Producer

“Leadership is really important to me,” says producer Jennifer Davisson. We’re standing in a howling wind on the set of Robin Hood: Origins in Hungary, talking about the role of women behind the camera.

“Outlaw King used meticulous planning, research, great story, historians; over the years of development we prepped 45 different versions of the shooting schedule – everything was watertight – but the budget was ballooning. I had to find a way to bring costs in,” says Gillian Berrie, the producer on Outlaw King who describes herself as a “wee woman” but proves gender and size have nothing to do with ingenuity and experience when it comes to bringing more bang to a budget.

“There's nothing inherently gender-specific about the work that I do,” notes Riva Marker, co-founder of Nine Stories, the production company that has a first-look deal with Bold Films and which producer the Jake Gyllenhaal starrer, Stronger. Jake also happens to be her producing partner, and the two are spearheading a drive both to bring intimate, more character-driven movies to the screen, as well as strong portrayals of women.

Lena Waithe is so fly and so swaggy. That she also happens to be the first African-American woman to win an Emmy for outstanding writing for a comedy series, which she shared with Aziz Ansari for the Thanksgiving episode of Master of None, based on Lena’s real life when she came out to her family, is payoff for a life of stepping up.

“What’s it like to be a guy? To just get to be funny and not have someone yelling something about your tits every time you step on stage?” The lines are spoken by a female comic in Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here (Jim Carrey is one of the Executive producers) in an episode entitled: Women Are Funny Too, written by Cindy Caponera. Set in LA in the 70s, the show is based on a nonfiction book by the same title and follows a group of stand-up comics.

The opening of The Rider - winner, with A Ciambra, of the Directors Fortnight-  focuses on a horse’s mane, spreading and floating in slow motion as the animal bucks and whinnies. It’s an indication that this cowboy story is going to be told differently and hints at the visuals to come that capture the vast open spaces and rugged isolation of South Dakota.

I Love Dick. The very title titillates.

“Often in my career I have been the only woman in the room”, notes Ramsey Naito, one of the producers of The Boss Baby, an animated movie about love, belonging, and sibling rivalry, hitting the screens at the end of March. “The industry has made slight gains when it comes to including women, but at DreamWorks, specifically, there are so many women in leadership roles and here you find so much more gender equality.

  “I was very happily not working,” notes Judy Hofflund, who had retired after 30 years in the business as an agent and manager, “but I had to say, ‘Yes,’” when former client, Kenneth Branagh asked her to be a producer on his latest film, Murder on the Orient Express. “I asked Ken, “This movie is huge, are you sure?’ He was completely confident, saying, ‘I know you will find your way.

Better Things (premiering on FX September 8, 2016) gives Pamela Adlon titles few women are able to access individually, never mind altogether. “Yeah, I’m the writer, producer, actor.