Why Sophia Bush Says She's a Tender-Hearted Softie—Who Takes No Sh*t
Don't even.
SOPHIA BUSH IS A FORCE.
Read on.
Sophia Bush is the woman you want your daughter to grow up to be.
She's also the woman who would tell you to encourage your kid to be their own person. Forge their own path. It's certainly what she's done. The activist and actress jumpstarted her career when she dropped out of the University of Southern California at 21 to join the CW TV show One Tree Hill. On her 30th birthday, she built a school in Guatemala with the Girl Project. She's raised money for those affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, lived on $1.50 a day to raise awareness about global poverty, taken to her platforms to call the GOP "heartless," supported diversity in Hollywood, gay marriage, and women everywhere.
We caught up with the powerhouse to ask, well, everything about her drive, passion, and badass squad (like the very rad, Ruthie Lindsey).
Read on.
You made a name for yourself in Hollywood, but activism has always been in your heart. What do you want to be remembered for?
What we do is not who we are. That’s true for all of us. Our careers, no matter what kind, are simply a piece of our greater life puzzle. So personally, I hope that the people who matter most to me remember me as a passionate person who stood up for others. As a woman who was for other women. As a friend who showed up to the best of her ability. And as a tender-hearted softie who took no shit.
I hope that the people who matter most to me remember me as a tender-hearted softie who took no shit.
You’re heading to Houston pre-Style Summit. Why is it important for you to be there early?
It’s devastating to see the effects of Harvey on Houston. But seeing folks step up and show up to help is deeply inspiring. I’m just hoping to do my part and lend a hand where I can. Beyond donating and sending clothing and other supplies, knowing that I have the opportunity to lend a literal hand means a lot to me. Our government may be lead by petulant children who feel that arguing about whether science is real or not — newsflash: It is. Arguing that it isn’t is as stupid as claiming that gravity doesn’t exist—but we as citizens can sidestep the madness and show up for our neighbors. That’s what makes this country so great. Us, and our commitment to and support of one another.
You’ve said that in your early career you felt treated like a “chess pawn.” Which, so many women experience, inside Hollywood and out. How did you come to understand your power?
Understanding power is an interesting notion, and I believe that it’s closely tied to self-worth. But self-worth is not a fixed destination you arrive at and then poof! You never feel insecure, or threatened, or anxious, again. Sadly. Wouldn’t it be great if it was!? As those notions of power and worth apply to career verticals, there are systems and behavior patterns in place that subjugate and challenge women everywhere. In every business. From micro to macro aggressions, we face consistent and unrelenting adversity. It’s exhausting. And for me, refusing to be treated as a chess pawn or a plaything or an object was a reaction to that adversity, and it's blatantly and undeniably unacceptable. There is only so long that people can and will put up with circumstances that are flat out wrong. Using my voice, and standing up for myself and those around me has made all the difference.
"Self-worth is not a fixed destination you arrive at and then poof! you never feel insecure."
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How have the past few years changed your thoughts on what your next five years look like?
The past few years taught me a lot about what I want, and also about what I will not tolerate. The positive and negative ends of the spectrum of recent experiences have both been great for goal setting. Everything is a lesson. And it all boils down to the truth that I’m ready to take more control of my career and what it looks like. That will affect projects I want to helm — as an actor, a producer, a director — and the way people working on those projects feel when they come to work. And that’s what I’m looking forward to most. Creating environments that feel safe, freeing, creative, and open. That’s perhaps the greatest way I’ve come to understand my power thus far. And I’m so looking forward to what’s next.
"Champion other women. And you’ll draw in women who do the same for you."
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You’re surrounded by such a stellar squad. Can you chat a bit about the moment when you knew female friendships would power you through?
I cannot remember a time when that truth wasn’t clear and apparent to me. The adage “it takes a village” exists in our cultural lexicon for a reason. We are communal beings. We find greater happiness in a community than in solitary existence. And my community of women is such an exceptional example of that truth. We are a family. We lift each other up. We challenge each other. We support each other in work, family, play, and adventure. I’m in awe of my friends’ brilliance and boldness. Their creativity and their capacity for love. I cannot say enough good things about them. We are a tribe of women that is truly for other women. And if you want friendships like that? Be a woman like that. Be for other women. Collaborate with other women. Champion other women. And you’ll draw in women who do the same for you.
