you've got to in order to stay excited about doing it,
Speaker 1: to stay excited about the business and about your own creativity.
Speaker 1: I think, go make a short film. Go, you know,
Speaker 1: even if it's only a silly little YouTube video. Just
Speaker 1: get something done that is within your control, so you're
Speaker 1: not just sitting waiting for everybody all the time. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think that it's also as a writer, because you're
Speaker 1: creating your own I mean, if you're starting out, you're
Speaker 1: writing on specs, so you're creating your own work. Um,
Speaker 1: if you're writing about things that are really important to you,
Speaker 1: write really passion project is obviously the most common phrasing
Speaker 1: for that. But if it's something that you have to tell,
Speaker 1: a story that is coming forth from like the center
Speaker 1: of your being, that that can push you forward. But
Speaker 1: it's I mean, and that's what it That's how it
Speaker 1: works for me personally. The screenwriting. I mean, I know
Speaker 1: for actors there's the element of like the film industry
Speaker 1: takes forever for everybody and for actors, you're going into
Speaker 1: rooms and hoping somebody's going to say yes to you.
Speaker 1: And screenwriting is the same way unless you're making your
Speaker 1: own work. So just like what Emily said, if you
Speaker 1: are just writing and selling your script, even if somebody
Speaker 1: buys it, they don't have to make your movie. They
Speaker 1: could honestly, a studio could buy your film so that
Speaker 1: nobody else makes it so that they can make their
Speaker 1: own version of that movie. Like, the only way to
Speaker 1: have to get that feeling of I have control in
Speaker 1: this industry is to write and to make your own work.
Speaker 1: Yeah a lot. I mean, you know, the writer producer
Speaker 1: thing is not it's not a new invention, but it
Speaker 1: is becoming increasingly a more popular way to go because
Speaker 1: because then you can have that satisfaction of seeing a
Speaker 1: project through to come completion. And also, you know, there's
Speaker 1: so much content out there, as I'm sure you're aware,
Speaker 1: um to really make a splash these days and get noticed.
Speaker 1: Having more than just the writing skill, being able to
Speaker 1: see a project through is uh kind of It puts
Speaker 1: you in a different class and it's helpful. I read
Speaker 1: an article yesterday and you guys can all tell me
Speaker 1: what you think about this. But I read a piece
Speaker 1: by Josh Olson, who wrote History of Violence right and
Speaker 1: he the piece was called I will not read your
Speaker 1: Did you guys read that? So I guess this pisted
Speaker 1: a lot of people off. But it's basically like, don't
Speaker 1: go out to a professional three nighter and ask them
Speaker 1: to read your script and then yell at them for
Speaker 1: not doing it, like you don't understand what they're what
Speaker 1: their life is like, and how busy they are. But
Speaker 1: he says in that that one of the things that's
Speaker 1: annoying about that question is that even if he says no,
Speaker 1: and you find that to be discouraging, like then you
Speaker 1: aren't a writer because you should not be able to
Speaker 1: be discouraged out of writing if you are a writer,
Speaker 1: because that's how badly you have to want to do this,
Speaker 1: because it's exhausting. I know a guy who came out
Speaker 1: who said, I'm gonna quit my job. I'm gonna spend
Speaker 1: one year and then if I don't become a writer
Speaker 1: by the end of that year, I'm going to go
Speaker 1: back to back to work. And that is sort of ridiculous,
Speaker 1: like the naivete of that. And guess what, it didn't
Speaker 1: happen and the guy quit gave up writing. I mean,
Speaker 1: if that's your if you give yourself one year to
Speaker 1: become a writer, you're gonna quit writing, don't even start,
Speaker 1: because that's the chances of that working out are so minimal.
Speaker 1: And if your commitment level is that low, what's gonna
Speaker 1: happen when you do get hired? Yeah, and you have
Speaker 1: to do thirty rewrites? Yeah, that's correct in a month
Speaker 1: with notes from forty people. Yeah. I think you know,
Speaker 1: as we've learned again from the UM wide array of
Speaker 1: guests we've had on our podcasts, most people who become
Speaker 1: really really successful in this have been in it for
Speaker 1: a long time and they've always had a very long
Speaker 1: haul mentality about it. UM. It is definitely a marathon,
Speaker 1: not a sprint. Did we sort of answer your question? Yeah, no, Caroline,
Speaker 1: and are just sitting back listening fascinated. UM. And it's
Speaker 1: reminding me as I'm hearing you'll talk about, especially that
Speaker 1: conviction and the hard work and just throw of the
Speaker 1: long road that you have to hope to get there.
Speaker 1: I realized that I have seen either on screen or
Speaker 1: read depictions of you know, the the convicted male screenwriter
Speaker 1: who has this, you know, he has to write. This
Speaker 1: is his passion. But then stereotypically, I don't know that
Speaker 1: I've ever seen it portrayed as the female screenwriter. It's
Speaker 1: always like, oh, of course, if she wants to go
Speaker 1: to Hollywood, then she wants to be in front of
Speaker 1: the camera, which is exactly how Hollywood looks at it
Speaker 1: as well. I was told that when I moved out here. Uh,
Speaker 1: someone told me, oh, you're pretty enough to be an actress.
Speaker 1: It's funny, You're going to become a writer. That's the
Speaker 1: end goal, like being an actress. Uh yeah, I think no,
Speaker 1: it is. The The screenwriter is a typically stereotypically male character. Um,
Speaker 1: and you know, we have Doug sort of deep to
Speaker 1: find as many female screenwriters as we can to come
Speaker 1: on the podcast. We actually anders white male thing like
Speaker 1: the rule. Yeah, I feel like what any of my
Speaker 1: white male friends are like, when am I going to
Speaker 1: come on the podcast and like, well, dude, you're white.
