Activism: Learnin with Laura Dern and Her Mom, Diane Ladd

“I, of course, told her. Be a doctor. Be anything but an Actor. They’ll judge and judge and judge you. It is not for everyone." Legendary Diane Ladd shared the advice she gave her daughter, Laura Dern. Icon Diane Ladd roles include “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “Wild at Heart” and “Rambling Rose.”

Laura Dern did not listen to her Mom and became a celebrated actress, producer, kind person in every capacity including ecosystem restoration work. She is an empress of cinema, who has evolved into a living library of service, performance, collaboration and presence. An inspiration to actors, directors, writers and producers. Watch any of her films and television shows and you will see the curiosity of a storyteller. Some of it is in her willingness to 'go there', to labor under all kinds of challenges of the heart, ready to surprise, and something else, so palpable, my friend, Jason Avalos, at School House Pictures refers to watching her work in movies and television as Learnin with Dern.

It was a lovely, gentle night to meet them on the occasion of a literary endeavor of healing and mother, daughter healing at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. A last minute invite to TCM Classic Film Festival Event: Conversation with Laura Dern & Diane Ladd facilitated by Ben Mankiewicz .

An immediate 'YES!'

What I didn't know, the Mother and Daughter, multi-hyphenate actors, who have Six Academy Award Nominations between them, would be using this conversation to launch their book into the world - HONEY, BABY, MINE: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding)

Ben Mankiewicz, Laura Dern, and Diane Ladd shared more than a stage — they share history. As second-generation Hollywood kids, they grew up in overlapping circles, grounded in a legacy of storytelling and artistry. As the evening unfolded, I learned their new book is, at its heart, a conversation between a daughter and her mother — one that began after Diane Ladd fell ill from chemical poisoning linked to local farmland in her community.

Their journey back to health became an invitation for readers to reflect on their own mother–child bonds. But this evening offered something deeper: part discussion, part storytelling, part promotion, and part generational exchange. It felt like a reunion of creative spirits — a chance to revisit beloved films, uncover behind-the-scenes gems, and witness the tenderness of a lifelong connection between two artists.

The event began with a gasp from the couple seated beside me. I looked up to see Diane Ladd entering the room, radiant — glowing just offstage like a full moon on a crisp spring night — with Laura Dern following close behind, smiling, easy, at home.

Ben Mankiewicz opened with a laugh, calling it “Bring Your Kid to Work Day,” as the two actors took their seats, sparkling with affection — for each other, and for the life they’ve shared. It’s rare that we know the story of someone’s conception, but in Laura Dern’s case, it’s part of Hollywood lore: she was conceived while her parents, Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern, were filming The Wild Angels, produced and directed by Roger Corman. A fitting origin — title and all — for the woman she would become.

Ben Mankiewicz asked Diane Ladd,

"Could you have gone in a different direction, other than acting?"

With a pause that hits different with each decade an artist spends in the entertainment business,

"It was that feeling of inevitability, kind of a Joan of Arc courage. I had 25 dollars and a train ticket to NY to pursue performing."

Ben agreed.

"You would have had that kind of courage to follow your gift Diane. It lives in your work."

The two women acknowledged knowingly all that had led them to this moment.

Laura Dern and her Mom Diane Ladd talk about life on the cliffs of the Palisades in CA

Diane Ladd was clear eyed and had no illusions about the entertainment business.

"Being an actor is a unique profession, a parent, even if they have succeeded at any level at a career, want to save their kids the pain points, but also, know, there kid needs to have their own path. I made a deal with Laura. If she could get herself to and from acting classes, put in the dedication, she'd agree. and didn't Laura get on her bicycle and attend every class."

Laura smiled, and the audience chuckled along with Diane Ladd.

“When your children have a gift, the minute you know it, you want to support their gifts. Let your children stand on your shoulders and allow them to fly”

"If you're going to learn discipline you gotta do it yourself. It's the commitment that makes the difference."

With grace and appreciation and that inner recognition turning back to her daughter.

"She did it.

She always did it."

Back to the audience, an offering of intention, a whisper across the winds of the entertainment ancestors.

"When you find the thing you love there’s no sacrifice . You do what you love. Follow your dreams through to completion."

The conversation fell to Laura.

"My Mom definitely lead the way. My Father, now, those early days of auditioning, when a Director noticed the last name on the call sheet, Dern.

"Dern?! You’re Bruce’s kid, oh Jesus Christ. Next!"

“Mommy never cost me a part.”

Ben guided the pair to one of Diane Ladd's breakthrough roles in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore directed by Martin Scorsese, in which she was nominated for an Academy Award, which she didn't win, but, Diane Burstyn did for best actress and the film won for best film. In this scene you see the beauty of Scorsese's work, the endless talent flowing between these two women. A wonderful moment between Alice played by Ellen Burstyn & Flo played by Diane Ladd, after they stop the arguing and become true friends.