Arianna Schioldager is the former Editor-in-Chief at Create & Cultivate. You can follow her @ariannawrotethis.
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Zoey Deutch Is No Flower In Her New Movie
But she is blooming brilliant.
"Flower," the new dark teen comedy from director Max Winkler, starring Zoey Deutch was made in 16 days with a half a million dollar budget. Not bad for a flick that's earned a yellow check as a NYT Critic's Pick.
Not bad for a film that begins with an underage girl giving a police officer a blow job.
That's right. When we first meet Deutch's character, Erica Vandross, she’s performing oral sex on a cop in his squad car. Nearby, her own squad secretly records the encounter in order to blackmail him. They score a paltry 400 bucks from officer Dale (the entirety of his bank account), as part of an ongoing extortion hustled up by Erica to earn enough cash to bail her dear old dad out of jail. What, you weren't a vigilante at 17? As Deutch says in the movie’s trailer, “Shaking down a child molester is our moral obligation.” Sure, at her high school she gets called a “slut,” but Erica, rather believably to the credit of Deutch's portrayal, does not care what anyone thinks of her. “It's called feminism," she tells Luke (Joey Morgan), the son of her mother Laurie's (Kathryn Hahn) new boyfriend.
There are male critics who don't love the flick. But women (and the New York Times) are in agreement: it fucking rocks. For Deutch, who played the *almost* only female in Richard Linklater's "Everybody Wants Some," and last year's "Before I Fall" it was an opportunity to play a role traditionally written for a dude.
Erica is confident, but manic. Oogles the hot old dude at the bowling alley. Wears socks with slides, rocks a mean mom-jean short, a "Daddy" t-shirt, enjoys giving blowjobs and drawing said penises in her diary of dick. In short: Erica's not "likable," or so say the powers-that-be-reviewers. There are a laundry list of unbecoming traits that friends and fam heeded the actress against. "I must have poor reading comprehension skills. I thought she was fucking awesome," joked Deutch. "The unanimous response was, 'Aren't you afraid of playing someone potentially so unlikeable?'"
The answer simply, was no. In fact the only part of the movie that flummoxed the then-twenty-year-old was a dancing scene. "Blowjob scenes, totally fine," Deutch jokes. "But dancing was the worst. I'm the worst dancer."
"Blowjob scenes, totally fine," Deutch jokes. "But dancing was the worst. I'm the worst dancer."
But the way she carries the film is a dance. That between "likable" and "unlikable," teetering between the two so deftly that you're not, NOT rooting for her. Despite her shortcomings and occasional cruelty, you want Erica to win at life, to love herself, to reclaim her innocence, at least in some capacity. She's not without soul. She's certainly not without heart. "Flower" shows teens as they are-- not as they ought to be.
It's also fun and so refreshing to see this part played by a woman, you understand.
"This kind of character when played by a man is morally ambiguous," says Deutch. "When it's a woman," she continues, again returning to that word women all too often hear in the workplace, "she's unlikable." Contrary to the warnings of peers, Deutch says playing the role of Erica "is the most profound and fun and fulfilling thing I've done in my career so far."
"This kind of character when played by a man is morally ambiguous. When it's a woman she's unlikable."
Her director, Max Winkler, agrees. "I'm really proud of her performance," he says. "For a twenty year old to be able to carry a movie like that...I'm still not jaded by how good she is." It's an enthusiasm he likewise shared for his crew. On set, he says, "Almost all of our department heads, except for the gaffer and the grip, were women." Adding, "The set ran so much better. Everyone follows the DP on set, and there was no ego, there was no fighting."
"It was so weird for me to realized that I had never worked with a female DP," says Deutch of Carolina Costa, the film's Director of Photography. From there Deutch started looking into other film set stats. "Did you know that less than one percent of women score movies?" she asks. She didn't. Now she does.