Speaker 1: You're dude, so you're gonna have to wait in line
Speaker 1: because we parceled it out. Those don't and because there
Speaker 1: are and you know, not that we don't love them.
Speaker 1: Everyone's born how they're born. Man, but you know, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of white male screenwriter dudes. You have to look,
Speaker 1: But like that doesn't mean don't look, you know, coming around.
Speaker 1: I gotta um just because the directing situation is sort
Speaker 1: of similar to the screenwriting situation. UM. I got a
Speaker 1: call the other day from somebody who works at a
Speaker 1: pretty decent sized studio looking for a female director because
Speaker 1: they quote didn't know any um and needed to find
Speaker 1: one because everybody on the team had unanimously decided we
Speaker 1: need a female director for this next thing, which is like,
Speaker 1: great props to you, but literally you have your interns
Speaker 1: calling their friends like you can't. You don't have the
Speaker 1: resources to go out and find female directors. And it's
Speaker 1: the same thing with female screenwriters. There's like ten everybody
Speaker 1: knows that have made it through whatever barrier, and nobody's
Speaker 1: making well, they're making a bit more of an effort now,
Speaker 1: but they're not making enough of an effort to look
Speaker 1: for those women who do exist. So I think it's
Speaker 1: like things are coming out, Like there's this awesome thing
Speaker 1: called the director List that somebody put together with the
Speaker 1: Death Dream Martino created. It's now it has over nine
Speaker 1: hundred working female directors listed on the director list it's
Speaker 1: the director list dot com. And she like, I don't
Speaker 1: know how many of those women are represented, but I
Speaker 1: would I would guess like five percent. Yeah, the ratio
Speaker 1: is really low, and women have been um And I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that this is a universal rule. I understand
Speaker 1: that they are exceptions, but I feel like a lot
Speaker 1: of women have been sort of relegated to the to
Speaker 1: the Indy area for years and years because because of
Speaker 1: various complicated reasons, it's difficult to break in UM there.
Speaker 1: The glass ceiling is a real thing, and it's wonderful
Speaker 1: that we're it's part of our cultural conversation now trying
Speaker 1: to pick this and trying to achieve parity. And the
Speaker 1: more we can raise the profile of the large discrepancy
Speaker 1: between a number of working female writers and working mail writers,
Speaker 1: I think, I think the better it gets. But you know,
Speaker 1: there's work to be done for sure. Well, So in
Speaker 1: terms of women working on a lot of indie movies,
Speaker 1: do you is that because they are helming these entire
Speaker 1: projects themselves, like you talked about, you know, if you
Speaker 1: want to get your yeah, and so you end up
Speaker 1: finding um like the director and the writer, the same
Speaker 1: person for the majority of these indie projects that we're
Speaker 1: talking about. Yeah. You know, Kristen and I did an
Speaker 1: episode on on women directors in Hollywood, and it seems
Speaker 1: like there is a lot of attention on female filmmakers
Speaker 1: as outsiders, kind of looking in and following Twitter and
Speaker 1: following trend stories and stuff like that. Do you feel
Speaker 1: like there is a similar amount of attention or enthusiasm
Speaker 1: or curiosity city about female whether it's filmmakers but screenwriters
Speaker 1: in particular in Hollywood or do you think that people
Speaker 1: are just treating women like a trend. I think it's
Speaker 1: amazing what's happened in the past year. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: since we started the podcast, we you know, the first
Speaker 1: couple episodes, I feel like we talked with a lot
Speaker 1: more of a sense of despair. And this was less
Speaker 1: than a year ago our first episode. Yeah, and and
Speaker 1: things have have changed. The conversation has changed drastically in
Speaker 1: the past year. I I don't know what the numbers
Speaker 1: are like yet, but I do know that studios and
Speaker 1: production companies big ones are actively seeking out women writers
Speaker 1: to come in and pitch. Now, um, everyone all over
Speaker 1: town is looking for female driven stuff. People are. It
Speaker 1: seems to me from from my little corner that people
Speaker 1: are taking notice. And also people are taking notice of
Speaker 1: the of the dollars that women spend at the box office.
Speaker 1: I mean fifty sha, we can, we can tear that
Speaker 1: shreds all day. But it did amazing numbers with and
Speaker 1: it was all women. Yeah, same with Pitch Perfect. And
Speaker 1: I'm excited to go see Magic Mike this week. And
Speaker 1: I follow a lot of like comic book movies and
Speaker 1: superhero stuff, and uh, that's been interesting because you know,
Speaker 1: when people were talking about the Wonder Woman movie, there
Speaker 1: was a big clamor for the Wonder Woman movie to
Speaker 1: be directed and were written by a woman, and people
Speaker 1: complained about it, Like watch it didn't matter. But because
Speaker 1: people complained and yelled and made such a fuss about it,
Speaker 1: they did go out of their way to find a
Speaker 1: female director. And that bled over when they went to
Speaker 1: when now they're making the Captain Marvel movie and they
Speaker 1: need absolutely certain that their writing team. They had one
Speaker 1: writing team that was women, and when that writing team
Speaker 1: didn't work out, they went out and found another female
Speaker 1: writing team. Um, the same people who did Agent Carter,
Speaker 1: which is ring So um there are already in the
Speaker 1: Marvel family as well, but it's in that is a
Speaker 1: field that has traditionally been just doo doo doo doo
Speaker 1: doode everywhere, because how could a woman run an action movie?
Speaker 1: It's impossible. I think it's going to be really telling
Speaker 1: in the next year to see what actually was fruitful
Speaker 1: this year, because it it does like not to be
Speaker 1: the naysayer here, but it's it's incredibly exciting to hear
Speaker 1: how many people are looking for female driven work, looking
Speaker 1: for female writers, and looking for female directors right now.
Speaker 1: Like that for sure has not happened before. It's new.