Diane said "On Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore; Laura had a small part as her daughter on the set, to play a little girl eating an ice cream cone.

Scorsese did TEN takes.

She ate Ice cream 10 times. No complaints.

At the end of filming, Marty Scorsese came up to me. "I’m sure she is going to be an actress. And, that was part of destinies playground."

Ben moved into the choice of roles, the decisions of an artist to take one role or another bringing a wry, shadow laugh from Diane.

"I looked for parts that changed humanity."

As every with every great story teller, Diane Ladd had the crowd in the palm of her heart, when she landed the next line.

"They often don’t pay a lot."

To which we ALL laughed together, connecting, with understanding and hope that a new generation of artists would be paid to do this artistic work. Feeling the unspoken intent of Diane Ladd's sharing.

"We are teachers holding a mirror reflecting times we love in. We fight for everything to be as good as possible. As artists we wanted to fight for truth and entertainment that helps life and heals and shines a light. Work with love is the greatest thing there is."

In 1985, Laura Dern was cast as a carefree 15-year-old girl, Connie Wyatt, who grabs the attention of a predatory stranger, in the film Smooth Talk. Seen as the film that launched Dern's career, winning the Grand Jury Prize, dramatic category, at the Sundance Film Festival. Watching it during the pandemic in our Criterion Collection classic film screenings, thinking through, her 2018 performance in The Tale, it was shocking. Studying the work and once again, Learnin with Dern POV, I felt I had healed something from my own childhood. In her evolution, you see that through line of the artist, discovering the complex issues of society through performance, commentary, incorporating life, story and commentary into a deep dive of a performance, and something deeper. The relationship between the actor and the director a cornerstone of the family business. Watch the discovery in the work the next time you piece through an actors career, and see what you have learned, perhaps what they have learned.

"The parts we pick, the work we share, the process that unfolds and the joy in the process, especially with my Mom. Because of my parents, instead of going, St. Elmo's Fire rat pack route, I made different choices."

Ben steered the conversation to the book release, asking how the book came into being.

Laura returned to her Mom, being the daughter beyond proud and grateful for her mom.

"Truly there is no greater fan of movies and tv than my Mom. She'll call the house and ask to talk to my daughter Gia. and say, 'are you watching, You're not it going to believe what’s happening on CSI." Mom is truly the biggest fan of artists, movies and television. One night we got a call.“

"I live on the east side of Ojai, a farming community in California. It was 2018 and my beloved King Charles dog, Ginger, died, unexpectedly, upon investigation it was uncovered, to be an overdose of Glyphosate.

Very quickly inquiries revealed food companies had forced her farmer neighbors to spray millions of pounds of poison pesticide across the farm lands. A quick rush trip to the ER, at the hospital where I learned the poison had taken over my system."

Laura jumps in.

"The Doctor told me, "Your Mom will be dead in six months if she doesn't clear her lungs of the poison. You need to get her moving. Expand her lungs, get her walking."

Diane Ladd tells the rest of the story.

"God used me.

A voice, 'Be gentle.'

Instead of dying,

I did three movies a tv series and wrote a book, Ha!

Laura made me start walking and it saved my life."

Laura shared.

"She couldn't walk ten feet, had an oxygen tank when we started walking, and I thought, I'll record the conversations, in case it's the last conversations we get to have. My mom loves to tell stories and we’ll record so the grandkids have them."

"We covered everything."

"We got to know each other on ways we never had."

Laura had things she wanted to know, little things, "I asked her what was the first movie you saw as a child?' And, bigger ones.

"We talked about deep unresolved frustrations.

How did the journey to becoming an actress inform your life?"

"We had those precious moments to find common ground."

With the intimacy of the room, it felt Laura was in the moment remembering.

"Her dreams are impassioned and she always fought for them, she chose to believe in herself."

The pause held space for two seasoned actors to connect in appreciation, for family gone, for Mother and Daughter who had been through it all, for the love they share and the work they showed up for, to be together.

"She’s your Mom." Ben added lovingly, breaking the tiny spell casting between them.

"Because I thought I was dying we told each other everything."

Diane Ladd added.

"It’s a people book. It is an all of us book. It shares a message...

Talk to each other before it is to late."

"You two are going to help save the world.

You are going to get people talking to each other."

She responded to Ben.

"That’s how we get back our lives.

Hug each other.

Talk to each other.

Love on each other.

If almost dying is the price I got to pay. To get people talking.... Well, you can imagine,"

Looking out at the adoring crowd.

"It was worth it."

Thinking about the many Mothers in my life and my own relationship with my Mom. Mothers and Daughters. Grandmothers and grandkids. Mothers are our models for a life to be loved and in this case shared as a way through to connection and healing.

"It’s hard, sometimes to make the turn into our fears, express our frustrations, the love that wasn’t shared. The pain inflicted and the joy denied. Parents lie to their kids, and kids lie to there parents. So much is left unsaid."

