SchspIN

An Actress's Thoughts

29. February 2024
by SchspIN
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How are Things with the Film Family?

On 19 February 24, the congress Empowered for Equality took place on the occasion of 10 years of Pro Quote Regie / Pro Quote Film during the 74th Berlin Film Festival. I was asked to give a keynote speech and also attend the official launch of the ffd PQF family-friendly filming website I created. Here is a shortened version of my 20-minute talk:

Last year, I was commissioned by Pro Quote Film to develop a catalogue of measures on the subject of family-friendly filming. I think it was supposed to be eight pages. But I soon realised that it didn’t make much sense that way and suggested creating a website instead, because it’s easier to expand, you can fit more on it and incorporate links. It was a bit daft to suggest that, as the project then got bigger and longer! But now the site is actually finished and, if everything works out, it will be launched a little later today.

How are Things with the Film Family?

We always say that we are one big film family and that families look after their folk. That’s very nice.

I’ll start – sitnce many of you have probably been sitting here for a very long time or have been somewhere else before where you’ve only received input – with a little quiz. Who is this, does anybody know?

(a photo)

Audience: some names are called out, among them “Katharine Hepburn”

That’s right, Katharine Hepburn. And who is this?

(a second photo)

Voices from the Audience: “Cary Grant!”

Yes. And who is this?

(a third photo)

Audience: (no reaction)

That’s Priscilla Lane. And there is a reason why you didn’t know that. I’ll come to that in a bit.

Three Hollywood Stars

left to right: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane. publicity shots, common licence.

What these three have in common is that their careers in the film industry overlapped, and they also worked together in some films. Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, for example, did HOLIDAY, BRINGING UP BABY and PHILADELPHIA STORY together – three films that have really silly German titles, so I won’t mention them. Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane were in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE. They get married at the beginning, maybe if you’ve seen the film you’ll remember her now? A very funny, talented actress.

But that’s not the only thing the three of them have in common… Who knows what I’m getting at? Yes, compatibility of family and film career or incompatibility of family and film career!

Katharine Hepburn was already in her late fifties when her partner Spencer Tracy, who was overweight, an alcoholic and had heart problems, became really ill. She interrupted her career that moment on and looked after him and cared for him for many years. In the end, she nursed him back to health to the extent that he was able to make one last film with her: GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER? – and then he passed away. She was able to come back and get her career going again, she won three of her four Oscars after this family time off and then continued filming, also of course because she already had a great career before her caring gap years.

Cary Grant, maybe you know this, maybe you don’t, – his mother died when he was eleven. And when he was 30, he learnt that his mother hadn’t died at all, but that his father had her committed to a lunatic asylum, and I deliberately call it that. At the time, this was done without a doctor’s signature, the husband could simply sign her up. As I said, Grant was 30, and when his father died, he did everything he could to get his mother out of there. She was living in England, he was working in the USA, and he looked after her from afar for the rest of his life, visiting her regularly and looking after her. But that is not his only family aspect. When he was 62, he and his third wife Betsy Drake had their first and his only child, Jennifer Grant, and he stopped working immediately. He never made another film and was a full-time father. He reportedly spoke of Jennifer as his “best production”.

Priscilla Lane had gone through something similar at a much younger age. She made two more films after ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, then it was over because she got married when she was just 27. She had her first child and stayed at home, and eventually there were four children, and she said, “No, that’s all right, I’m happy to look after them.” A few years later, at 33, she did another film and it probably slipped out that she would have missed it so much, but then immediately added No, no, family comes first.

Compatibility

Many people would love to have both a family and a career. I have been commissioned to create this website to do something about this. You have just heard the three examples from Hollywood. They involved both children and relatives in need of care. And that’s what we are talking about. Maybe there are relatives who are ill, maybe someone has Longcovid or a complicated pelvic fracture, or their child has a disability or their parents are getting to the age where they can no longer look after themselves and need care. And something else is interesting in this context. German Actress Gesine Cukrowski launched the initiative #LetsChangeThePicture about the invisibility of women over 47 in German film and television productions, along with Palais Fluxx. And the same age now appears for those who care for relatives. Because when a woman is in her late 40s and her husband is the same age or a little older, some men develop illnesses – strokes, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, for example – and they may need to be given care. Or one’s own parents or parents-in-law become frail, then it’s primarily women who take care of them. So another reason why women stop working for money (even if they are still working full-time).