Speaker 1: It's amazing. I have still noticed that it does feel
Speaker 1: like this is the project that we're going to put
Speaker 1: a woman on a little bit, you know, as opposed
Speaker 1: to like I haven't heard very many reps talking about
Speaker 1: I want to bring like five more female writers onto
Speaker 1: my slate. I hear like there is interesting. People are
Speaker 1: talking about it, and they're they're more aware of it,
Speaker 1: that's for certain. It's like exacts cannot can no longer
Speaker 1: say when men don't make movies that make money, Like
Speaker 1: there's there's a a number of things that have now
Speaker 1: been proven to be fact that are ridiculous that you
Speaker 1: actually sound very like antiquated talking about forms. If you
Speaker 1: go on that old tirade about how women can't make
Speaker 1: movies that sell, but you know, we're not quite there yet.
Speaker 1: I think Jill soloways it was either Jill or Gina
Speaker 1: Davis who said that we would have to have only
Speaker 1: female directed content for like seventy years to achieve parody
Speaker 1: something like that. I'm probably butchering that, but you get
Speaker 1: the picture. So what would you say then to the
Speaker 1: people who go, what does it matter if a woman
Speaker 1: writes the screenplay or not? Um, Well, aside from employing women,
Speaker 1: I mean it's that question of do women tell story
Speaker 1: is differently, Well, they certainly hire more women. That's proven
Speaker 1: that if you have a woman helming a project, it
Speaker 1: is way more likely to have more women employees. In general.
Speaker 1: I always use the cat the Miss Marvel example. UM.
Speaker 1: That's like my go to answer to this kind of
Speaker 1: question is in comic books. It's it's like ninety percent
Speaker 1: of white dudes, just like every other form of entertainment. UM.
Speaker 1: In the last year, I have to you, I don't
Speaker 1: remember when it started, but they started a new Miss
Speaker 1: Marvel and Miss Marvel used to be a leggy, blonde
Speaker 1: woman who is now Captain Marvel. Um. The new Miss
Speaker 1: Marvel is a Pakistani teenager in New Jersey, and reading
Speaker 1: that comic book is a breath of fresh air because
Speaker 1: it's not the same white guy who's you know, handsome
Speaker 1: and Kendall. Like, it's not the same. Not that I
Speaker 1: don't love Captain America, but it's not the same guy
Speaker 1: you see in every other comic book. Miss Marvel is
Speaker 1: amazing because you're like, oh, look a story about someone
Speaker 1: I don't see in every single other book. So I
Speaker 1: think that what women can bring to it, and minorities
Speaker 1: as well, is just a different perspective. It's not that
Speaker 1: we write necessarily differently. It's not any any question of talent.
Speaker 1: It's just getting a new voice that's got experiences that
Speaker 1: are different in a culture that's different. It's really nice
Speaker 1: to see. So it's not that you know, people who
Speaker 1: fall into the white male category can't tell incredible stories.
Speaker 1: I know many of my favorite writer writers fall into
Speaker 1: that category. Um, but yeah, it's just about different perspectives.
Speaker 1: Like our world, our culture is so shaped by storytelling,
Speaker 1: it's ridiculous and to deny that and to deny our
Speaker 1: culture different perspectives, I think it's just detrimental to all
Speaker 1: of us. And I yeah, the more the more diversity
Speaker 1: we have in our entertainment, the more empowered the diverse
Speaker 1: makeup of our society. Field. Um, I'm I'm particularly passionate
Speaker 1: right now, Um because I tend to write like I
Speaker 1: come from a like a music background, not like a
Speaker 1: music background. I come from a music background, and so
Speaker 1: I do tend to write a lot of stories about
Speaker 1: rock stars and touring and music and bands. Right now,
Speaker 1: I am actively trying to work on projects where my
Speaker 1: characters are in stem careers and other things that you know.
Speaker 1: I feel like we have a million and a half
Speaker 1: Disney shows and YouTube channels that teach little girls that
Speaker 1: it's wonderful to be a celebrity and to be a
Speaker 1: rock star. And I would I would love to see
Speaker 1: some shows come out in the next bunch of years
Speaker 1: that show little girls how awesome it is to be
Speaker 1: an anthropologist and a scientist and a doctor. Um. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I just went off on a person I agree with that. Well,
Speaker 1: we want to see those films too, By the way,
Speaker 1: Let's make them one of the cool things about having
Speaker 1: the podcast. One of the many cool things is that
Speaker 1: before we go on the air, we very often get
Speaker 1: to hear what the writers are actually working on but
Speaker 1: they can't talk about yet. And uh, there will be
Speaker 1: some of those projects they are coming just a little
Speaker 1: bit of a little bit of good news. Um oh good,
Speaker 1: we're talking about good news. So I'm immediately going to
Speaker 1: steer the conversation to something negative. Um So, there was
Speaker 1: a recent post over on people Say to Women Directors,
Speaker 1: which is a really interesting but really distressing tumbler. Uh.
Speaker 1: It called out a sexism in the script notes, particularly
Speaker 1: in particular. Have any of you guys experienced anything like that,
Speaker 1: especially with any strong female characters or female driven relationships
Speaker 1: you might be creating. I. Um So, I'm in the
Speaker 1: process of making my first feature film right now and
Speaker 1: it is out. It is from the female perspective. The
Speaker 1: majority of the cast is made up of women, young women,
Speaker 1: and it is about you know, sexuality, young female sexuality
Speaker 1: and a very uh big deal. Exact read the script
Speaker 1: which was a very exciting um and told us in
Speaker 1: a critical way, did we know that this movie was
Speaker 1: very much from the female perspective, which I wish had
Speaker 1: been in an email, because I would have printed it
Speaker 1: and framed it and put it on my wall. Uh
Speaker 1: you got it, you got it. Yes it is. But
Speaker 1: that was like, you know, he's the head of a
Speaker 1: huge company and he doesn't even realize that every movie
Speaker 1: he's ever seen has been from the male perspective and
Speaker 1: has the balls to like to say that two people
Speaker 1: who are trying to do something else, Um, yeah, how
Speaker 1: do you? How did you respond? How do you handle
Speaker 1: a situation like that gracefully? I just kind of laughed.