"We learned we’ve worked together at different times. We played. And. Beyond all my flaws, she loves me. Before this illness, we hadn’t gone to the most painful places. This was our chance to share. And through our walks and talks we found how much healing comes in the dark spaces of the pain of what is unaddressed. Now released with love."

We honor our Mother's, and the many relationships that nourish and surround us, that remind us, of family we have lost, of love we have shared and of that deepest of connection the laboring grace of Mother's and daughters, daughters and mothers. It's a bond that transcends time and space.

"Honey, Baby, Mine." is a reference to Woodie Guthrie's The Crawdad Song which Diane Ladd's father would sing to them.

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Book available with 💗💗💗

HONEY, BABY, MINE: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding) with a foreward by Reese Witherspoon into the world.

ISBN: 9781399718301, 1399718304 Page count: 256 Published: April 25, 2023 Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Language: English Author: Laura Dern, Diane Ladd

"Here's to the ones who dream, with the courage to commit to the path and see it through."

As requested by Diane Ladd - please watch her latest films that got disrupted by COVID.

THE LAST FULL MEASURE

A story about available on Amazon Prime Video

One of the last films for Peter Fonda's last films before his passing in 2019.

Christopher Plummer passed in 2021 and William Hurt

ISLE OF HOPE

A story about a Daughter getting a second with her relationship to her Mother.

Find your way to ask the questions, and listen to the answers.

Geena Davis is a GD BAD ASS! A Love Letter to The Things We Have to Go Through To Get Where We Are

It’s hard to say how tall she is but when she enters a room she radiates presence like a grand tower, determined and kind, ever ready with a smile. At a commanding 6'0” it’s looking up time to receive a smile imbued by a confidence at having seen it all and an elegance born of the limelight of timeless beauty and grace. On the occassion of her receiving the Academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award I offer you statement and an offering, a love letter to a future that is unwritten and free of the past.

A 'GD' badass doesn’t join you in your feelings, a god damn bad ass says 'I don’t know let’s look at the numbers,’ evaluates and holds space for other things than feelings assumptions and defensiveness, things based on reporting, informed with the wider viewpoint free of bias.

Photo: Good Deed Entertainment | This Changes Everything

It all happened in an evening of time and no time at all when the wonderful LA PRESS CLUB presented an end of summer screening of This Changes Everything with a conversation to support the release of the documentary or as I like to call it, an evening of irony and empowerment, elegance and grit, disbelief, determination and persistence, longevity and loyalty to purpose. Geena Davis was joined by directors Catherine Hardwicke, Kimberly Peirce and the film’s director Tom Donahue gathered post screening with an added pain pulse when it was noted several members of the USA Gymnastics Team drove in from Orange County and were seated just behind me, adding another layer to the night as these women not only stood together in survivorship representing a sport that starts when girls are so young as to only know how to follow the rules and in doing so 368 young athletes were sexually assaulted "by gym owners, coaches, and staff working for gymnastics programs across the country." Whatever intent of the film, whatever representation, it is all UP for consideration how we allow system abuse to continue either through apathy or disbelief or following rules designed to protect abuses we now know transformative justice as balanced inter-action is life or death for our society. (AND. Excuse me while I burst into something my friend with Turrets likes to express " STOP IT YOU FUCKITY FUCKING A-HOLE. FUCKING STOP IT. FOR FUCKING OUR KIDS SAKE, REALLY. STOP IT.")

The curated gathering seemed perched to showcase the persistent work required beyond speaking up, beyond organizating and laid out what has been done to daye, the effects of action and inactions and revealed how little has changed, and yet how much ground work has been laid out to facilitate a next level full on renaissance of femme structural transformation, as to at once allow for the disgust and the dance of possibility to be unleashed and with each action taking place across the planet more hope seeds are planted for those who will follow into the intersectionality of the media business. This was a night of two top female directors discussing the challenges they faced in their careers, an actress who decided to do something about what she saw, and a man grappling to get his arms around all of it and share a work he put time, energy and influence into bringing to life. Women are showing up, we are listening, we are addressing issues and making plans and deciding where we can take action within the system and equally taking stock on how we can disrupt, and begin again with new vistas and as more and more of us join together to say 'Not today, not tomorrow and not ever again, MFers.' We bend the arc toward justice and new economies and new pathways for storytelling.

Geena Davis endeared herself to me many years ago in her sparkling turn in Tootsie directed by Sydney Pollack. It was one of the first movies I remember looking forward to seeing, written by Larry Gelbart whose tv show M.A.S.H was part babysitter, part inspiration growing up. Her quirky and endearing turn in The Accidental Tourist brought her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and cemented her ability to deliver leading to a much beloved box office action star bending success in the action film Long Kiss Goodnight.

As with every actor and director and producer there are in between phases, times when you are living life outside of 'the work' environment. It is in these in between phases Geena Davis allowed for possibility to flourish, using her experiences and her insight and access as she made a way for a shift, creating a dialogue of impact and a way ahead based on stats, laying in a framework of tools for others to follow.