Though the film was made two years pre-#metoo movement, there are parallels that alone make the movie worth seeing. Without giving away any spoilers, while the solutions the teens come to in moments of revenge, and subsequent panic, aren't necessarily the best solutions, they are still taking action. Which is something that Deutch is all about. "We're not capitalizing on the movement," says the actress, "but the hope is that all of the discussions breed more action."
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Create & Cultivate 100: Entertainment: Zoe Lister-Jones
THE QUADRUPLE THREAT.
THE QUADRUPLE THREAT.
“I spend a lot of time in hair and makeup,” says Zoe Lister Jones.
This is something about her glamorous Hollywood job that the writer/director/actress/feminist badass wants people, especially young girls striving for perfection, to know. As the star of the CBS family drama “Life in Pieces,” Lister-Jones fumbles through new parenthood alongside her co-star and TV husband Colin Hanks. In “Band-Aid,” the feature film she wrote, directed, and starred in last year, Lister-Jones plays ½ of a 30-something married couple still reeling from the unspoken pain of a miscarriage. (She also employed an all-female crew.)
Committed to “storytelling as a means of change,” the Brooklyn-born actress may need hair and makeup on set, but behind the camera she has no trouble making waves.
More from Zoe below.
Name: Zoe Lister-Jones
Instagram: @zoelisterjones
What matters most to you about your job?
Storytelling as a means of change
When you don't always know where your next job is coming from, how do you keep your drive and passion come alive?
I need to write to process questions and quandaries that perplex me, whether personal or global. So that's helpful in fueling the fire. Art as a cathartic act.
If you ran the world, what one law you would enact?
Women have equal rights and equal pay worldwide.
Where do you think good ideas come from?
Hard questions.
"Good ideas come from hard questions."
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What has been your biggest opportunity and at the same time your biggest challenge?
Probably directing my first feature lm. But the challenge was ultimately part of the joy.
What's something you'd like people to know about your job that they probably don’t?
I spend a lot of time in hair and makeup. Girls and women need to know that the impossible standards of beauty we are faced with every day in pop culture imagery are rarely attainable without a team of professionals, and airbrushing, and a whole bunch of other bullshit. We gotta start to love ourselves more completely just as we are. I struggle with it too. We all do.
We gotta start to love ourselves more completely just as we are. I struggle with it too. We all do.
What about your career makes you feel the most complete?
Creating my own work. Writing a story and seeing it come to life. The freedom I feel when I'm opposite a great actor and some unquantifiable magic occurs.
If you had to trade jobs with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
I'd trade jobs with Donald Trump just to get him out of office.
I put you on the spot the last time we talked and asked you to share the last thing you punned in a text. Gonna hit you with it one more time...
Don't want none unless you got puns hun.
At what point in your career did you find the confidence to really take charge and become the woman you are today?
Well directing was certainly a turning point, and required the confidence to believe I deserved to be in that position. I think I felt I had put in the work, and was excited by the possibility of doing something that scared me.
What's the best advice you've ever been given? Or your favorite piece of #realtalk?
Cheesy and cliched, but "The only person standing in your way is you."
What song do you sing in the shower when you’ve had a bad day?
"Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac.
Photo Credit: @davisfactor
Hair & Makeup: @SmashboxCosmetics @TheGlamApp @TheOuai
TO SEE THE FULL CREATE & CULTIVATE ENTERTAINMENT LIST CLICK HERE.
Links From Our Group Chat: Cardi B.'s Real Name & #MeToo Controversy
What'd you think we talked about? The weather.
If, like the rest of the internet, you spent the weekend figuring out you're classic art doppelgänger, you're not alone. Thanks to the new "Google Arts and Culture" app, all you have to do is snap a selfie to figure out which famous portrait you most look like. And who said selfies don't do us any good?
Remember the dude (whose name we refuse to use) who wrote that Google memo? Well he's suing for discrimination. [FACEPALM]
We all learned Cardi B’s real name + we’re shook.
I Started the Media Men List. My name is Moira Donegan.
How do we feel about a man writing this? Why Andrew, why? (Clicks.)
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WORK PARTY ON
Links From Our Group Chat: Minnie Driver Slams Matt Damon & We Applaud All Black Women
You snooze, you lose.