These two aspects – parenthood and caring for relatives – must be the focus. And this is actually a measure of the humanity of a society, how we deal with the future, i.e. the children, but also with the past, with our roots. And I have a feeling that small children, or rather someone with small children, are still more likely to hear “Oh how nice!” And small babies are really cute when they burp and then someone quickly goes to change their nappies and then they babble this crazy stuff to themselves. That’s cute. And young mums look almost sexy. If they only sleep for three hours every night, they have this tired face with shiny eyes, and if they’re still breastfeeding, they have large breasts, and that can also be very attractive. But the 50-year-old woman who is perhaps caring for her mother, her partner, her grandfather, who is babbling nonsense, who is incontinent, who is simply in need of care, nobody wants to talk about that because they may remind us of our own mortality. And outside of the film industry, they say – and these are of course only estimates – that only a quarter of the people working and at the same time being involved in caring for relatives in any way tell their employer at all, three quarters keep quiet about it. And I would estimate that there are even fewer in the film industry, perhaps 5 percent? That’s just an estimate. You probably all know people with children in the film industry. But how many do you know who care for relatives? Hm. Yes, they do exist.

But of course we can feel a bit more optimistic now as some producers recently called for more solidarity in the film industry. That’s great, because that’s what it’s all about.

 

[English translation to be continued]

31. December 2023
by SchspIN
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TATORTE 2023: The Michael Gaze

Seit ungefähr zeitgleich mit dem Fernsehkrimifestival im März 2020 (Fernsehkrimis – die Jury sind wir!) die Pandemie nach Deutschland kam ist es mir gelungen, allen Coronaviren aus dem Weg zu gehen. Aber in der Weihnachtszeit 23 war es leider soweit. Ich erspare Euch meine Symptom- und Unwohlseinsschilderungen, nur so viel: diese viel erwähnte Abgeschlagenheit ist nicht ohne, so dass ich viel von dem, was ich eigentlich dieses Jahr noch vorhatte nicht angehen konnte und kann. Dazu gehört auch ein Teil der Untersuchungen zum heutigen Thema TATORTE 2023. Entfallen müssen unter anderem leider die Analyse der 36 Hauptcasts und der Schauspieler:innen, die 2023 in verschiedenen TATORTEN und TATORT-Städten besetzt waren, eine statistische Auswertung der Mörder und Mörderinnen und Täter und Täterinnen (u.a. bzgl. Quantität und Alter), eine Betrachtung der Einstiegsbilder und des Zustand der “Einstiegsleichen”. Da ich den Artikel nicht ins neue Jahr mitschleppen möchte erscheint er heute, – stark verkürzt.

TATORTE 2023: Was tut sich hinter der Kamera.

Die nächsten sechs Abbildungen zeigen den 6-Gewerke-Check für die 2023 erstausgestrahlten 36 TATORTE, die Analyse #2von6, die Entwicklung in den drei Gewerken Regie, Drehbuch und Kamera von 2011 bis 2023 sowie die sechs Gewerke (zusätzlich noch Ton, Montage und Musik) für die Jahre 2018 bis 2023. Außerdem den 6-Gewerke-Check und die #2von6-Analyse für die 2023 erstausgestrahlten 8 POLIZEIRUFE.

Der Trend der letzten Jahre hat sich fortgesetzt: sowohl der Regisseurinnen– als auch der Autorinnenanteil sind mit 47,2 % bzw. 41,5 % auf einem Höchstwert angekommen. Ihr erinnert Euch vielleicht wie mehr Regisseurinnen TATORTE inszenieren durften aufgrund einer zunächst niedrig bei 20 % liegenden Zielvorgabe oder Absichtserklärung der Degeto, die nach und nach angehoben wurde? Und dass daran irgendwie gekoppelt die Autorinnen weniger wurden? (Stichwort: “Wir haben schon eine Frau im Team”). Erst als die Drehbuchautorinnen und zuvor natürlich dieses Blog dagegen angingen, die Zahlen auf den Tisch legten bzw. per Brandbrief das Gespräch suchten kamen langsam (wieder) mehr Autorinnen in dieses bestbezahlte Fernsehformat. Ebenfalls sei daran erinnert, dass ungefähr gleich viele Frauen und Männer an den Hochschulen in den Fächern Regie bzw. Drehbuch ausgebildet werden.

