For several years now, the audio-visual sector has been experiencing a real crisis. ‘explosion’ series. More productions are being filmed than ever before, and the public is hoarding productions waiting to be watched. Spanish fiction is also in vogue, cross-border (say “La casa de papel”!), and shoulder to shoulder with the until recently stubborn American proposition. Those good times meant there was more every time we knew his name. “entertainers” (creators who actively intervene in the process of the series) patriots. But did the same doors open? creative woman than their male counterparts?
By Pebbled PregnancyThe head of the RTVE Observatory for Equality says “yes, there are more Spanish series created by women, but we must not forget that more are being made”, so this does not mean that the gap is decreasing. This researcher, who specializes in television editing and is a member of the RTVE Board of Directors, provides an illuminating piece of information: The figures for 2021 reveal that only female editing represents 17.2%, while male editing makes up 62%. Beginning with his training for the screenwriters association ALMA, “if anything has changed, it has been the reference“: From 22.9% of female participation in the 2019 report (analyzing data for non-daily dramas for the 2015-2016 and 2018-2019 seasons) to the latest 23.6% of the season from September 2021 to August 2022. In the US, on the other hand, the numbers are a little more rosy: according to the latest research by WGAW (Writers Guild of America West), women already represent 33.3% of ‘drama directors’.
So now there may be more possibilities for “showrunners”, “and that’s already positive in itself,” but they work in a very specific logic, like mixed teams. “It seems like they have to have a man with them for them to have the opportunity,” she accuses. Examples of couples of both sexes are just as fertile as some. Ramón Campos and Teresa Fernandez Valdés (Y Gema R. Neira) at the production company ‘Bambú’ (‘Las chicas del cable’, ‘A private matter’, ‘Velvet’…) and Alex Pina and Esther Martinez Lobato At Vancouver Media (“La casa de papel”, “Sky rojo”…). “There’s a talk about increasing production in Spain, and that makes the success stories stand out. The problem is that the success stories don’t necessarily describe the real state of the industry,” explains Cascajosa.
Don’t fall into “ghettos”
martinez lobato, in its place, reliably defends them mixed suits, here one feels the same thing: “The only thing in favor of forming single-sex teams is that we understand each other less and confront each other more. We break up into ghettos. And this reinforces competition and distance. It interests me as a creator, male brain as much as female brain. .We are companions of the planet, why not in the office?”, he continues. Currently filming the spin-off of ‘La casa de papel’, ‘Berlin’ and producing a series about an underground city, the ‘showrunner’ is on the path of those who dedicate themselves to storytelling “and the sensitive point of sensuality”, “their own identity in the universal”. “And understand that this It’s not a fight to divide usbut an epic to find us on equal terms, it seems to me, will be the way”, he assures.
Another of the conditions that Cascajosa has identified for the continuation of a project led by a woman is that she is the main protagonist of the series, as in the series for example. Leticia Dolera (‘The perfect life’), Nadia from Santiago (“When I gave it to you”), April Zamora (“Everything else”) and main milan (‘ByAnaMilan’). At the same time the situation Ana Rujasin front of ‘Cardo’ with the actress Claudia Costafreda. Although they “emphasize the struggles of their previous colleagues to find the “smoothest path”, they don’t think they have any more difficulty running the project because they’re both women, so they advocate “supportive public policies, just like in the movies.”
public aid
Leticia Dolera agrees with the creators of ‘Cardo’. “Maybe we noticed the change more in cinema because public subsidies are involved, while in platform dramas, money is private,” he says. “Women writer team leaders, directors don’t just pop up out of the blue, they’re always there, but it’s public policies that are transforming society or the industry,” emphasizes Dolera, who airs a new series on Amazon Prime Video. ‘The End of Love’, a project he saw as a ‘miracle’ because it was led by four women in an ‘industry as masculinized as Argentina’s’.
Creator, Argentina Erika Halvorsen The protagonist and co-producer of the show believes that the show has moved “out of the niche that is destined for women,” thanks to the projection given by the actress and singer. Lali Esposito. His partner, Dolera, adds, “He is a very successful artist, very well known in Latin America, and embarking on this project has brought him to the offices he had to reach.”
dawn warLong-lived ‘El secreto de Puente Viejo’ and ‘Acacias’ accuse 38 of not having a good representation of women who create, coordinate and take creative control, acting as a ‘showrunner’ as a reflection. society in general. “Companies that are part of Ibex-35 were 30.7% on the Board of Directors set. And this is just one example.”
invisibility problem
The ‘showrunner’, who is about to premiere ‘Fuerza de paz’ on TVE-1 and ‘Escandalo, relato de una obsession’ on Telecinco, speaks of the “invisibility problem”: “So much in the news, no I’m sure my colleagues are making and supervising the sequences. I find their names”, comments Guerra, who will also be responsible for ‘Mía es la venganza’, a daily series project at Telecinco. That’s why she also advocates for public policies that support female creators: “Any help is welcome. Yet I have to say that the best projects, whether done by man or woman, are to create a woman. plural entertainment spectrum for a demanding society.” “. Anna R. Costa, creator of ‘Fácil’, which premiered on 1 December on Movistar Plus+
speaking of invisibilityAnna R. CostaBehind many of her ex-girlfriend Paco León’s projects, she guarantees she’s finally conquered her space by making ‘Easy’, a series that Movistar Plus+ premieres on December 1st. “I realized that I am a disabled woman, because the woman working in the shadow is the disabled woman, because they take over your voice, your job, they sign for you, they collect for you, they take your merit. “When you face it alone, it turns out there is no difference, because it’s the same, you’re not behind anyone anymore and you can finally be seen,” she proudly said.
Another condition generally demanded from women for the conclusion of their serials is that their works are addressed. women themes. “Men do not have such a problem,” says Cascajosa, and reminds that “there must be mechanisms for women-led projects to reach platforms and chains.” “And break that kind of excuse that they already have a drama created by a woman, as if that were a quota,” she stresses. Martínez Lobato does not believe that distinctions should be made. “We are made of a shared dough that is the core of our work: what we feel. And that emotion, along with the intellectual capacity to understand, learn, read, and engage, can tell both a man and a woman stories of love, violence, tanks and missiles, or poetry. “.