Come on, fess up. Who's been guilty of this?

An American movie producer is sharing excerpts of sexist scripts he gets sent, to highlight the grim state of roles for women in film – as well as some equally dire writing.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/feb/11/blonde-fit-smokin-hot-hollywood-producer-shares-sexist-scripts-on-twitter

Holding my hands up, I think I probably did do this a bit when I was younger. I recently rewrote the character intros in a feature I'm working on to weed all of that out, hadn't gone over them for a few years and cringed at what I'd originally put.

Ha, I saw this mentioned on scriptshadow. Funny stuff. :)

Goes along with female characters often being mere 'handbags' and eye-candy in movies/screenplays. Thank god for Ripley et al, although I still fail to see why she needed to be in her undies in the final scene with the Alien standoff... Actually I know exactly why...  ::)

Of course there's the opposite too - the 'once beautiful siren who is now but a shadow of her former self'.

I'm going to try to find a couple of my favourite female descriptions from pro scripts and post them for inspiration.

Glad you posted the topic, Jonny.

Here are a few from that article, in case people don't fancy clicking through (all characters have been renamed JANE, presumably to save individual embarrassment - think he's making the wider point).

Quoted Text JANE, 28, athletic but sexy. A natural beauty. Most days she wears jeans, and she makes them look good.

Quoted Text JANE stands next to it (30's) dressed in a paramedic's uniform - blonde, fit, smokin' hot.

I don't know whether she's an actual paramedic. One assumes not.

Quoted Text A gorgeous woman, JANE, 23, is a little tipsy, dancing naked on her big bed, as adorable as she is sexy. *BONUS PTS FOR BEING THE 1ST LINE

Quoted Text A YOUNG MEXICAN WOMAN sitting on a BUS STOP BENCH. Her name is JANE. She yawns, stretching her pretty face as she struggles to wake up.

Thanks for clarifying what a 'yawn' is.

Quoted Text Behind a steamy shower door is the indistinguishable but sexy silhouette of JANE showering.

In a SHOWER?!?!

I consciously tried to break stereotype with one of my scripts where I had the main female lead introduced by pissing on a bush lol.

But yeah, you see this all the time in scripts and it's so obvious and lazy. Yeah, we want beautiful women in our stories but there has got to be a better way of introducing them than by fawning over them again and again.

Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

Definition of indistinguishable...

"not able to be identified as different or distinct."

So...

"Behind a steamy shower door is the indistinguishable but sexy silhouette of JANE showering."

Is not only crap, but impossible ;-)

Jane gets about  :D

Lucky she's hot...

I guess it's better to not even describe people. Also, this is based off the media we watch which emphasizes a lot on physical beauty.

As always, when you're good at what you do, you don't have to worry about any of this stuff.

I appreciate the information, but for it to be truly useful, it would need to be cross referenced with descriptions of female characters that didn't emphasize their beauty or sexiness, the same thing would have to be done for male characters, and then we would need to compare and contrast.

As intuitive as sexism may seem, it's entirely possible that these aren't all cases of it. Not saying there aren't cases of sexism here, just that sexism hasn't been demonstrated merely by posting select examples of one particular type of description. We really need more information before we can definitively say these excerpts indicate systematic sexism.

In my mind, there's a larger issue here. I don't want to see writers pushed to the point that they no longer feel free to create particular characters when the people who inspire those characters exist in real life. Movie making may be a collaborative effort, but I'm wary of screenwriting by committee. Sometimes one head is better than two.

Thanks for the article - some fun stuff.

IMO - The larger issue has nothing to do with the physical appearance of a particular female character as it is the roles (e.g., heroine needing rescue, etc) that are written for them.  

Quoted from bert As the men chuckle amongst themselves, in walks BREANNE.  She is Joan of Arc wielding a fountain pen, with a glare that would wither Ron Jeremy.

Yeah, but is she hot  ::)  ::)

Quoted from bert As the men chuckle amongst themselves, in walks BREANNE.  She is Joan of Arc wielding a fountain pen, with a glare that would wither Ron Jeremy.

Lol. You're a funny guy, Bert. You amuse me. I shall poison your SS mug last.

I have no idea why that popped into my head, Brea.  Your indulgence is appreciated.

So, if all those descriptions are so bad -- and I am not entirely convinced that they are -- what constitutes a good one?

Quoted from Princess Bride Buttercup is in her late teens; doesn't care much about clothes and she hates brushing her long hair, so she isn't as attractive as she might be, but she's still probably the most beautiful woman in the world.

This is one of my favorites, ever.  Unfilmable as all get out, sure, but tone, imagery, character -- it's all baked in there.  To me, it's near perfect.  I know this girl with one sentence.

It's easy to throw stones.  If you think the examples given are so awful, then go out on a limb and give us a description that you, personally, deem as excellent.  I'd like to see them.

I tried to get my kids to watch The Princess Bride recently and failed. Maybe I should try this Ron Jeremy fellow, Bert keeps harping on about. Is he a comedian?

Quoted from DustinBowcot Maybe I should try this Ron Jeremy fellow, Bert keeps harping on about. Is he a comedian?

Yes, but unintentionally so.

His tweets are just part of the larger problem of sexism in the Hollywood.  Less lines, less pay, usually a sidekick or something.  


Ghostie