Feminism. It's the word of the year, according to Merriam-Webster. #trending. According to the wordsmiths, Merriam-Webster said "feminism" was the most looked-up word in its online dictionary, with the term generating 70% more searches than last year.
So how do we make sure that this continues? Maybe not treat gender equality as a trend.
Would you ride a gondola to the Hollywood sign? DVF and her husband are looking into it.
Thank you black women. Thank you black women. Thank you.
Thank you Salma Hayek for so explicitly detailing the abuse of power.
Ugh, but no thank you on this. We like our internet the way we like our winter wardrobe: neutral.
Also, no thank you on this many Diet Cokes.
Russell Simmons started a #notme hashtag. & Matt Damon did an awful lot of mansplaining this week, but Minnie Driver wasn't havin' it.
Conde Nast's newest online publication that focuses on queer youth is called them.
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The Female CEO Who Turned Sophia Bush Down
And the actress' rad response.
Sophia Bush, actress and activist, keynoted our Style Summit at the Simon Mall Houston Galleria this past weekend, and we're still on a high from the knowledge she intentionally slammed, forget dropped-- this wasn't casual, on stage.
If you missed out, we're sharing 6 of our favorite moments to keep you motivated through your work week.
On being a tender-hearted softie who takes no shit.
I’ve had to learn, sometimes, how to scream and swear at the phone and then not send it. You know, write the draft of the response to the person who deserves it, but then channel Michelle Obama, ‘when they go low, I go high,’ and I delete it. But still I am really learning the art of a good clapback and I deserve that. Simply because I exist in public does not make me a receptacle for people’s garbage.
It’s taken me 15 years, but I think I’m sort of an expert.
"I am really learning the art of a good clapback and I deserve that."
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On activism being a huge part of her story and advice to women
You have to find the thing that lights you up and that can be in a good way, or a bad way. What sets you on fire? What makes you so angry? I read a lot about what’s happening in the world today and I’m pissed, I’m so pissed all of the time, and that FIRE that it calls up in the gut of my gut, I’m like, this is why I can’t be quiet. It’s really easy to turn off the news. And look, today is Saturday. My best friend and I laid in bed all morning and ate french fries and drank iced coffee and watched Fixer Upper-- I needed a day. But we have to pay attention and I think the first and foremost step to becoming a more engaged more active member of society, is to pay attention.
On the internet life.
I would encourage everyone here to make the easiest free investment ever. For the next week, please every day, leave a really lovely compliment on at least one of the accounts of women you follow. Please once a day. Because most of the people who take the time to leave comments are assholes. The really nice together people, are scrolling and liking, but we’re busy. So we can really tilt the conversation by leading it with positivity.
On personal style.
When we look at the ways we express ourselves and the ways each of us still might be feeling like maybe today’s version of expression was a risk? Support each other. Whether that’s girls who tend to dress in menswear or girls who love to show off their bodies or girls who are fully covered and wearing a hijab. Love on women. Love on them and tell them they are beautiful. Tell them that their style is sick, even if it’s different from your own. I can’t wait to be eighty and be like Iris Apfel meets Georgia O'Keeffe. I’m gonna be such a silver-haired old lady wearing crazy shit out in the desert collecting bones and painting them.
Her advice to her 20-year-old self.
I was so nervous about letting people down. I didn’t know that when I was 21 and started working in television that I didn’t have to answer every question journalists asked me to be polite. What is polite anyway? Figure out what’s important to you and you don’t have to open up your life in ways you don’t want to. You don’t have to please other people before you please yourself. You don’t have to stay in a job that makes you unhappy. You don’t have to stay in a relationship that makes you unhappy. If you’re pretty sure that guy you’re dating is lying to you, he is. Let it go. I learned that one the hard way.
"You don’t have to please other people before you please yourself."
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I really wish I could look at her and say ‘you already know, stop worrying about what other people know or think or want from you more than you worry about how you feel in the root of the root of yourself.’
On putting yourself out there.
