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| Photo: Bee Rawlinson |
Rehearsed reading of my stage play, The Things We Never Said, on Thursday, 20 October 2016 at JW3, London.
An abridged version has also been commissioned for BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Drama, 2017.
Watch an interview with Gay Soper, discussing her versatile career in both straight and musical theatre; and hear my chat with Mervyn Eastman on East London Radio (talking about the play @ 44').
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| Gay Soper |
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| Rachel Fielding |
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| Rachel Fielding & Gay Soper in rehearsal |
Hi, I didn't see a submit page on your blog, so here it goes!
ReplyDeleteHello,
My name is Lucy Miles and I am one of those annoying filmmakers in London, I study digital film production at Ravensboune. My research project I am constructing focuses on female screenwriters...you can probably see where this is going. I understand you have roughly 560 better things to do rather than answer questions from a university student, but I won't know until I ask. Please may I ask you a series of questions based on your experience as a female screenwriter?
- Do you feel as a female screenwriter you come across sexism or discrimination?
- Who are you screenwriter or writer inspirations?
- How many female directors have you worked with?
- Do you prefer working with female directors or male, or doesn't it matter to you?
- Why do you feel there are so few well known female screenwriters, or do you feel there are?
- Do you feel their are more opportunities for males over females in the screenwriting business?
Thank you for even reading this. My email is lucymaymiles@gmail.com
Hi, Lucy
ReplyDeleteThanks for getting in touch - and for pointing out that I didn't have a contact form (now remedied!). I'll email you re your questions when I have more time, but for anyone else reading, some of them are answered in the Daily Telegraph interviews on the right.
In brief, the stats are clear that, while there are roughly equal numbers of men and women at entry level, by mid career (30s) there is an imbalance of about 30% female to 70% male writers across most media (film, TV, theatre).
In my opinion, the reasons for this are more complex than conscious bias or discrimination, and reflect wider imbalances in society - women are still more likely to undertake the lion's share of caring, for both children and elderly relatives (as in my case; see my Media Parents guest blog), which impacts on the career path in many walks of life.
The organisation Raising Films may be of interest; see also the work of Natalie Wreyford on women working in film; and for stage, the British Theatre Consortium's British Theatre Repertoire report.