A month after her departure from Warner Bros. was announced, Pamela Abdy made her first industry appearance Thursday night at the Women in Film Honors at the Beverly Hilton.
The event marked a full-circle moment of sorts. On the morning of Oct. 1, Abdy was announced as WIF’s inaugural Vanguard Award recipient. Then, she was serving as co-chair and CEO of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group with her longtime producing partner Michael DeLuca. Later that night, Abdy and DeLuca learned that would not usher the film studio into its next chapter amid the Skydance merger. Just over a month later, Abdy was ready to talk about it.
And she didn’t hold back.
During the gala, Abdy delivered a fiery 15-minute address that held the ballroom at rapt attention. The thesis of her remarks: after 31 years in Hollywood, she was no longer worried about being called “difficult” if she laid bare the realities of being a woman in the film business; instead, Abdy spoke her truth about the “pure unadulterated rage” she’s been feeling about the state of the business and how she’s using that as “fuel” for change.
But before she took the stage, Abdy walked the red carpet and updated the press on what she’d been up to in recent weeks.
“Right now, I’m taking a break and chilling,” Abdy told Variety‘s Marc Malkin. “I got to go see every single one of my daughter’s volleyball games, without being interrupted. So that’s what I’m doing right now.”
When Malkin asked her about the swirling rumors about her next stop, including the idea that she and De Luca could fill the open film head job at Netflix, Abdy said, “When I decide what I’m doing, I promise I will tell everyone. But honestly, it’s an interesting time to be able to take a break, and really decide what I want.
“I know what happiness is when I’m working with filmmakers, and wherever and whatever I end up doing, that’s my goal is to continue to work with the best storytellers out there,” Abdy said.
When Malkin asked if she thinks the new combined company can reach its goal of releasing 30 movies a year, Abdy replied, “I don’t know. I’m not there. I hope they do.”
If Abdy’s replies seem a little vague, that was, perhaps, by design. She was saving her energy for the barnburner of a speech she was preparing to deliver a couple hours later.
WIF Honors also saluted Adria Arjona with the WIF Max Mara Face of the Future Award; “Josephine” filmmaker Beth de Araújo and star Gemma Chan (in absentia) with the Crystal Award for Advocacy in Film; “Ted Lasso” star Hannah Waddingham with the Crystal Award for Advocacy in TV; and Salma Hayek Pinault with the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award, presented by Fonda. The Vanguard Award was slated for the end of the program, so just after 9 p.m., Nancy Meyers took the stage to present the WIF prize to Abdy.
“I’ve learned over my many years here in Hollywood, behind every great woman, you will generally find another great woman,” Meyers said before reading out a list of women filmmakers whom Abdy has championed over the years, including herself. (Abdy and DeLuca greenlit Meyers’ next movie “Paris Paramount” at Warner Bros.)
I’ve been making movies for 46 years, and I’ve worked with quite a few of the great women studio heads, and I’ll tell you… they’re nothing like the guys,” Meyers added.
“What’s different about them is that they approach the job in a unique way: They treat you like a friend, and a friend they want to support, and a friend they want to go to bat for,” she explained. “They’re very smart about filmmaking. They’re tuned into the process. They’re open, and they’re trusting. They want to tell stories about women, but most importantly, they all love movies. It’s that simple. And Pam is very much a significant part of that rarefied breed.”
Indeed, the WIF prize recognizes the breadth of Abdy’s career beyond Warner Bros., where she oversaw blockbusters and award darlings including “One Battle After Another,” “Sinners,” “Barbie,” “Weapons,” and “Dune: Part Two.” Last year, Warner Bros. tied the all-time studio record with 11 Academy Awards from an industry-leading 30 nominations. (That said, not all of the Abdy and DeLuca’s big-budget swings paid off, with “The Bride!” and “Digger” as two recent financial misfires.) But this particular evening wasn’t about balancing box office budgets — in fact, Abdy later lamented the deficiencies of traditional box office tracking methods — it was a moment to celebrate the battles Abdy had won in the name of creatives.
Before she took the stage, a slew of A-listers appeared in a clip reel to congratulate her. Sandra Bullock kicked off the reel, playfully alluding to Abdy’s change in employment status. “Just stay really chill. Just say thank you and, you know, get out of there quickly,” the “Practical Magic” star joked, before someone off camera reminded her Abdy was being recognized by Women in Film. “Forget everything I just said,” Bullock pivoted. “Say everything you want to say. Toot your own horn.”
Joining Bullock for the video salute were her “Practical Magic” co-star Nicole Kidman; “Digger” star Tom Cruise, director Alejandro G. Iñárritu and producer Mary Parent; “Sinners” filmmaker Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan; “Barbie,” “Wuthering Heights” and “Oceans” producer/star Margot Robbie; “Queen & Slim” filmmaker Melina Matsoukas; and “Garden State” filmmaker Zach Braff, among others. Finally, it was time for Abdy to take the stage, and she was welcomed by a standing ovation from the well-heeled crowd — made up mostly of women and a few male allies.