And this, my dear friends, is why I say without hesitation or further delay, with the utmost respect for a career of action and activivsm, of love and light, of talent and persistence and for all of it. Geena Davis is a GD Bad Ass.

Hear me good sisters and brothers and folks that care about inclusion and the whole GD picture, that demands equal pay, and wants their picture on the wall in the clubhouse and who want to not only break the glass ceiling, but to rebuild it with regenerative solar panels with power enough to run all that jazz and many bags of chips, awake and awarene of the fullness of freedom from the fragile bullshit known as our MF feelings.

Hear me good Sisters. Our feelings ain’t shit. They are merely feelings, and you know what? A GD badass doesn’t join you in your feelings. A GD bad ass says 'I don’t know, let’s look at the numbers.’ A GD Badass practices an open heart, free of the past, reviewing what is, a true picture of the state of affairs, using the numbers, to evaluate and hold space for other things, markers, ideals, other than our feelings, assumptions and defensiveness, to be in our knowing of the question, has it changed everything or not. A GD Badass leaves things better than when they found it.

For parity, the numbers do not lie, they reveal.

In a recent article on her organization -- "With the Geena Davis institute’s cutting-edge data collection technology that measures how female screen and speaking time is disproportionate to men in film and television, Davis has been quietly revolutionizing the way the entertainment industry approaches gender parity."

Each gender misstep is revealed in the numbers but the numbers are not enough, they are the launching off point to challenge our thoughts, to push for new efforts to reach out beyond what is.

None of the obstacles presented, or the numbers calculated diminish the work of those who have broken through, that we miss in the break through paradigm is the daily care and work and practice of developing a mindset that allows the breakthrough to be a bridge that is the transformative creative evolution where it becomes easier for stories to be told by those who are other than the systems itself as lenses expand into other points of view.

Each and every time one person breaks through it is a keystone for others to follow, what has happened in the idea of 'this changes everything' one keystone, polished and offered as an example has not included the necessary linking arms to build bridges for others to cross over and this is the inherent system collapse discussed in 'This Changes Everything." and the work behind the movement Geena Davis is being awarded for. What about a female lenser in charge of hiring decisions free from an approved list with a willingness to hold a vision and not stop sharing it supported by real equality reflective of the whole. It is said in circles that while women represent half of the world's population, they have given birth to the whole population. It is beyond time to recognize the stories and gestalt of women are not just to be celebrated but to be honored and expanded upon. We're on the same page, and the care and work ahead requires our determination and our voices.

Mr. Donahue is a legend in this particular genre of thought shifting, historical documentary to me from the second he chose to honor Marion Doughtery, one of the most ground breaking human rights advocates and clay shaper that is the contemporary movie business giving life to the modern day casting of words on a page through an actor’s embodiment finding the throughline of talent that represents the soul of the stories in his documentary Casting By, I considered it a first crack in the bricks of respect and contribution of bringing talent to the director to shape the materials through insightful embodiment known as the casting process. Marion Dougherty was just ahead of my time but I did have the pleasure of working with one of her casting proteges Barbara Miller whose advice to me 'we are casting the world with our choices and our actions, it is as important to trust your heart in connecting essential choices as it is about freeing yourself of what you know to be true so the soul can shine through.' Mr. Donahue's talents on that project, laid the groundwork for what is presented in This Changes Everything. I've had the pleasure of seeing Geena Davis show up and speak at different events and you always learn something new because she is ever evolving, it is a part of her makeup and the uses of her particular enchantment, that appears to be an active heart seeking to challenge her beliefs and her world as a way of life.

Lord, give me the strength, and give me courage and let me stay the course of the purpose of my inspiration in writing in this piece. It is to lift up and honor Geena Davis and her ideas born of years of random studio questions, pitching this and the other, finding her roles and from her personal experiences and contemplation of her place in the world and how she could best serve. It seems like it was a lightbulb moment born of repitition when she would be probed and prodded by one exec or another, questioned about this or that for her weigh in as someone who has succeeded.... ’I don't know. Let's look at the numbers.' This thought combined with some joy of numbers in boxes to sooth that become what we know as statistics has proven a powerful tool and an everyday practical approach to a new day where we are allowed the grace of, shifting a feeling about something into usable numbers to cut through feelings, pressures, assumptions and judgments, all the while allowing for possibility to flow because you are not guessing, you know.

The shining beacon of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media work is the pureness of intention, the clean grace of just the facts that when one person or another says, ‘isn’t it great that so and so broke through and changed everything.’ We all get to say --- “I don’t know, let’s take a look at the stats.’

"My cause has not been educating the public but because I have access to everybody in Hollywood I wanted the data to go directly to the creators privately, to offer a way for a shift, because the way it’s operated for so many decades is so ingrained it requires that extra step." She said.

This Changes Everything is a mantra to everyone who has ever left home with nothing but a dream hoping to find the Promised Land of a storied career.

