York Film Festival Notes (November 2015)

Talk: Calling the Shots - Where (and who) are the women?
By: Dr Shelley Cobb, and Professor Lindo Ruth Williams

• 11% of directors are female
• 16% of screenwriters are female
• Examples of women helming the way on films like: Mamma Mia, Bridget Jones' Diary, 50 Shades of Grey, Nativity, and Suffragette
• Main focus questions for this research task: "What challenges do women face when entering and maintaining careers in film?", "Once established, do they still have distinct stories?", "Do women have a better track record at employing other women?"
• The answers for this research project were obtained through statistical analysis, and interviews with 50 women within the industry
• Statistical Analysis: Box office numbers between 2000-2015 were examined - gender balance was explored (and women of colour was noted as well)
• 2 Year Microcosm (2009-2010) Totals: All films = 18% female leads on crew, Top 20 films = 14.5% female leads on crew
• Joanna Hogg: 'Male crew tend to be unhappy with a female director'
• Clio Barnard: Her children affect her choices (she can't just leave them for a shoot,) writing coincides more easily with child care, she 'put her blinkers on' and pushed past sexism she faced (people attempted to push her into producing.) 
• Carol Morley: The 'wanted' stories feature men (male narrative, male protagonist, able-bodied, white - lack of diversity,) Scripts are more often offered to male producers (so women directors have to be writers for themselves,) Morley once got a supermarket deal where her film would be sold within supermarkets but her name could not be made obvious on the front of the box
• Jane Campion: At films schools the gender balance is about 50/50, women do well in short film competitions, men trust men for business so then the women get ignored
• Lynne Ramsey: Class-bias exists - people who went to the 'right' schools and know the 'right' people

Talk 2:
By:

• Film is not dead & digital is making people lazy
• Rehearsal is a necessity
• "You're only as good as the people you're working with" 
• "Don't fix it in post"
• Directors must be clear/work with their actors and crew throughout
• Using a full camera crew is always advisable
• Do not take on more than one job at a time or else you will find that you have to make compromises that could spoil all your efforts
• "Film making is a collaboration"
• Spielberg - Film, Lucas - Digital
• Forget the tech and focus on the story
• Shoot as much as you can while you are in school, because when you leave, the work you've done becomes your calling card
• Big screen & good sound system = cinema is a magical experience
• Female on film - proper lighting, black stocking over the lens
• "If you do PC, stay off the film set"