Abdy kicked off her remarks by digging into the definition of the term vanguard. “I came across a few meanings that stood out to me, but two in particular spoke to my experience working in Hollywood,” she began. “The first, also known as the ‘advance guard,’ is to lead an advancing military formation, securing ground ahead of the main force. It also means a leader who brings new ideas, political movements, or art. Both definitions spoke to me because they exemplify in one word how I approach my professional life. I see my role as needing to look 10 steps ahead and forming a formidable team as we head into battle, while also creating space for new voices.”
Over the years, Abdy said, she’s been in the trenches with some of the greatest filmmakers of all time — “both men and women” — all with one mission in mind: “to tell stories, to reach into people’s minds and pull at their hearts, to make people laugh and cry and see the world through someone else’s eyes; to ask the audience to experience ideas and issues that may feel challenging but will also lead to valuable conversations and debate.” She added, defiantly: “We also have to do this under the microscope of a media ecosystem that has largely abandoned analysis and fact for the trap of clickbait based in rumor.”
Here, Abdy took a moment to thank the long list of women directors she’s worked with over the years, including Meyers, Kasi Lemmons, Karyn Kusama, Greta Gerwig, Emerald Fennell, Sarah Polley, Matsoukas, A.V. Rockwell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Olivia Wilde, Zoë Kravitz and more. “You are all powerful. You have a lot to say, so please keep sharing your stories and do it fearlessly and loudly,” she said.
She also thanked the women producers and executives she’s learned from over the years, like Stacey Sher, Sherry Lansing, Donna Langley, Dede Gardner, and more. “My gratitude for these women has only grown over the years,” Abdy said, really starting to hit her stride. “But lately, other feelings and one in particular have risen to the surface with undeniable ferocity: and that feeling is pure, unadulterated rage.”
“Rage for these women, rage for me, and even more rage for the entire generation of women who deserve to have their potential recognized and elevated,” Abdy continued as the crowd cheered their approval. “Rage at how women are under attack everywhere. Rage at how our health and our well-being always seem to come second to how we show up in a room. And here’s the problem: as a leader who happens to be a woman, I am supposed to sublimate this rage, and you know what happens when they tell you to tamp down a fever? Sometimes it just burns hotter.”
Over the course of her career, Abdy recalled being called “difficult,” “emotional” and “combative.” She’s been told to “put on [her] big boy pants” and to “smile more.” While those are microaggressions women everywhere and in every industry can relate to, Abdy shared more examples specific to the movie business.
“I’ve been told movies starring women and movies directed by women don’t make as much money. That the audience is limited. That everyone gets nervous when our sisters lead a movie because traditional tracking suggests men won’t show up,” she said. “Well, if this is really a reality — and I’m really not sure anymore that tracking effectively depicts reality — I say, why is it given that women will show up for the quote-unquote male movies, bringing their friends, kids, partners, parents, and siblings to experience the wonders of the big screen, and men will not do the same for female-driven stories?”
Abdy, for one, would like to see that gender trope “obliterated,” and she’s hopeful that “new generations of moviegoers will step outside these boxes and celebrate filmmakers of every gender, race, and age.” That way, the industry can stop “thinking that tracking is somehow a measure of success or a roadmap to what stories we should tell,” she said.
Not to mention the fact that male directors are quick to show up for one another, but where’s that support for the women directors?” “They deserve your advocacy, too,” Abdy said.
Here, Abdy shared a hard truth. “It is getting harder, not easier, to be a woman in the business,” she said. “We tell ourselves because a few of us made it into these chairperson seats, we broke through; that we paved the way for the next generation. But I don’t think it’s true.”
Why not? “We still have the most powerful women in Hollywood list. The men don’t have a separate list; they are the list,” Abdy explained. “When Greta Gerwig made ‘Barbie,’ a movie that grossed over $1.4 billion, people consistently referred to her as a female director — not a director, a female director. … This industry has kept finding ways to put an asterisk next to a woman’s success, as if it’s exceptional for a woman, instead of just being exceptional.”
It’s these questions Abdy has been musing over lately: “What business are we leaving for future vanguards? Is it a healthy industry for the next generation of storytellers and executives to step into? One that allows women to enter with an open heart and mind without having to fight the fights we’re still fighting.”
Rather than letting her rage be destructive, Abdy is using these feelings as fuel. She sees it as “something that can burn bright, something that can be harnessed to fight on for what we think is right, what we believe in, and what we deserve.” She added: “It is incredibly heartening this week to see so many women elected on Tuesday. I truly, for the first time this week, have hope for the next generation.”
After thanking her industry partners (from Danny DeVito to DeLuca), friends and family for supporting her through her journey, Abdy closed out her passionate remarks with a final nugget of wisdom.
“I look out at this amazing, amazing collection of pioneers and positively incredible women, and I am struck by this personal truth,” Abdy said. “It has taken me 31 years in this business to speak in my own voice and to stop caring whether someone calls me ‘difficult.’”
“Because now, when I hear that, I say, ‘No, you’re wrong.’ If the definition of difficult is someone who is passionate about getting movies made, then I will just have to suffer the fools who don’t know the difference and keep fighting to do what I love,” she concluded. “I am so grateful and so blessed for this life I have and this career so far. I’m not done.”
Source: variety.com