Women are often so reductive about ourselves. Men don’t say I think. Women say I think. You might write an email and say I just think it would be so wonderful to know you. No you know it would be wonderful to get to know that person. That CEO who you idolize or whoever that person is, say: "It would be such an honor for me to spend a morning with you. I have a couple of questions that I know your expertise would be so valuable." Stop saying I think I could benefit, I think I would like to-- no you know what you’d like. You know what you can do. Just go for it. I’ve done that. Last year, I sent an email to an incredible female CEO who I admire so much basically asking the same question. She was so lovely in response and said I’m incredibly strapped for time as it is and what free time I have goes to my kids but thank you so much for writing this email to me, the compliment that you paid me really means the world, and I do hope that in some point when we’re in the same city we both have some free time and we’ll get together. I was like I’m so sad but you’re so classy. It made me feel so good to know that I made her feel good.
Photo credit: Smith House Photo
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Hollywood Roundtable: 4 Actresses Talk Sexism in Tinseltown
Take this sexism.
Given the recent reports of Harvey Weinstein's disgusting behavior, we are re-sharing this conversation, which took place this past July.
What’s it like being a woman in Hollywood? It’s a frustrating (and surely, aggravating) question on many fronts. Well, it’s like any other industry. There are moments of extreme pride and accomplishment. There are moments of doubt. Moments of anger and rage at endless sexism.
But we caught up with Natalie Morales, director, writer, and actress whom you'll see in the upcoming Emma Stone and Steve Carell flick, Battle of the Sexes, June Diane Raphael, actress, comedian, and writer who currently plays Jane Fonda's daughter and the CEO behind Lily Tomlin’s organic lube enterprise in the acclaimed Grace and Frankie, and Kulap Vilaysack, writer, actress, comedian, and the only female show-runner/EP alongside four male EP’s on Bajillion Dollar Propertie$ on Seeso to ask just that.
left to right: June Diane in Grace and Frankie; Natalie Morales for Into the Gloss shot by Tom Newton; and Kulap Vilaysack.
So, what’s it like as a woman in Hollywood?
Natalie Morales: This is a question I get a lot and I’m never sure how to answer because I don’t know what it’s like to be a man in Hollywood. I feel great. I love my industry. I love what I do and I love the people I meet.
June Diane Raphael: I love being a woman. And I love acting and writing and overall creating. Sometimes the combination of those two things can be frustrating, but being a woman is one of my favorite things to be!
Kuala Vilaysack: At the moment, I feel empowered and clear-eyed… Like Moana on the other side of the horizon. Now I know what you are thinking, “Kulap is very cool and accessible for connecting so strongly to an animated film made for children.” Thank you.
“At the moment, I feel empowered and clear-eyed… Like Moana on the other side of the horizon.”
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Do you ever think your job would be easier if you were a man?
Natalie: Definitely, but I think most jobs would be. For starters, I’d get paid more. So that makes it easier off the bat. Secondly, as in most jobs, people would take me more seriously. Especially as a director and writer. I’m sure there are a lot more reasons it’d be easier, but those are the big ones.
June Diane: I’m married to a man and we have very similar struggles (always wanting more out of our careers, always struggling with feeling “less than” as an artist) but I also have particular fears and concerns that (for me) feel specifically female (likability or lack there of, sexuality and too much of it/too little of it, reluctance to self promote) I think in general being a human (if you are awake to the experience) can be very challenging (men need healing for their role as oppressors/maintainers of the patriarchy as much as women need healing as the oppressed — we have both lost our humanity in this struggle). I feel this as a white person who benefits (through no merit of my own) from the white supremacist society we live in. I don’t wish to be in someone else’s shoes, but I wish to dismantle the racist patriarchal society I live in as it both oppresses me and supports me.
Kulap, you’re the only female show-runner/EP alongside four male EP’s on Bajillion Dollar Propertie$ on Seeso, has there been a time when it felt your gender held you back?
Kulap: No, probably because I have the final say on all matters concerning the show. Scott Aukerman, David Jargowsky, Thomas Lennon and R. Ben Garant continue to be incredibly supportive and I’ve benefited greatly from their experience and input. Fortunately, I’ve been afforded the space necessary to come into my own.
Do you have any specific anecdotes of gender bias?
Kulap: When we were interviewing department heads before production of Season 1, the old school men tended to direct their questions to the male seated beside me. I did not appreciate that. With four seasons of the show under my belt, I am glad to be past the craning of necks looking for the man in charge.
