I know I’m not the only one to bring this up, but it seems to have been a hot topic this week for some of the writers I follow on twitter and it seems irresponsible to not address it and voice my own opinion on the matter.

I read a lot of scripts. However, out of all the scripts that I have read, 1% of them have had a female lead. I’m not even exaggerating this. Why is this a problem? Because women already have a hard enough time getting recognition in the work place and an industry with such widespread influence only continues to back and support those old beliefs.

There has been so much discussion regarding this topic over the past few months, Mystery Executive  and Mystery Cre8tive, have been more than vocal about their feelings regarding women in Hollywood and the (pun intended) shaft that the industry gives them. Both have made a call for change. That change though can be jumpstarted by you, the writer. You are placed in a pivotal role; you have the opportunity to provide said material for women.

Let’s look at the most popular movie of the year, FROZEN. Strong female characters are the core of the film, so the last thing I want to hear is that strong female characters can’t sell movie tickets. While the movie is animated, that might be a good thing. We need to influence and change perspective and in if the current generations are unwilling to budge, let’s teach the generations that are coming of age to look beyond gender lines. Let’s teach kids that women have just as much power and influence over the world as men. Let’s break those lines down and create something great: true, genuine equality for the women working in the world.

Olivia Wilde has also recently spoken out about the inequalities of the roles for women, noting that in a table read the women read the parts that were written for the men and vice versa. The conclusion: the men were bored. And why were they bored? Because women get some of the most boring roles and some of the weakest comedic lines and they aren’t given the opportunity to really show that they can do everything that men can do. Let’s give women the chance. Let’s give them the opportunity to shine on the screen, TV or Film. Let’s give women the opportunity to produce, to direct… Women can offer so much more than they have been allowed and the time has come.

I know I can’t expect to change the world or the opinions of everyone. But I do hope that I start getting more scripts with women that I would want to be, or if I had children, would want my children to aspire to be like.