Speaker 1: I was like, this is great, thank you. Uh, that
Speaker 1: is in fact the story. So if that's a negative,
Speaker 1: then I think we're not going to work together. I've
Speaker 1: had more frustrating experiences of late having other female creators
Speaker 1: tell me that they're not feminists, which you know, that's
Speaker 1: a that's a whole can of worms that we could
Speaker 1: get into for days. But it's, uh, it's really frustrating
Speaker 1: as things sort of as we're experiencing this see change hopefully,
Speaker 1: um that I think women get mixed up about like that.
Speaker 1: They think that, oh, if you're a feminist, that means
Speaker 1: that you hate men and you don't want men to
Speaker 1: be working as much as your you know, the thing
Speaker 1: that they feel that they have to join the boys
Speaker 1: club in order to be cool or really successful. I'm
Speaker 1: very excited about seeing Magic Mike. Yeah, I'm hoping that
Speaker 1: that mentality dies. I met as just like a small aside.
Speaker 1: I was at a union. I won't say which guild,
Speaker 1: but I was at one of the guilds at a
Speaker 1: meeting and talking to one of the many people who
Speaker 1: runs a women the women's section, and uh, I started,
Speaker 1: I said something with the word feminist in it, and
Speaker 1: she told me that she wasn't a feminist. And I
Speaker 1: just think any sense like that, you know, what do
Speaker 1: you say and that scenario, You're like, oh good, you're
Speaker 1: the one fighting for me. Okay, yeah yeah. My My
Speaker 1: problem in that regard is as an action writer, I
Speaker 1: got told a lot early on, I can't write I
Speaker 1: shouldn't write action films with female leads because no one
Speaker 1: is going to buy them, no one is going to
Speaker 1: watch them. They're not gonna make any money. But that
Speaker 1: was before the Hunger Games and Gravity He and Divergent,
Speaker 1: President and Divergent, and now there's been a ton of them,
Speaker 1: and now those people have stopped telling me that. But
Speaker 1: I've even had people in the business tell me that
Speaker 1: I needed to write more things with white male leads
Speaker 1: to prove that I could, because it was like, well,
Speaker 1: if you only write women, how do we know you
Speaker 1: can write men? Um? Yeah, and are they giving men
Speaker 1: the same time? Hey, can you write us a femalely
Speaker 1: just so we know you can do it? Because women
Speaker 1: are like aliens, You guys, they're really hard. What was
Speaker 1: the you don't have to say this if you don't
Speaker 1: want to, and you don't have to, don't name the writer,
Speaker 1: but the cars thing? Oh yeah, A specific a list
Speaker 1: writer whose movie you have seen. I guarantee you um
Speaker 1: makes a zillion dollars a year, he basically said to me.
Speaker 1: Um Once, when I was talking about the screenwriting and
Speaker 1: how there were fewer women in screenwriting professionally, he said, well,
Speaker 1: the reason is that women just don't have what it
Speaker 1: takes to sleep in cars. Uh. Men apparently are willing
Speaker 1: to sacrifice and women aren't, was his points. Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: really bad at sacrificing thing. You know, We're really a
Speaker 1: selfish gender. I also know a ton of mouth screenwriters
Speaker 1: sleeping in cars currently. Everybody lately, dude, probably never slept
Speaker 1: in a car and right now for script, Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's very rich, oh man. Or maybe we're just better
Speaker 1: at finding like comfortable places and generally taking care of ourselves.
Speaker 1: Fun to be a pofecial screenwriter unless you've been homeless
Speaker 1: first to And we're going to talk more with Chicksie
Speaker 1: Script after a quick break. So is being a loud
Speaker 1: and proud feminists as I as I see happening in
Speaker 1: the snapshots that I do see of where when I
Speaker 1: learn on screenwriting Twitter? Um, is it a liability at
Speaker 1: all within the industry? Do you get branded in a
Speaker 1: way or is it just more something that people unnecessarily
Speaker 1: try to avoid. Well, none of us works in the
Speaker 1: studio system. Yeah, so it's hard to it's really hard
Speaker 1: to say. I don't know. Yeah again, like yeah, my
Speaker 1: experience is relatively in terms of areas where that might happen,
Speaker 1: My experience is pretty limited. Um, because I tend my
Speaker 1: stuff tends to be if it's going into bigger hands,
Speaker 1: people with money, they've they know my work and they
Speaker 1: are like excited to be working with me. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, I've had We've watched some people who swing
Speaker 1: sort of to the way other side of things, who
Speaker 1: are like deeply using feminism, like maybe in a not
Speaker 1: some way it get putting a respond and blacklisted. But
Speaker 1: I don't think that that's I don't believe that that's
Speaker 1: based on their feminism. I think they're based on general attitude. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's Um, did you guys see I wish I could
Speaker 1: remember the name of the guy, interestingly enough who made
Speaker 1: this little doc. But it's a video about the discrimination
Speaker 1: against female directors in Hollywood. Yeah, Celluloid Feelings, thank you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it is on Bloomberg. So I think I know
Speaker 1: all of those women except for one. UM, and they
Speaker 1: will tell you that they have I mean, and they
Speaker 1: do in the video tell you that they've experienced blacklisting.