Wir erleben jetzt etwas ähnliches mit den Kamerafrauen. Mehr Regisseurinnen, mehr Autorinnen, und gleichzeitig sind an der Kamera Frauen  kaum noch vertreten, also noch seltener als in den Vorjahren. Ebenso bleibt es bei den niedrigen Frauenanteilen in Ton und Komposition. Lediglich Montage, also der Schnitt, kommt auf weniger als 40 % Männer. Continue Reading →

17. September 2023
by SchspIN
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Erste Halbzeit 2023: 48 zu 44!

TATORTE Erste Halbzeit 2023: 48 zu 44

Ja, der Titel erinnert an ein außer gewöhnlich torreiches Handballspiel, aber tatsächlich geht es wieder einmal um TATORTE, mit aktuellen Zahlen und zwei guten Nachrichten.

6-Gewerke-Check 2023 Sommerpause

Die 23 bis zur Sommerpause erstausgestrahlten TATORTE haben einen gerundeten 48 % (47,7 %) Regisseurinnenanteil und 44 % (44,1 %) Autorinnen. Nicht schlecht!

In der Montage machen Editorinnen 2/3 aus, in 15 TATORTEN waren sie allein verantwortlich, in dem Wien-Fall WAS IST DAS FÜR EINE WELT gab es ein Schnitt-Duo, Karina Ressler und Philipp Bittner.

Weniger vielversprechend sind die Zahlen für die übrigen Gewerke.

Besonders die 13 % Kamerafrauen enttäuschen, in diesem Gewerk sind immerhin ein Viertel der Hochschulalumni weiblich, aber sie werden für TATORTE nur selten engagiert. Lediglich drei standen in den ersten 23 TATORTEN 2023 hinter der Linse – Julia Jalnasow (München: SCHUTZMAßNAHMEN), Christiane Buchmann (Saarbrücken: DIE KÄLTE DER ERDE) und Katharina Diessner (Köln: WIE ALLE ANDEREN AUCH). Auffällig, kein Regisseur arbeitete mit einer Kamerafrau.

Und es gab nur eine Filmtonmeisterin: Claudia Mattai del Moro, die ebenfalls bei DIE KÄLTE DER ERDE arbeitete. Peter Tielker war bei vier TATORTEN Filmtonmeister (Dortmund, Kiel, Schwarzwald, Zürich), Je 3 mal Matthias Haeb (München, Köln, Bremen) und Wolfgang Wirtz (Franken, Stuttgart, Köln). Continue Reading →

31. July 2023
by SchspIN
Comments Off on Family-Friendliness and the Film Industry

Family-Friendliness and the Film Industry

This text is a short version of the keynote I held at Pro Quote Film’s “Family-friendly filming – the concrete congress” on 21.2.23. My first text on this topic was published on 14.4 2014 under the title “Children, cinema, career: how family-friendly is the film industry?”

Belinde Ruth Stieve at Pro Quote Film’s “Family-friendly filming. The concrete congress!”. Photo Sibylle Anneck

Family-Friendliness and the Film Industry

Background

Families are very popular in the film and television industry – as an audience, as a target group. But this family-friendliness is not what we are talking about here, but the compatibility of family and professional career in front of or behind the camera.

The employment rate of parents with children under six in Germany shows that fathers work 80-90% of the time, regardless of whether they have one, two or three children under six. Only every second mother is gainfully employed in the same family situation.
Continue Reading →

20. June 2023
by SchspIN
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New Campaign: #swaptheadjectives

Swap the Adjectives! A Test

A few days ago I rece ived a programme note from Real Film Berlin / Studio Hamburg, it was about the start of broadcasting a six-part “thriller series” on Netflix. This is called SLEEPING DOGS and is based on the Israeli series IKARON HAHACHLAFA עקרון ההחלפה by Noah Stollmann and Ori Weisbrod (2016), which can be roughly translated as “exchange principle”. The German scripts are by Christoph Darnstädt.

Now I didn’t think “Yay! Finally a new crime series!” or “Supes! Finally a remake of a successful Israeli series” (like for example HATUFIM חטופים / “The Abducted” and BETIPUL בטיפול / “In Treatment”, although I generally prefer the original versions, but that’s another topic).

No, I was struck by the brief sketching of the main characters, which does seem a bit annoying. It only became interesting once I swapped the descriptive adjectives of the female and male roles, and that’s what today’s proposal for a new campaign is about.