My old boss, John Landgraf, is featured in the doc discussing the article and the switch it flipped as it revealed to his and others surprise as being 'one of the worst places for hiring women directors'. Some would call this a tipping point, he took decisive action sending out a note to his creative show-runners, business partners. I worked at FX Networks when "the article" with the numbers on gender parity came out regarding women hires v. male hires in the entertainment business reverberated throughout every department up to the top.

Having worked under the stewardship of John Landgraf during the time of the 'meeting' and as 'the article' discussed in the doc was brought to the bosses attention, and the halls of FX, through many voices that resonated with its truth. 'I don't know. Let's look at the numbers.' Well, the numbers were not good. His inclusion in This Changes Everything is a credit to the deep respect for the leadership he showed, in recognizing, after being shown the numbers, he needed to take action. Being a man who respects others work process he chose to send a letter to the show runners throughout his FX kingdom offering them insight and his encouragement to bring parity to the hiring of directors on programs at the networks. One of the bright spots for me was when Ryan Murphy quickly siezed the day and the direction and used the opening to not only empower female directors in the form of hires and mentorship but to include trans, nonbinary folks, different voices and up-level his game, bringing us another breakthrough reckoning whose time was more than ready with POSE and its many 'firsts.'

It's amazing what you don't see until you see it. John Landgraf is a quant believer, a man who uses statistics and reports as part of his problem solving and creative decision making repertoire to guide a deeply creative and powerful operation that supports the ideals of fearlessness. He stands side by side with two powerful, important, highly unique women, Stephanie Gibbons President, Creative, Strategy and Digital, Multi-Platform Marketing and one of an industry described most powerful legendary artistic creative leaders in the entertainment renowned for her curating of talents and expression of what is essential to delivering messaging for the brand, show, artist, executive and Julie Piepenkotter Executive Vice President, Research and wisdom through numbers guru of intelligence, thoughtfulness and the thorough knowing of a great general who has seen it all, who when she speaks, telling you, you are in the weeds, you rethink your entire thought flow.

Landgraf by all accounts is an ally to woman, and all, other than the numbers, indicators showcased a strong respect for and inclusion of women. It was a blow when he saw in black and white in the trade paper that he had failed on hiring women to direct and lead creative production, which reflected through all roles and departments. I had a unique seat to bare witness to a thoughtful industry leader, who was not only kind, considerate and always celebrating successes, a respectful boss, a caring person and husband, deep reader, lover of the 'quants' with a deep respect for colleagues, fierce defender and support of talent, expressing their voices, and a fierce and fearless competitor, who would wear his successes and failures on his sleeve as he discussed a decision that went badly in a chance elevator meeting and with deep reverence co-shared leadership of the brand with one of the most powerful creative women in Hollywood heading the marketing team.

The power of an article of quantitative information to open eyes and hearts and connects in a way that could not be dismissed away

What a few numbers here or there can do to cut through the noise.

From the documentary "92 percent of the top-grossing films of 2018 were directed by men." Geena Davis went on to say "it’s an embarrassment. We should be deeply ashamed that women are half the population and half the students in film school and yet only 4 percent of movies are directed by women. It’s appalling." It's not a surprse sexism runs super deep as to not even be recognized and has stubbornly remained unchanged for decades.

As the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media states 'what happens off screen is as important as what happens on screen.' Every decision, every shift in pov, every action towards inclusion off screen reflects back to the projection, the world's stories are being told, different lens, different vistas, different experiences, different perceptions and it is the way of evolution.

Geena Davis is a GD MO F**ing BAD ASS who has given so completely of her experience, offering influence and support for the work when nothing changes when you thought everything would. All she's poured into her work, the thoughtfulness, the talks, the screenings, the gaze, the power, the green-lighting of female empowerment by asking the question and the listening required to build a bridge has been done for decades by an actress facing the test of time and power and reconciling the action she was called to make and doing it. Putting the forces at her disposal to play so others could experience breakthroughs and insights and in this act of doing what she was called to do another sledgehammer hit the walls of the power structures of the Hollywood system and dents, formed cracks, folks found each other and instead of tearing each other down began saying. 'I don't know. Let's look at the numbers.' Whenever a wisp of practicality is necessary, there will be the indominatble spirit of Ms. Davis with a smile, grace and all the power of her wizzisdom is on call in the ethers. It is here that Ms. Davis lives on, in the zeitgeist delivering on a promise to shift the POV as necessary work of the 21st Century.

How does one begin to understand the long process of femme representation in film and share it in the thought flow on the make and meaning of Geena Davis and her breakthrough work built off of her own experiences and the intuition from which if flows. Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media opened its inquiry in 2004 and its impact stands as a testament to its namesake.

The discussion brought to mind my female influences that continue without fail to inspire me to keep on going. They were my heroine's because they were who I saw growing up and while I can't list all the breakthrough femmes who graced the highest stratospheres of stories I loved a few who leap to mind- Lucille Ball, Barbara Streisand, Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Burnett, Katherine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn, Pearl Bailey, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Ross. Icons all. Women who pioneered, who appealed to the masses drawing massive audiences and benefiting in financial freedom and power. Who seemed to Do it with kindness, do it with grace and to always show up and keep on going.