Speaker 1: So there are definitely those who have experienced it, and
Speaker 1: I think it's probably the women who have been the
Speaker 1: most outspoken. But then we also know women who have
Speaker 1: been on the podcast who say that they not that
Speaker 1: they haven't experienced it. I think you'd be hard pressed
Speaker 1: to find a woman in this industry who hasn't experienced sexism,
Speaker 1: although maybe they don't realize they've experienced sexism. Um, there
Speaker 1: was a writer who came on who I won't name,
Speaker 1: but she said that she couldn't talk about the she
Speaker 1: couldn't really talk about the treatment that she got because
Speaker 1: she was worried that she would be kicked off the
Speaker 1: studio job she had right um, but that it had
Speaker 1: been very misogynistic and that she had just like you know,
Speaker 1: thought to be strong about it and sort of push
Speaker 1: her way through and not ruffled too many feathers and
Speaker 1: that being yeah, there is still definitely an attitude of
Speaker 1: that you need to smile and play nice, and even
Speaker 1: if you are outspoken on various platforms, if you if
Speaker 1: you don't really don't really wanted to come up when
Speaker 1: you're going into big time meetings and stuff. So so yeah,
Speaker 1: it's still I think a tricky area. There's an element
Speaker 1: of that. Um. I just have an image of like
Speaker 1: some male exact bringing you onto the project act and
Speaker 1: they're like, oh, we just really needed a feminine perspective
Speaker 1: on this. You know, you're great, cutie, and then take
Speaker 1: a seat and you kind of just like, do you
Speaker 1: criticize the person the exact for calling you cutie which
Speaker 1: he would never say to a mail writer ever, or
Speaker 1: a light your heart, sweetheart, giving you a hug. I've
Speaker 1: heard a lot of times that, like, you know, you'll
Speaker 1: go into the meeting as a woman and the executive
Speaker 1: will try and give you a hug, which you would
Speaker 1: never do. Also, but do you make a stink about
Speaker 1: that or do you take the job because they have
Speaker 1: made the effort to hire a woman and then on
Speaker 1: the next job not work with that person. That's um,
Speaker 1: I think that is the line that probably most people
Speaker 1: are walking. And that's what's kind of achey is should
Speaker 1: we be grateful that they've given us opportunities even though
Speaker 1: we're women? Right? Yeah? Stuff, Yeah, well too start closing
Speaker 1: things on high note because as obviously because we don't
Speaker 1: want to, we don't want to discourage all of the
Speaker 1: you know, the hopeful screenwriters listening. Most of our episodes
Speaker 1: at least lately have been really positive. Like I mean,
Speaker 1: I went home from our last recording and immediately launched
Speaker 1: myself into two new projects and now I'm overloaded work
Speaker 1: good job me, um. But it was because we're we
Speaker 1: get inspired most of the time. Most of our stuff
Speaker 1: is it started a little dark, but like you said,
Speaker 1: I think that over the course of the last year
Speaker 1: we now have really gotten into a positive place. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we've seen a big evolution. I would be interested to
Speaker 1: go back and actually listen, um in what the conversation
Speaker 1: is like, and the and the opportunities for women are getting,
Speaker 1: at least from where we stand noticeably larger, higher profile.
Speaker 1: It is a pretty exciting time to be involved. So community,
Speaker 1: if you are a lady thinking about writing right now
Speaker 1: at the time, ye oh, I was just gonna ask
Speaker 1: who y'all as role models are. Who are the women
Speaker 1: in Hollywood or outside of Hollywood who you look to
Speaker 1: to stay inspired and motivated? And yeah, Gina Davis, Diablo, Cody, Shanda,
Speaker 1: Genji Cohen. Yeah, oh my god, Ava Verne like a beacon.
Speaker 1: She's like she's killing it and it's so inspiring on
Speaker 1: a daily basis. Christ And Smith who wrote Ten Things
Speaker 1: I Hate About You and Legally Blonde awesome. Um, I
Speaker 1: don't know, there's a there's a lot of people. I mean,
Speaker 1: Jill Soloway, I mean, just watched that woman talk. If
Speaker 1: you want to get inspired? Who else? Tina and we
Speaker 1: could go on all day long. But that's great. I
Speaker 1: mean that's great that you could go on all day long.
Speaker 1: It would have been really kind of discouraging if you
Speaker 1: listed two names only one lady. Yeah, uh no, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of people out there who are Lindy Kaling,
Speaker 1: Liz Merryweather. Oh yeah, yeah, a lot of amazing women working,
Speaker 1: particularly in television. Um. There's a lot of female showrunners
Speaker 1: who have who started with one show and now run Empire.
Speaker 1: It's like Shonda, like Julie Pleck, Megan Allison, who is
Speaker 1: playing it with bringing like really great content, Yeah, into
Speaker 1: the world. Is there are there any projects coming up
Speaker 1: from any of these women that you list as inspirations
Speaker 1: that you're super excited about. There's one project coming up
Speaker 1: from a runner we had on our show that we
Speaker 1: can't talk about. Well, so to the answer is yes,
Speaker 1: about We're just going to release an episode of us
Speaker 1: screaming Alison's less oh Schroder, okay, so yeah, keep an
Speaker 1: eye on Allison Schroder. Everybody wink wink Hardy here first book? Yeah,
Speaker 1: well okay, so Um Dylan Meyer, who's a friend of
Speaker 1: mine and she was on the podcast, Who's very cool
Speaker 1: punk rock lady writer Um has a movie coming out
Speaker 1: through Netflix called XO x O. UM, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: really cool. Well, well, how about you guys, what's what's
Speaker 1: up next for you guys. I'm making a film that
Speaker 1: will hopefully shoot at the end of this summer called
Speaker 1: The Bang Bang Girls, which is what I referred to earlier. Uh.
Speaker 1: And that is the movie from the Female Perspective Prospective movie. UM.
Speaker 1: I just directed a series that I did not write. UM.
Speaker 1: Melanie w Recker wrote it. UM called The Friendless Five.
Speaker 1: And it's a teen adventure series like a female Goonies. UM.
