Geena Davis Producing Documentary on Hollywood’s Gender Inequality (EXCLUSIVE)
Geena Davis and CreativeChaos vmg are launching a partnership to produce an untitled feature documentary on gender disparity in Hollywood.
“I’ve been encouraged by my peers speaking out on gender disparity in recent years, but we still are not seeing the actual number change,” Davis told Variety. “There’s been no real improvement in the number of female roles since 1946 and there’s still a dearth of female directors.”
Tom Donahue, director of the HBO feature documentary “Casting By,” will helm the film.
The story will be told through the eyes of experts and researchers using data provided by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, as well as first-person accounts of high-profile actors, executives and artists in the field. Its goal is to take a systemic look at unconscious bias and provide a roadmap for solutions to act as a catalyst for change.
Davis noted that two of her films from the early 1990s — “Thelma and Louise” and “A League of Their Own” — were heralded as the harbingers of a shift toward gender equality in terms of female-oriented projects, yet turned out to have little impact on actual practices.
“The same thing happened when ‘Mamma Mia’ and ‘Sex and the City’ opened during the same summer and again when ‘The Hunger Games’ opened,” she added. “There’s a need for Hollywood to recognize that it’s operating with an unconscious bias.”
In partnership with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, the film is being produced in association with the Artemis Rising Foundation, founded by producer Regina K. Scully. Artemis Rising has credits on “Anita Hill,” “Miss Representation,” “Invisible War,” “Hunting Ground,” and “Fed Up.”
“I’m thrilled to be partnering with Tom Donahue and Regina Scully,” Davis said. “I’ve been working directly with content creators behind-the-scenes for nearly 10 years. This documentary will allow us to share what has worked and highlight our successes and impact on the industry.”
CreativeChaos vmg was founded in 2010 by Donahue, Ilan Arboleda and Steve Edwards. The company’s projects include “Casting By,” the documentary “Thank You for Your Service”; “Santiago Calatrava,” a documentary on the world-renowned architect; and Donahue’s “A Very Good Year.”
Related stories
Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon on How to Reach Gender Balance in Movies and TV
Susan Sarandon: Oscar Campaigns Are Out of Control
Susan Sarandon on Woody Allen: ‘He Sexually Assaulted a Child’
Get more from Variety and Variety411: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter