KREW: “I want to point out that we all work exceptionally well
with men, but it just so happens that we [she adopts a sultry voice]
prefer ladies.” (Everyone laughs.)
SHANNON: “The film and TV industry is very male-dominated,
there’s no secret about that. But there are also so many talented
women in the industry and I think it’s nice to make an effort to try
and have female collaborators as much as possible. I think that’s
where the block is, because there’s been so many men in leadership
positions that they naturally want to foster people who remind
them of themselves and their own careers. That’s why it’s important
to take care of the next generation of female creatives.”
ST: “Do you think female leadership has changed in terms of people’s
attitudes towards women in senior roles?”
SHANNON: “I think it’s still far behind in terms of how many
females we are giving leadership roles to, and we still struggle,
particularly in Australia, in terms of liking the idea of a female
over a male in the top driver’s seat and I’m not quite sure why that
is, because I think it’s incredibly clear that females are capable of
that. Just look at the Sony leaks – we’re still having huge troubles
with even getting equal pay.”
ROSE: “When I was researching Damages and meeting a lot of
young female lawyers, they would say the hardest people on them
in the office were the women. My agents have always been women
and they are tougher than the men because they’ve had to be. I’d
love to see a day when we don’t have to talk about it. I’m sure
Blue-Tongue don’t sit around talking about how they are guys!
Are we perpetuating the idea women are second-class citizens by
talking about it? Maybe it’s counterproductive to talk about that,
but it’s just part of the conversation.”
SHANNON: “I totally agree, but then there’s clearly – to go back
to the Sony leaks – people who are left out of those conversations.
But I can honestly say being a female has never really affected me
in my career. I don’t feel it’s a disadvantage.”
ROSE: “Then is it a systemic problem? Sheryl Sandberg, from
Facebook, who wrote Lean In, and Arianna Huffington, and
Marissa Mayer (Yahoo CEO) – they are all great examples [of
female leaders]. But what Sheryl Sandberg kept saying in that
great TED talk she did is that the benefits of having a woman are
fantastic. It’s better for your home life, sex life, better for the
company – there are all these great statistics saying what a woman
can bring to positions of power or decision-making or collaborating
or delegating is really beneficial. So maybe it’s still a little systemic
in terms of people not being part of the conversation, like the
Sony leaks, or people leaning back on sexism because it’s easy. I’d
love to get to the day where we don’t sit around talking about that
... it’s like when we did Bridesmaids and people said: ‘Wow, we
didn’t know women were funny.’ We were like: ‘What? We’re not
a group of dolphins!’”
SHANNON: “I was talking with David Michôd the
other day and we both said: ‘Let’s think of films that
have all-male casts’, and of course, you can think of
so many, and then we said: ‘Okay, films with all-
female casts.’ And we were like: ‘Um, Bridesmaids?’
We were struggling to think of another.”
ROSE: “Cate Blanchett put it so beautifully in her
Oscars speech about women being consumers, about
how women want to see women doing stunts – there
is a market for that.”
SHANNON: “Like the Bechdel test: there might be
female fictional roles that are created but the test
proves that a worthy female character is whether
there are two women in the conversation in the film
not talking about another man, and not just serving
the focus of the male storyline.”
ST: “Have any of you worked in an all-female crew?”
JESSICA: “There are never all-female crews, that’s
part of the problem.”
SHANNON: “There are plenty of all-male crews.”
JESSICA: “Working in publicity and on the agent
side, funnily enough, there are more females and
there are some strong female role models and very
successful ones as well, but once you cross to the
other side there isn’t that same ratio. It’s funny
because all those skills you use on that other side are
transferable, which is where we can fill the gap. And
our emotional intelligence is of benefit – there’s no
ego, which I think is an asset for us.”
ST: “ You have such different personalities, and some of
you have been friends for a lot longer than others. How
do you think you will work together as a team?”
ROSE (Deadpan): “Well, I don’t want to work with
Gracie, but everyone else is good.” (Everyone laughs.)
ST: “Seriously, how will you sort it out if you clash?”
SHANNON: “You are never not going to clash.
Every time you get together with any group of peopleShannon Murphy wears a
Gucci dress, $2,965.
Her own jewellery.HUGH STEWART