Natalie: I have had people tell me to my face, and mean it, that women are not as funny as men. And so they don’t hire women. This is a real thing. I have had people tell me to sit in the back of the 12 passenger van when I’m already in the front seat (I get car sick) because my male peer might like to sit in the front. I am 100% sure I have been paid less than most of my male co-stars for the same or more work. I have been thought of as a silly actress when I present work that I’m trying to direct or write.
"I have had people tell me to my face, and mean it, that women are not as funny as men. And so they don’t hire women."
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June Diane: Before pitching a feature film to a studio, an older male producer hid my index cards around the room while I went to the bathroom. When I returned, he had me play the “hotter colder” game while I walked around trying to find them. He then also requested I take off the blazer I was wearing to see my tank top. I complied.
That all sounds truly awful. Where are the areas where Hollywood can make progress?
Kulap: We need more women in power/hiring positions in all aspects of the business. More men in these positions need to make it a priority to hire more women. Hire women. Recommend women. Advocate for women.
June: Every story shouldn’t have one black friend or one woman to create the illusion of inclusion. Diverse casts can support more than ONE! The same goes for writer’s rooms. We need to look at this idea of “we just want to hire the best people for the job” and ask ourselves what that means. Storytelling, at least in my experience, has been at it’s best with a million different perspectives and viewpoints and life experience.
Natalie: Equal pay, equal hire, be less afraid of women, understand that women-led movies and tv MAKE MONEY, be more intersectional with your support of women, cast out of the “ordinary”, give chances to female filmmakers who are small and starting out, encourage women to tell their own stories.
So on the topic of sexism. Fun! Natalie, Battle of the Sexes is a timely movie. Women are living in the aftermath of demanding equality. What was it like being a part of telling that story?
Natalie: It’s kind of terrible that it’s timely, isn’t it? But it somehow is. It somehow feels like we’ve been fighting for our rights for so long and some people have convinced themselves that we’ve won, but we haven’t. Not by a long shot. Sure, women in America have some things easier than in other countries, but we’re still so behind. It was wonderful to be a part of that story. To show people that weren’t around when this happened (like myself) that this fight is not new, it’s hard, and it’s worth it.
Why do you think it’s important to tell now?
Natalie: I think it will be important to tell for all of time. It’s important now because Billie Jean King accomplished something by fighting back. It gives us courage and tells us someone came before us. We can do it too. It will be important in the future, when hopefully rights are truly equal across the board, to tell the story of why then needed to fight for it.
Why do you think studios are reluctant to put as much money behind female-led movies?
June Diane: The long-standing idea has been that male viewers will not care about female narratives while female viewers will care about male narratives. They fear “female led” movies will have a smaller audience and so they won’t make as much money. Wonder Woman disproves this theory as do the MANY MOVIES LED BY WOMEN THAT HAVE MADE MONEY AT THE BOX OFFICE.
Speaking of rights being truly equal across the board, do you think wage parity will become a reality in Hollywood?
Kulap: I sure hope so.
June Diane: Yes.
Natalie: I am an optimistic person, despite my snarky tone. So I’m going to say yes.
What needs to change to get there?
Kulap: A long road of greenlights to prove that our stories and our leadership have the same value. Better yet, an open highway.
June: I would love the major Hollywood agencies to start a real dialogue about this [wage parity]. I would also love every actor/writer/director to bring up wage parity in every conversation they have about what they are getting paid.
June, you’re about to launch into some positive convo with your book The Badass Woman's Guide to Running for Office and Changing the World, coming out 2019. How are you badass and how do you want to change the world?
I’m badass in that I’m a working mom. The end! But also because I’m committed to working hard to politically engage in my world. I’m calling my reps and showing up as much as I possibly can. I am also doing the internal work (much harder and more painful) to figure out where I can dismantle the racist heteronormative sexist ideology I have accepted unconsciously.
“I’m badass in that I’m a working mom. The end!”
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How do you reconcile the liberal face of Hollywood against the ageism and sexism that exists?
June Diane: I don’t reconcile it! I am working hard to change it.