As an executive producer of This Changes Everything one might think that Geena Davis had a hand in attracting the woman who came on board to give their insights and share their wisdom and a weigh in on selecting the director, some things around executive producing are never as clear cut as things come together as they need to to give life to a particular project.

Champions for gender equality come in all shapes and sizes, all gender identities and all sectors. Mr. Donahue discussed his process with the film and how he was always repping his blindspots and his short falls as the man in the room. 'Now you understand what it is to be a woman.' brought a few laughs from the crowd but the presistent thought throughout was 'Couldn't this topic have found a female director?

But, let's not dwell, if you have the opportunity to cast, hire, etc. a woman on a woman's issue. Hire a f-ing woman.

Taking a stab at the distillation of what the champions for gender equality want you to know for your consideration:

1) Defy stereotypes allows for intersectional representation.

2) Talk the talk is part of it, but to teach is to demonstrate. Your actions bring results.

3) Disruption of existing cults in our cultural systems that represent as toxic abuses of power, including pervasive versions of masculinity, systemic, HR, Creative Technology, Business List Practices are necessary as a commitment to transfrom. 4) Don't stand for intolerance on any level in any way. The ability to transform what was is to release it all into the present moment and allow for a new possibility to unfold.

With that --Donahue is a legend in my mind when he chose to honor Marion Dougherty one of the most ground breaking actor advocates and shaper of all that is the clay of the movie business by giving life to words on a page through her talent of recognizing an actor’s essential embodiment that represents the soul. I considered it a first crack in the bricks of respect and contribution of a large female ability to bring talent to the director, to shape the materials through insightful embodiment as the casting process. While Marion was just ahead of my time but I did have the pleasure of working with one of her proteges Barbara Miller. Her insight on building and developing instincts of insight with 'we are casting the world with our choices and our actions. It is as important to trust your heart in connecting the concept of choice, it is about freeing yourself into what you know to be true.'

Sitting in the audience taking a mental portrait of each of the panelists, reflecting for a moment, what if I had the numbers when I started my career? How would it have impacted on my media career and would it have shifted the ways I was unknowingly complicit in the problem and would knowing cause me to actively work every day, as I do now, to create opportunities for thosewho would follow my footsteps. I grew up believing in the trope of the undiscovered super hero powers of the under-appreciated, the Cinderella story, from my home state of Pennsylvannia ROCKY living up to his potential. The potential that lay within us expressed outwardly changing the world. The idea that with care and work and a chance, everything was possible.

What one person has accomplished is a fraction of what is possible for each of us. The fallacy and the falsehood is that when this happens for one of us, it changes everything for all of us. But, nope. It is the process, the practice and the principle of application, of allowing bridges to be built based on the care and work transforming the power levers that choose to oppress through omission or direct exclusion. The potential that lay within us expressed outwardly changing the world.

Photo: Seejane.org Nina Tassler and Geena Davis

One of the often repeated examples when a fictional forensic scientist character, portrayed by Marg Helgenberger, was introduced to the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Ms. Davis made during the discussion, reflects across the media landscape, when media showcases and makes visible invisible visuals, things do change. If she can see it, she can be it(tm) sometimes referred to as the 'CSI effect' spiking the numbers of women entering the fields of forsensic science. While these breakthoughts may seem disconnected, when the idea that one of the more influential people developing dramas at CBS during this time was Geena Davis' college roommate at Boston University, Nina Tassler, you begin to see the extensive, obsequious, weaving and fabric of the power and purpose of synchronistic media evolutions. Those who work towards a better, more inclusive, more balanced landscape.

Mr. Donahue is a legend in my mind from the second he chose to honor one of the most ground breaking human rights advocates and shaper of all that is the clay of the movie business giving life to words on a page through an actor’s embodiment that represents the soul of the stories connection in his documentary Casting By, I considered it a first crack in the bricks of respect and contribution of a large female ability to bring talent to the director, to shape the materials through insightful embodiment as the casting process. Marion was just ahead of my time but I did have the pleasure of working with Barbara Miller on building and developing 'we are casting the world with our choices and our actions. 'It is as important to trust your heart in connecting essential choices it is about freeing yourself of what you know to be true. His light on this area laid the groundwork for what is presented in This Changes Everything.

The Casting Society of America (CSA) and its long tradition of supporting a male dominated industry folks are without comment but perhaps an insight or two. When it was time for the DGA to support the CSA, the President declined to be an ally for the CSA. This dereliction had a deeper impact than anyone could monitor, but rest assured each back turned on allowing inclusion creates a unquenched hunger that finds ways to be heard.

It is a lot to run and operate a network, it requires all kinds of movements of the heart and there are things called trafficking to get media into the system to air. Yes. Weaving more folks into the eye opening systemic issues. 