Speaker 1: And that should be maybe really celine around November ish. UM,
Speaker 1: but we're it might be coming out through some fancier platforms,
Speaker 1: in which case I don't know when it will come out. UM.
Speaker 1: And I'm really excited because my short film that I
Speaker 1: finished in late is screening for the inaugural um Muff
Speaker 1: Society event in San Francisco next week. UM. And it's
Speaker 1: opening for Roman and Michell's high School Reunion, which is
Speaker 1: one of my fairite movies about female friendship. UM. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's kind of what's going on with me. UM. I'm
Speaker 1: lately am producing. I'm still right, but I'm determined to
Speaker 1: write and produce a feature about a heavy set black
Speaker 1: lesbian action movie. I mean, the movie is not a
Speaker 1: heavy set black lesbian. The protagonist set lesbian because I
Speaker 1: feel like that's the thing that no one would ever
Speaker 1: ever do, and so I'm determined to do it. But
Speaker 1: what mostly I'm producing right now? I may have a
Speaker 1: short film about Dr Who fans and cost players that's
Speaker 1: actually gonna screen at dragon Con Film Festival in September,
Speaker 1: so a comic bookie, go see our movie, um, and
Speaker 1: I will be there. Um. And I'm working on a
Speaker 1: TV series, script TV series, a reality series, and another
Speaker 1: friend short film, producing and writing depending on the project.
Speaker 1: Just want swamped with paperwork today. Well, in the meantime,
Speaker 1: where can people go to find more info about you?
Speaker 1: And follow you on Twitter? If you would like them to?
Speaker 1: We would love that man. We are at CWS podcast
Speaker 1: on Twitter. Um, we are www dot chicks who script
Speaker 1: dot com. You can also find us on the CWS
Speaker 1: podcast handle on Instagram and Facebook, and we all have
Speaker 1: individual twitters. Mine is at Bamboo Killer. Also my company
Speaker 1: is called bear Trap Films. There's not a lot to
Speaker 1: it right now, but that's what I'm just getting started.
Speaker 1: I'm on Facebook and Twitter, uh, and I am at
Speaker 1: Maggie Levin on Twitter and fun Ruiner Films dot com.
Speaker 1: And I am at Lauren Shocker on Twitter. That's this
Speaker 1: h two of them. And then y'all can like my
Speaker 1: film on Facebook, The Bang Bang Girls. That's that's it.
Speaker 1: We've got a lot of internet for You're so much.
Speaker 1: It's so good. Um. Well, is there anything that we
Speaker 1: did not ask you about or touch on that you
Speaker 1: would like to add before we go? I would just
Speaker 1: say for for all of your listeners, of course, if
Speaker 1: you're thinking about writing, give it a give it a whirl, ma'am. Um.
Speaker 1: And particularly if you are a girl, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of resources out there to help you, um, especially if
Speaker 1: you're well, even if you're not in the l A area,
Speaker 1: there's so many mentorship programs that are coming up. There's
Speaker 1: such an incredible community of female filmmakers that are really
Speaker 1: trying to help each other out right now that if
Speaker 1: you've even thought about dipping a toe in and we're
Speaker 1: too afraid about beating the odds, uh, you know, if
Speaker 1: you've got the mindset for it and you feel inspired
Speaker 1: to tell stories, there's a lot of girls out there
Speaker 1: who really want to help each other up the ladder. Definitely,
Speaker 1: And if you're in Los Angeles or New York, there
Speaker 1: are tons of like physical groups of women who meet
Speaker 1: up on a regular basis. One is Film fatal Is,
Speaker 1: although that's directors only. Obviously, women in film has its
Speaker 1: own things, but there's also women in Moving Pictures out
Speaker 1: here in l A, which is run by the amazing
Speaker 1: Emily Best run Set and Dark. Um, if you're not
Speaker 1: checking out what Emily Best He's doing, you should absolutely also,
Speaker 1: I let's say people sometimes you guys may know this
Speaker 1: because I answer all the emails people emails a lot
Speaker 1: for advice as podcast at chicksu script dot com. Um,
Speaker 1: if you want advice, I usually if I don't know
Speaker 1: the answer, will point you to a place that will
Speaker 1: give you the answer. So feel free to email us
Speaker 1: and ask questions. And then the cool thing about living
Speaker 1: in the Internet era is access. Uh. It's so easy
Speaker 1: to self educate about how to be a screenwriter nowadays.
Speaker 1: And there's so many people out there who are willing
Speaker 1: to answer your questions just on the spot. So and
Speaker 1: there are so many scripts that you can read, and
Speaker 1: if you want to write, you should be read reading great.
Speaker 1: And if you are a male writer and you're like,
Speaker 1: how does this apply to me? No rape? No rape?
