Animation : Gender in the trenches and on the screen by Laurie Ashbourne

I read this article this morning, and I must say that even though I lived it, I still found it riveting. I actually walked away from it a few times as I was reading so I could retain the words in digestible chunks. My commentary here will make much more sense after reading it. http://www.buzzfeed.com/arianelange/creative-work-in-connection-with-pre... Thankfully, the artists like Glen Keane, Carole Holliday and Brenda Chapman get it. I can honestly say that I always approached everything I did at Disney (and I wore many hats) with Glen's notion of 'act like you belong' and Carole's mindset of sometimes it's not about race and gender. Was it blind naivete? I don't think so, I just don't offend easily. Anytime there was implied sexual overtones to any work or conversation -- I called the guys on it, but I did it in a way that wasn't whiny or bitchy, I did it on their level. I recall while working on LION KING, someone from Disney entertainment was at an event with Brenda Chapman (who at the time I think I only met once -- and it was briefly). My friend came to me and said that Brenda said she admired me. I thought, that's really odd. Why? It turns out, my reputation preceded me and that I was know as a female to be reckoned with. This didn't even register with me until some years later (and even more so, today). Odd things like that happened a lot when California heads would come to Florida. I can recall one director/producer coming into my office and trying out all of my chairs -- saying they wanted to see things like me. And the president of Disney animation wanting to know what I got from the cafe´ so he could operate like me, (it was fresh squeezed carrot juice). Sometime after that, he saw me in the lobby from where he was 3 stories above in the atrium. I waved. He waved back and said to my boss, 'there goes a dangerous woman.' When I was leaving Disney (I had given them 6 months notice) a female producer came into my office and sat down, she said, 'thank you for not raising a stink, it would have really upset the studio.' I didn't ask what she meant, I just let her keep going on. Which she did, saying that I would have been well within my right to call out a lot of people for unfair treatment. Looking back, I suppose I could have filed countless harassment and discrimination suits, and the few times I had extensive debriefings with HR must have proved I would have been completely in my right to do so. But I left on my own terms, I enjoyed a great ride and made more money than I knew what to do with (but again looking back, my contract attorney had a tough job). So what would I have gained? The takeaway is three fold: (as it should be) 1) In the trenches; act like you belong 2) In the story; treat genders as equals -- in other words, don't just think of female leads as your mother or daughter -- after all, male leads aren't first considered as fathers or brothers. 3) As a career; networking (with both genders) is just as important as meritocracy. After stepping out of animation for many years and focusing on live action, I am now ready to take this on and not only shift the gender imbalance behind the scenes but on screen. Hit me up if you're interested.