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Issue 007 |
Not slower. Stiller.
WHAT’S INSIDE
THE TOPIC: Claudia Lalau on who gets noticed in filmmaking, and who has to work harder to be seen.
THE PRACTICE: Find a filmmaker you haven’t been told to follow.
THE SIGNALS: Two reads on who gets noticed, from magazine covers to Hollywood.
The Topic
Filmmaker and Sageworx Member Claudia Lalau has a question for the people deciding who represents the future of her industry: how far did you look? In this excerpt from her newsletter, Prompt Queen, she considers how talent gets discovered, and whose work we might be missing.
The Future of Filmmaking. Now Featuring Two Women.
Talent should decide who makes the list. Somebody still has to go looking for it.
Another day. Another LinkedIn list of the people shaping the future.
“The 10 AI creatives you MUST follow.”
“The 40 filmmakers redefining the industry.”
I scroll through the names.
Men. More men. A woman. More men.
Sometimes, these days, I find two women out of ten. In the lists I was seeing last year, finding one already felt like a small archaeological discovery.
Progress. At this rate, we may eventually need a third chair.
We can generate entire civilizations from a sentence. Surely we can find a few more women making interesting films.
Now, I can already imagine the first objection:
“But the list should be based on talent.”
Agreed. Completely.
I would just like to discuss how we found the talent.
Because “the best people in the industry” and “the people I keep seeing in my feed” are two claims requiring very different amounts of research.
One requires looking around.
The other requires scrolling while having coffee.
Both are perfectly legitimate activities. Only one should probably come with a definitive ranking of an entire profession.
The men on those lists may be outstanding. Asking who else deserves recognition takes absolutely nothing away from their work.
But when the same imbalance keeps appearing, I think we’re allowed to examine it without being accused of declaring war on half the population.
That’s where we stop. Claudia keeps going.
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This issue's contributor
Claudia Lalau is the creator of the Prompt Queen newsletter as well as an award-winning AI director, educator, and member of Sageworx. With two decades in traditional film and post-production, she creates cinematic, story-driven films, commercials, and animation for brands across Europe, the Gulf, and the US.
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The Practice
Diversify your filmmakers
We’re not encouraging you to pick a side. Just to look a little further.
If your shortlist of directors and producers looks a lot like one of those LinkedIn lists, here are a few places to start exploring:
Want a wider net? The Women Make Movies directory lists organizations supporting women filmmakers, from professional networks to production-support programs. Search the page for a specialty like “documentary” or “composers” to find the groups that fit.
Have a genre in mind? Black Women Directors, founded by Danielle A. Scruggs, collects nearly 500 films by Black women and nonbinary filmmakers. Browse by genre or location, then open a profile for trailers, viewing links and the director’s site. Good for your next project. Also your next movie night.
Willing to cross an ocean? You’ve already met Claudia Lalau. She tops our list. Obviously. If she’s booked, spin the globe and look up Rita B-Lamotte, Roxanne Ducharme and Francesca Fini.
Who’s a woman filmmaker more people should know about?
Send us a link to her work.
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Now you’re leaving the quiet part. The Signals Fresh perspectives from around the industry The question of who gets noticed extends well beyond LinkedIn lists. This week’s Signals take it into magazine publishing and Hollywood, with different reasons to keep exploring. | ||||
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Quick poll Where did you find the last filmmaker you started following?
Tap one to send your vote. It opens a quick email to us. |
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That’s Sage Mode for this round. Back soon. Until then, sit with something unfinished.
Did someone forward this to you? |