#swaptheadjectives

Continue Reading →

13. June 2023
by SchspIN
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Dem Napoléon seine Frau, Alter!

Abzählvers
Gesine und die Einleitung
Ridley Scott’s NAPOLÉON-Film und das Alter von Schauspieler:innen
Napoléon et Joséphine
Die neue Verfilmung
Historischer Exkurs
Die deutschen Schauspieler:innen und ihr Alter
3 Jahre-Vergleich [Datenbank Filmmakers]

 Kaiser von Rom
Napoléon sein Sohn
der war noch zu klein
um Kaiser zu sein
Noch ein Stückchen weiter
auf der Himmelsleiter
Hier bleib ich steh’n
um alles zu seh’n
eins, zwei, drei!

Gesine und die Einleitung

Neulich war ich zum “Let’s change the Picture”-Podcast von Gesine Cukrowski eingeladen, Ihr könnt das Gespräch hier nachhören (Zu Gast bei Gesine Cukrowski #LetsChangethePicture). Darin erwähnte ich nebenbei die aktuelle Ridley Scott Verfilmung eines Napoléon-Stoffs, in der Napoleons erste Frau Joséphine mit der 30-jährigen Jodie Comer besetzt war und Napoleon mit dem 48-jähringen Joaquin Phoenix. Hinterher habe ich nachgesehen, ob die Dreharbeiten schon abgeschlossen sind, und bei der Gelegenheit erfahren, dass Joséphine umbesetzt wurde.

Im Interview erwähnte ich auch, dass es bei uns in jüngeren Jahrgängen mehr professionelle Schauspielerinnen als Schauspieler gibt, diese aber früher aus dem Beruf ,verschwinden’ als ihre Kollegen. Diese Aussage stütze ich u.a. auf meine Altersauswertungen von Schauspieler:innen in der Castingdatenbank Filmmakers 2013 und 2017.

Um diese beiden Themenbereiche geht es in meinem heutigen Text.

Ridley Scott’s NAPOLÉON-Film und das Alter von Schauspieler:innen

Napoléon et Joséphine

Die neue Verfilmung

Der englische Regisseur und Filmproduzent Ridley Scott (85) führte u.a. Regie bei THE DUELISTS (1977, sein Langfilmregiedebüt, Buch Gerald Vaughan-Hughes), ALIEN (1979, Buch Dan O’Bannon und Ronald Shusett) und THELMA & LOUISE (1991, Drehbuchdebüt von Callie Khouri). Scott ist seit 2015 in dritter Ehe mit der 18 Jahre jüngeren kostarikanischen Schauspielerin Giannina Facio verheiratet.

Continue Reading →

28. April 2023
by SchspIN
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Simple and Direct: #2von6 / #2of6

#2of6 – A Useful Approach for the Industry

On April 1, I posted the German Federal Film Board FFA message FFA foc uses on women’s participation, new funding guideline passed on Instagram:

adding the following explanation:

From the 3rd funding round in 2023, the FFA requires that submitted projects must involve at least one woman “in the six relevant departments”. A small start has been made, hopefully the other public film funding bodies will follow with similar advances. Whereby, better, more effective and more gender-equal would be my proposal #2of6. Continue Reading →

18. April 2023
by SchspIN
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Zu Gast bei Gesine Cukrowski #LetsChangethePicture

Lets Change the Picture – Interviewt von Gesine Cukrowski

Am Ostermontag war ich – als erst zweiter Gast! – zum „Let’s Change The Picture“-LiveTalk von Gesine Cukrowski eingeladen, den Ihr weiter unten nachhören könnt.

Gesine hat einen Nachnamen, den sie vermutlich ähnlich häufig wie ich meinen buchstabieren muss, und der auf Polnisch irgendwas mit Zucker heißt. Sie hat außerdem kürzlich gemeinsam mit Silke Burmeister von Palais Fluxx (“Online-Magazine für Rausch, Revolte, Wechseljahre”) die Kampagne Let’s Change the Picture ins Leben gerufen – auf Deutsch in etwa: Lasst uns die Bilder verändern, oder etwas freier: verbessern.