Speaker 1: Please we're done with rape. But also if you, I mean,
Speaker 1: just like, take one of those characters you've written as
Speaker 1: a dude and just make it a woman. It's not
Speaker 1: men and women aren't that different. In fact, you might
Speaker 1: get a really interesting perspective out of that character because
Speaker 1: you probably wrote that character as yourself, and now it
Speaker 1: could be a woman, and you could really be helping
Speaker 1: some boys and girls who are going to be watching
Speaker 1: your film one day. As I have a Yeah, one
Speaker 1: of my biggest issues is background characters being women. A
Speaker 1: lot of times, if you need a doctor or a mechanic,
Speaker 1: it's always a dude. Secondary characters. Every character in a
Speaker 1: lot of movies, every character who is a woman is
Speaker 1: the only woman because she has to be she's a
Speaker 1: white or mother or girlfriend or whatever. Make good, just
Speaker 1: a random character woman who doesn't have to be. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I also, gosh, this is a lot. Sorry they
Speaker 1: talk forever, guys. I think I think it's also important
Speaker 1: to note that, as much as we are deeply craving
Speaker 1: strong female characters, not every woman in your script has
Speaker 1: to be a super ninja genius exactly. Women can very stupid,
Speaker 1: just as much as they can be brilliant. Guys. Women
Speaker 1: can be guys and bad guys. Women can be all
Speaker 1: of the things. In fact, did you know women are
Speaker 1: fifty percent of the world's popular than wait what hold on,
Speaker 1: it's mind blowing. You heard it here first, you guys. Well,
Speaker 1: thanks again so much to Lauren, Emily and Maggie for
Speaker 1: taking the time to talk with us. Caroline, I don't
Speaker 1: know about you, but I feel like I have some
Speaker 1: insider knowledge on Hollywood now that I didn't have before,
Speaker 1: and also on screenwriting Twitter. I know, I think I'm
Speaker 1: going to start lurking. Yeah, might as well, just to
Speaker 1: just to see what's going on. Let's just you know,
Speaker 1: lark maybe tweeter thing too. It would also be nice
Speaker 1: to to get a perspective on things that are happening
Speaker 1: in Hollywood and in the film industry that aren't just
Speaker 1: like weird celebrity feuds, things that are actually a little
Speaker 1: more interesting to read about well, And it's it's so
Speaker 1: informative to know what's going on at this background knowledge
Speaker 1: level to help all of these headlines that we do
Speaker 1: see about just women in Hollywood in general, pay gaps, representation,
Speaker 1: female ghostbusters, etcetera. It's helpful to note what is really happening,
Speaker 1: especially when you aren't necessarily uh, super top dog a lister. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I mean I think plenty of the of the
Speaker 1: perspective that they gave is helpful to people, whether you
Speaker 1: want to be in screenwriting or not, especially the stuff
Speaker 1: about you know, they mentioned that guy who up and
Speaker 1: quit his job and said, I'm going to give writing
Speaker 1: a year. I'm just gonna try it for a year
Speaker 1: and if it doesn't work out, then I'm going back
Speaker 1: to my day job. And of course when it didn't
Speaker 1: work out and he goes back to his day job, um,
Speaker 1: it was like he almost set himself up for failure.
Speaker 1: And I think that's a great story for really anyone
Speaker 1: who wants to give any dream a shot, that you
Speaker 1: have to sort of give yourself a little bit more
Speaker 1: credit and a little bit more time. Yeah, maybe you
Speaker 1: don't put a time limit on your in your dream. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll be sure. Friends to head over to Chicks who
Speaker 1: Script dot com to learn more about Maggie, Emily, and
Speaker 1: Lauren and also of course listen to their podcasts, and
Speaker 1: you can find links to their website to where you
Speaker 1: can listen to the podcast and also to all of
Speaker 1: their twitters on this podcast post at stuff mom never
Speaker 1: told you dot com and we'd also love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. Was this an inspirational conversation for anyone listening.
Speaker 1: I know that we have some filmmakers and screenwriters in
Speaker 1: our audience, so we would love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: Mom Stuff at how stuff Works dot com is our
Speaker 1: email address. You can also tweet us at mom Stuff
Speaker 1: podcast or messages on Facebook and quickly. I just want
Speaker 1: to give a shout out to all of the fantastic
Speaker 1: podcasters who talked to us this summer for our hashtag
Speaker 1: podcasting women and Brian Sofie Ferries. It's been a blast
Speaker 1: really getting to know some other people who are talking
Speaker 1: to the Internet audio waves like we are. And we've
Speaker 1: got a couple of messages to share with you right now. Well,
Speaker 1: I have a letter here from Christie in regards to
Speaker 1: our female urination Device episode. Uh, it's pretty technical. She's
Speaker 1: got some advice for how to use them, she says. Hi, ladies,
Speaker 1: I'm a PhD student in the biological science is I've
Speaker 1: been listening to your podcast for several years now while
Speaker 1: working in the lab. Thanks for making such an informative
Speaker 1: and amusing podcast. It's helped me through many hours of
Speaker 1: tedious experiments. Well you're welcome, Christie, thanks for taking us along.
Speaker 1: So anyway, she says, when I heard the FUD podcast,
Speaker 1: I was super excited, and you know, I finally had
Speaker 1: a good excuse to write in. As you mentioned several
Speaker 1: times during your show, floods are great for camping. I
Speaker 1: purchased one a few months ago for a five day
Speaker 1: backpacking trip. I decided to take along of FUD for
Speaker 1: several reasons. First, I did not want to carry toilet
Speaker 1: paper with me. Second, I didn't want to expose my
Speaker 1: rear ind to mosquito and took bites. Third, I find
Speaker 1: it difficult to keep splashes away from my shoes when
Speaker 1: popping a squat. I settled on the Shewy brand because
Speaker 1: it had an extension tube and a carrying case. Since
Speaker 1: I was wearing the same pant for five days, I
Speaker 1: didn't want any splashes on it or my hiking boots.
Speaker 1: The extension tube was really helpful with this. The carrying
Speaker 1: case allowed me to stash the FUD in an exterior,
Speaker 1: easy access pocket without worrying the guys on the trip
Speaker 1: seeing it. Okay, now, of the good part. I had
Speaker 1: the fud a few weeks before we left for the trip.
Speaker 1: I practiced in the shower the first time, and that
Speaker 1: was quite easy. The following few days, I used the
Speaker 1: food each time I urinated at home and stood over
Speaker 1: the toilet. The first few times I was standing, I
Speaker 1: still pulled my garments to my knees. After getting the
Speaker 1: knack of aiming at the toilet, I needed to practice
Speaker 1: while wearing my hiking gear. So the first time using
Speaker 1: the FUD while wearing my hiking pant is where this
Speaker 1: story gets amusingly embarrassing. Imagining this is how I would
Speaker 1: use the food out in the woods. I did the
Speaker 1: following unbuttoned and unzipped the fly, but leave the pant
Speaker 1: at waist level, stand above the toilet, was slightly bit knees,
Speaker 1: position the FUD against my body, and think of waterfalls.