Natalie Morales: I don’t [either]. I don’t know how. The most I can say is that I don’t work with the sexists. I’m lucky enough to be able to afford not to. I can turn down a role if I don’t like it. I will work hard to give women jobs so that they can turn down roles if they don’t like them too.
Let’s end this end on a positive note. What have you seen in your industry that excites you?
June Diane: I love what Zoe Lister-Jones just did with Bandaid (hiring an all female crew). I’m so used to seeing so many men on sets I find the idea exciting and I would LOVE to work with an all female crew.
Natalie: Opportunity for women, and successful women extending a hand to younger, less experienced women.
Kulap: Social media continues to shine a bright light on gender and racial bias, pushing us forward to be representative of the country as a whole.
It’s been thrilling to see badass girlfriends of mine, wearing hats on top of hats and getting their projects produced. Shout out and shine on June Diane Raphael, Casey Wilson, Danielle Schneider, Andrea Savage, Jessica St. Clair, Lennon Parham, Naomi Scott… this list too goes on and on, but not long enough.
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Why This TV Powerhouse Is Joining the Board of Planned Parenthood
Female anatomy.
Photo credit: Dove.
This morning, ELLE.com exclusively revealed the news that Shonda Rhimes – creator of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder – will join the national board of Planned Parenthood and speak for one of the most trusted health care providers in America.
In an interview with ELLE.com, Rhimes and Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s President, discuss their new partnership.
Shonda Rhimes on her reaction to Cecile Richards inviting her to consider a role on the Planned Parenthood national board:
“When someone you really admire … calls on you to serve, you say yes. The fact is that women’s health is under fire right now. And so to me, it feels like it’s important to help fight back. I just want to be of service. And I’ll do that any way I can.”
On why Richards reached out to Shonda:
“Shonda was already serving on the board out in Los Angeles, and she’s been a great supporter for a long time. But what she brings not only to this board, but frankly to the world is her commitment to lift up the stories of people who don’t always get heard, whether it’s in the way she talks about LGBT issues or women’s reproductive health care or [the way she] centers people of color on television. To me, the most important work we can do at Planned Parenthood is make sure that the voices of all those folks are heard, particularly in this political environment. And there’s just no one better at utilizing the power of storytelling than Shonda Rhimes.”
Rhimes on representatives and cable news pundits positioning Planned Parenthood as a “woman’s issue”:
“I'd put it this way: There are a lot of men who run things. And so for them, if it's not about them, it's considered an ‘other.’ I think the point of our country, our planet, the reason we're all here, one of the best things that we can do is be concerned about something even when it doesn't concern us. That's the whole point. The fact that I've never had to use a Planned Parenthood, the fact that I've never been in need of medical services I couldn't afford or didn't have access to, doesn't mean I shouldn't be concerned about the fact that other women don't have that access … When you help make people healthier, it makes the nation healthier, it makes the world healthier, it makes the economy healthier.”
Rhimes on the relative lack of “backlash” to Olivia Pope having an abortion on-screen:
“I don't know that I was surprised. But I think that the studio and the network were surprised that there wasn't a backlash. Yes, as we've all become more educated and aware, I think people have developed very different opinions over what is "controversial" and what's not … In this scene we were portraying a medical procedure that is legal in the United States of America. I wasn't sure what everybody was so concerned about. I was accurately portraying a medical procedure that the Supreme Court says people are allowed to have. I wasn't going to pull any punches. It's been a long time since Roe v. Wade, and I do think [most people] are able to have respect for other people's choices. Most people, I think, have accepted that it's not up to them to control other people's choices, except, it seems, when it comes to Washington, D.C., where everyone has an opinion about people's uteruses.”
Richards on what we can expect from Rhimes in this new role:
“The best thing we can do is just channel the enormous creative energy and storytelling ability that Shonda Rhimes already has to do our work even better. And she couldn't be joining us at a better time. When so much basic health care is under attack, as we saw just a few weeks ago, as a room full of men negotiated away maternity benefits for women, it's never been more important for people's stories to be told … Shonda has always been unapologetic about speaking truth to power. She does it every Thursday night. We're just incredibly grateful that of all the ways she could be spending her time, she's committed some of it to Planned Parenthood.”