We are who we are. Projecting machines, embodying the world and reflecting it outward across all our industries. Media is an export of ideas and ideals, of value and our values; we are together in the holding, advancement and acceleration

'All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks," from Ruth Bader Ginsberg's first oral arguments before the Supreme Court for Frontiero v Richardson is on full display here. It is all on clear resonant display in this work. But whose foot or boot or casual super expensive sneaker rides the next of an entire sex as in the case of the media business and its financial excesses and king and queen making turns, the work of shifting to actual systemic change requires the necessary every day commitment to removing it.

It reminds me of an afternoon at the Tribeca film Festival hearing Barbara Streisand discuss her first directorial effort, YENTL which as a young girl wanting to make a way in the world of men, a young girl whose father thought it was important for her to be educated on principle that society forbade, it was a way for a shift, a man for a day to learn, to be allowed into the temple of understanding and yes, having to crush the boobs, to change her appearance that men would be distracted by or want to motor board for their own pleasure, to dress differentially, to stay in their lane, to avoid turning anyone on lest they not e able to control their lust, it was a very personal directorial turn, masterfully expressing the ways a tree grows in Brooklyn, aka a flower from the cement cracks, we are here to be a light, to shine and that is the message she delivered so beautifully.

When her film opened, upon reading the reviews Barbra Streisand spoke of the 'vicious attacks from women', reflecting on Barbs choices in her directing effort, forget that she was one of the first powerful musical, actress super talented woman to direct a major feature film based on material she developed and crafted for her multi-hyphenate turn, and all that meant, forget how gorgeous the effort is forget all of it, women turned on her and she receded into the directing efforts and a towering world came to a close. Barbara Streisand’s directorial greatness missed a beat in a world that would have benefited from her grace and skill and power behind the camera the world would have so many women working today had it been written that celebrating women with possibilities would be the outcome of greatness.

It reflected in the words of Kimberly Peirce after having to wait 14 years for another studio gig as a follow up to her out of graduate school feature debut BOYS DON'T CRY which showcased female sexuality and the expression of pleasure on screen, the receiving and giving, a testament to the worlds not explored by the male gaze from behind the lens. It was hard not to contemplate what could have been created in those years if given the full brush of a studio support, would we have arrived at this point of time where the blockbuster, theme park ride feature dominates, would there be a more diverse offering, exploring vistas left behind as each year passed. The world we occupied didn't give the talented artist another film, or a chance to direct after delivering an Oscar for her lead actress and a genre bending expression of the fear and power of being different, an other than and expressing her full skills as a director. While gratitude flows through all of the folks on stage it is with an eye toward what could have been, the films that could have been made in a different system that we are lessened by.

Looking at Kimberly Peirce in the light of the history we have seen play out, a determined portrait emerged. She got to work in television, which has become the filmmakers home, the place for moving stories told in large scales, played with and supported by technology, her talents and those of her sister made a place for the golden age of television, the renaissance perhaps born from this segregation, but that is the past and any student of history, looks at the ways we rise as we recognize the path. A determined beginning to hope that never dies, she studied the greats in her post doctorate program, delivered a breakthrough out of the gate and had to hone her skills in another form, in light of the me-too moment, and with the defiled Gymnasts who systematically had to put up with decades of sexual assault by a team doctor sitting behind me, it was a moment of light, Kimberly Peirce struck the pose, with the swagger, carving her place in the greats of film making like John Ford, George Stephens, Billy Wilder etc. etc. and there is not a part of her then and now that doesn’t consider herself worthy, opportunities she made herself or she had been given, her gifts and her towering impact, a space stretcher boundary pusher and storyteller that delivers the emotional goods balancing all that is required in an intersectional world to deliver results and hold space for the reckoning of greatness that is a world born from each woman's words.

There is a lensing of the world, filters and expressions that is a point of view inflected by experiences. The work ahead of us, is in the container of our realities.

'Just happy to be here' still working is echoed throughout the entertainment business echoed from the two women directors on stage, who one would hope will see more opportunities to stretch into the directorial gifts they are here to share. It is a blessing to be able to create stories and the work of opening the sprit of creation to build worlds for the story presented to express and embody the truth is a pure gift and a craft and an art form in total collaboration with the universe that is rarefied heaven on earth when all systems are flowing and everyone is in synch sharing their gifts, playing their part.

Greta Gerwig not at the event but someone there in presence of mind came in talking about in college 'getting curious about the stories that are taking place when men aren’t there,' it is a reminder we are in a new era with understooding why teenage girls with t-shirts reading 'Greta is NOW' felt a sense of purpose in this world of ALL POV's/perspectives.

We choose what stories we tell. We choose our subjects and the POV we want to share. We choose who is with us in our greatest battles and we choose the stories we want to bring to light in all that exists in the world.

Let’s allow our choices to mean something loving.

Let’s be in good cheer as we celebrate each other and our diverse stories.

