Earlier today Jessica was part of Produced By Conference that’s being held in New York. She participated of The Power To Shake It Up panel, alongside actresses Sarah Jessica Parker, Alison Benson and her Freckles Film partner Kelly Charmichael.

It’s no longer “business as usual” in the entertainment industry. For too long, studios and financiers have undervalued stories by and about women. But in development and on set, producers are taking control, creating a space for fresh voices to tell stories that audiences haven’t heard before. This session provides a platform to producers and their teams that are actively creating opportunities for women in all aspects of production and challenging the status quo head-on.

The panel was sponsored by Deadline, that published some insights on the 75-minutes panel.

According to the site, Jessica gave the tone on the panel.

Jessica Chastain said that while men need to own their part of the injustice, “We need to put ourselves forward.” Offering the caveat that her comments “might be controversial,” Chastain said, “There’s something that women can do. … We need to stop apologizing.” Citing data that show how much more likely men are to push their own career cause than are women, she said, “In any industry, a woman should feel confident.”

The Hollywood Reporter also covered bits of the event.

While many of the women on the panel have crossed paths with Harvey Weinstein and Chastain has frequently spoken out against the disgraced mogul over the past three weeks, the talk largely avoided the topic of sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood. Still, Chastain began her remarks about her work as a producer by saying that she started her company, Freckle Films, because she felt like she was part of a problematic industry.

“Sometimes I think with anything that’s happening, we don’t acknowledge the fact that we’re complicit in our inaction—that goes across many areas,” Chastain said.

And she argued that she and her fellow producers needed to dig deep to find ways to move beyond the status quo for hiring directors, writers and below the line talent in Hollywood in order to increase the representation of women in those positions.

For instance, she argued, “If we’re asking for a list of directors and a list of writers from an agency, in most cases you get a list and it’s all men and you have to kind of go beyond that. … Men traditionally are paid more than women, and agents make more money when someone that has a higher quote gets a job. So we need to go beyond what the agents submit and find the artists because they are out there.”

The twitter user ZebsNYC shared a video made during the panel as well:

Check in our gallery picture taken during the panel.

October 28, 2017   Luciana