Speaker 1: I'd used the fud successfully half a dozen times already
Speaker 1: without issue, but wearing my hiking pant while using the
Speaker 1: FUD caused me to hold it at a slightly backward
Speaker 1: angle thanks to gravity. My YearIn did not run down
Speaker 1: the funnel, but down my legs. So here I am
Speaker 1: a twentysomething early career professional having ped my panties. Luckily,
Speaker 1: my husband was not yet home and I didn't have
Speaker 1: to admit to him my mess. Needless to say, I
Speaker 1: had to spend the next half hour mopping up the
Speaker 1: bathroom and doing laundry. I did learn from the incident
Speaker 1: of the material of my pants pretty stiff. I still
Speaker 1: had to shimmy dan while using the fud, but my
Speaker 1: rear end stays covered by my underwear and it's just
Speaker 1: pushed to the side while using the FUD. I haven't
Speaker 1: told anyone this yet, but if you want to share
Speaker 1: my funny story on your podcast, that's fine. Keep up
Speaker 1: the great work. You ladies are fantastic. And she has
Speaker 1: a ps. She says, I like to say pant Stacy
Speaker 1: London style, and that's a pet peeve of one of you, right,
Speaker 1: And I think that hearkens back to an old episode
Speaker 1: for like a long ago episode, where I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: I was the one who said that pant. The use
Speaker 1: of the word pant irks me. Yeah. Meanwhile, I'm in
Speaker 1: the camp of if Stacy London says it, it's good
Speaker 1: enough for me. God, I just love her. She has
Speaker 1: my aspirational gray streak. It's a it's a great streak.
Speaker 1: It's a great gray streak. All minds coming into my
Speaker 1: side burns. What the heck that's also distinguished? This? Yeah, great,
Speaker 1: great chops. Awesome. Well thanks Christy. So I have a
Speaker 1: letter here from Beth actually about a stuff I'm never
Speaker 1: told you YouTube video that recently came out, in which
Speaker 1: I write an email from a fella who thinks I
Speaker 1: look horrible with makeup on. And this is something that
Speaker 1: will happen. If you spend enough time putting your face
Speaker 1: with makeup on the internet, you will get lots of
Speaker 1: guys um thinking they're being kind and telling you that
Speaker 1: you don't need makeup. So, Beth Rights, I really enjoyed
Speaker 1: your latest video addressing men who criticize women pouring makeup.
Speaker 1: As someone who considers makeup a bit of a hobby,
Speaker 1: I find it really startling to see what feels like
Speaker 1: a large amount of men and probably women, to feeling
Speaker 1: the need to criticize not only you, but many women
Speaker 1: on YouTube in particular for wearing makeup. I subscribe to
Speaker 1: a number of beauty bloggers, and I can't imagine how
Speaker 1: hurtful it must be to these women and men who
Speaker 1: are trained and professional makeup artists to be told how
Speaker 1: they look ugly or weird with makeup. Interesting enough, a
Speaker 1: number of these women also seem to be criticized when
Speaker 1: they appear bare faced as well. Yes, in fact, that
Speaker 1: does happen. So apparently, for as many people out there
Speaker 1: that hate honest ladies for having makeup on, there are
Speaker 1: just as many willing to rip into us for going natural. Personally,
Speaker 1: I think spending that extra time on myself both in
Speaker 1: the morning and in the evening to remove my makeup
Speaker 1: has really helped boost my overall self confidence and body image.
Speaker 1: That time of the day is mine, no one is
Speaker 1: there to bother me, and I feel like I can
Speaker 1: really just be alone with myself, literally staring myself in
Speaker 1: the face and taking the time to appreciate how I
Speaker 1: look with and without makeup. For me, it's like my
Speaker 1: version of meditation and my time to give myself a
Speaker 1: pep talk and work through any negative feelings I might
Speaker 1: have about myself. For those that don't wear makeup or
Speaker 1: don't get what the big deal is, I liken this
Speaker 1: to exercise. So many people seem to accuse those of
Speaker 1: us that wear makeup of doing it for other people,
Speaker 1: even if we insist we do it for ourselves. The
Speaker 1: same is true for exercise. You could tell me you
Speaker 1: love the rush of endorphins, the health benefits, or whatever,
Speaker 1: but I could turn around and say you do it
Speaker 1: to look good to other people. And there is certainly
Speaker 1: some truth in that, just as there isn't wearing makeup.
Speaker 1: Who hasn't hit the gym a little harder when someone
Speaker 1: turned you down for a date. You might do it
Speaker 1: for yourself, but maybe deep inside you also hope you'll
Speaker 1: look good to those around you. But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, it's not about your outward appearance, and
Speaker 1: there's always gonna be someone out there detracting from what
Speaker 1: you look like, whether it's because you're too thin, too fat,
Speaker 1: too made up, to plain, et cetera. But to me,
Speaker 1: if you feel good, you'll look good, because the real
Speaker 1: you is there when you feel your best makeup or
Speaker 1: no makeup, or at least I like to think so
Speaker 1: so thank you so much, Beth. I agree with your
Speaker 1: stance on makeup, and she says, ps, I happen to
Speaker 1: think red lipstick really suits you. So thank you, Beth,
Speaker 1: and my lipstick thanks you too. And if you have
Speaker 1: letters to send our way Mom step at house setworks
Speaker 1: dot com is our email address and for links all
Speaker 1: of our social media as well as all of our blogs, videos,
Speaker 1: and podcasts, including this one with links so you can
Speaker 1: go to check out Chicks who Script. Head on over
Speaker 1: to stuff Mom Never Told You dot com. Little more
Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics is that how
Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com