As Jerry Lewis used to teach his students in UCLA's The Total Filmmaker 'celebrate everyone for in their successes and their failures, each opportunity is a gift.' When one of us rises let it mean we all rise, give work to good fellows, give light to the dreams and the encouragement of the fool for it is in her we are brought to the ground of our being, it is in her we become all of what connects us and reminds us and embodies us and lives to begin again to tell another story. And another and another.

A better world for women and girls is a better world for all, and leaders from across the world are recognizing that. From highlighting the need for more women in leadership, to promoting women’s economic empowerment, equal pay, equal rights, it lies in every heart to claim that deep state of sisterhood and embrace each other in the love that is our birthright. Now is the time for many Heads of State and Government called for urgent action for gender equality.

Now is the time to surrender with fierce knowledge that we are the better for inclusion, in all of us are one of us and as we re-order our imagery and our possibilities for story telling where all pov’s are valuable, because the are, because the statistics bring us and bare out the truth. Every voice counts and we will thrive as we encourage and expand and grow our stories to include all of it.

We all have struggles to be seen, to be heard, to express our soul's purpose in the world and each woman who speaks her truth, who expresses her power honors those who have come before and those who will come after. It is with gratitude to the LA Press Club's organizers and leadership to continue to present work, conversations that inspire, enlighten and continue the long tradition of a vibrant community energizing our Los Angeles based writers, directors, performers and the journalists who have served the City of Angles from its inception over 100 years ago.

Given our numbers, American women could and can be a moral force for good, care takers of the earth and rebirthing a new world order where we understand collective connection and a wholeness gestalt embodying it all, supporting each other, lifting each other up and discovering the pathway for beautiful, epic, stories to be told from the strength of our beings. We have tremendous power that we’re not yet using. #1 one should be the health and safety of children here and elsewhere. We should be fierce on their behalf, from safety to health to education to freedom. No matter what keep coming back to this, one act may breakthrough the malaise of systemic apathy, the antidote to this changes everything awareness and everyday.

With each statistic released from the Geena Davis Instiute for Gender in Media as each year passes in this 21st century may we become wiser, more open, more understanding and more willing to practice good policy on workplace, creative imagining of a world inclusive and free and powerful enough to amplify powerful, grounded, empowered images that celebrate all that is wonderful about each of us and our lives and the worlds we inhabit.

On Oct 27th Geena Davis, 63, an Oscar winner for her supporting role in the 1988 romantic drama "The Accidental Tourist” and nominated for 1991's “Thelma and Louise” who has over 52 acting credits in a career approaching four decades, will receive the Academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Suffice it to say, It is well deserved.

##

Melanie Lutz – Mels Love Land

All Systems Love

Writer/Producer/Love Activist

melanie@melanielutz.com

WHAT IF 

all your thoughts 

were loving thoughts . . . 

consider the possibility

Twitter:

@MelsLoveLand

Instagram:

@MelsLoveLand 

Website:

https://www.melsloveland.com

Linked In:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanielutz/

A brief bio that came from this piece.

I'm a numbers in boxes fan, a quant fan, a nerd, a reader, curious to the bone, I've been in the entertainment business in every capacity after an inauspicious start in the costume department on a showtime movie starring Edward Asner that lead to a job as an agents assistant when an agent visiting his client on set came up to me and said, 'This doesn't look like it is for you, why don't you come in and learn the real business.' I now, many years later, reside comfortably now as a writer, director and love activist, someone who enjoys knowing how things work, what it takes to elevate and move to the next level, how to capture and create those breakthrough movements of the heart that shift, transform and bring forward balance and wellness, and joy and laughter and hope for all as the stories we get to tell. A creative whose interested in a world of balance and harmony and sharing the best within each of us as a place to fly on angels wings and evolve the 21st century to leave our business better than we found it.

Full Discussion with Panel:

This Changes Everything

PRODUCTION: A Creative Chaos presentation, in association with New Plot Films, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, David Yurman. (Int'l sales: ICM Partners, Los Angeles.) Producers: Ilan Arboleda, Kerianne Flynn, Tom Donahue. Executive producers: Geena Davis, Regina K. Scully, Ku-ling Yurman, Madeline Di Nonno, Steve Edwards, Jennie Peters, Simone Pero, Patty Casby

CREW: Director: Tom Donahue. Story producer: Dana Benningfield. Camera (color, widescreen, HD): Stefano Ferrari. Editor: Jasmin Way. Music: Leigh Roberts, Allison Piccioni.

WITH: Geena Davis, Meryl Streep, Reese WitherspoonNatalie Portman, Taraji P. Henson, Cate Blanchett, Jill Soloway, Shonda Rhimes, Yara Shahidi, Chloë Moretz, Amandla Stenberg, Tracee Ellis Ross, Matt McGorry, Alan Alda, Marg Helgenberger, Sandra Oh, Anita Hill, Jessica Chastain, Rose McGowan, Judd Apatow, Rosario Dawson.