Hierbei geht es um die unbefriedigende, klischeehaften Darstellung bis hin zur Abwesenheit von älteren Frauen im deutschen Film / Fernsehen. Wobei mit ,älteren Frauen’ Frauen ab 47 gemeint sind. Und dass das natürlich geändert werden soll – hin zu mehr Sichtbarkeit von Frauen ab 47 und deren wirklichen Geschichten.


„Es fehlen die Geschichten, die Frauen so erzählen, wie sie heute sind. Es gibt eine ganz eigene Film- und Fernsehrealität in Deutschland, die mit unseren gelebten Realitäten nicht so viel zu tun hat. Echte Geschichten von Frauen über 50 werden grundlos fürs Fernsehen auf die Frau Mitte 30 umgeschrieben. Das beraubt die älteren Frauen unserer Gesellschaft nicht nur ihrer Geschichten, es hat auch den Nebeneffekt, dass den gezeigten Frauenfiguren teilweise grotesk anmutende, weil viel zu umfangreiche Biografien angeheftet werden. Die wenigen Frauenfiguren 47+, die wir dann zu sehen kriegen, sind oft weit entfernt von unserer Lebensrealität und bedienen Stereotype, in denen wir uns einfach nicht wiederfinden.” (Gesine Cukrowski)
Continue Reading →

4. April 2023
by SchspIN
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German Film Award Nominations 2023 – who sets the Tone?

The German Film Awards 2023

A fortnight ago I analysed 15 films that were nominated in at least two categories at the US film awards (Oscars so diverse?). The 6-trade check revealed a pretty rosy picture, because in each of the six trades of directing, screenwriting, cinematography, sound, editing and music, the proportion of men was over 75%. Which, of course, at the same time means that the proportion of women was always below 25%, the highest figure perhaps surprisingly being for female composers, who scored 23.5%.

Today we are talking about the nominations for the German Film Awards 2023, and the good news is that the 6-works check turned out a little better for women, regardless of whether I only looked at the six productions nominated for “Best Film” or all 24 films nominated in at least one category. But that is already the best news in this text.

The first diagram shows the 6-departments-check for all nominated films:

The highest share of women is in editing (37%), directing and screenwriting are around 30% and female composers provided the lowest figure at 8%.

The question of the share of films that meet #2of6 suggests itself. Well, maybe not, but I find it worth pursuing: how many of the 24 nominated films – feature films, children’s films and documentaries – meet the two out of six mark, i.e. how many involved women in at least two of the six departments? Actually, less than half. In 13 films there is either no or just woman in a position of responsibility.
Continue Reading →

17. March 2023
by SchspIN
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Oscars so diverse?

The US Film Awards 2023

Last Sunday, the Academy Awards 2023 were presented in Los Angeles. I’ve been asked for a comment several times already, so here goes!

Many people celebrated the large number of nationalities represented among the award winners and the many different ethnic backgrounds. This can be considered good news, although it is largely due to EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, which was nominated for eleven awards and won seven. This fantasy comedy about a Chinese immigrant family in the USA involved a great many Asian filmmakers or US filmmakers with Asian background behind and obviously in front of the camera. The frequently used phrase “the first actress nominated for a leading role who identifies as Asian” in connection with the Malaysian leading actress Michelle Yeoh seems a bit strange though.*

There was also great excitement over two actresses winning the awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Actress in a Supporting Role respectively. Two actresses over 60 I should add.

I can’t say much about other diversity categories in front of and behind the cameras, as I haven’t seen any of the films except for SHE SAID, the drama about the revelation of the Weinstein crimes and starting-point of the #metoo movement. Oh, and SHE SAID wasn’t nominated at all, in any category. Well, what can I say.**  

6-Departments-Check – a Tragedy

What I can offer, however, is a statistical evaluation of the shares of women and men in six departments in the fifteen films that were nominated in at least two categories. The six departments I examined this time are producers (instead of sound), directors, writers, directors of photography, editors and composers. And this 6-departments-check is a tragedy, unless you like pink and one-sidedness:

As you can see in the diagram, directing and screenplay under 10 % women’s share, camera less than 15 %, production and editing around 20 %, music under 25 %.

Has anyone made an issue of this, was it mentioned in the media? If they have, I didn’t notice. It’s as if sexism, gender imbalance, structural discrimination against women in film and television are not really of interest as separate issues anymore, since we are now talking about diversity. And that means “everything else”, even if many men and a few women would like to persuade us that diversity includes women. I tend to think No it doesn’t.

Continue Reading →