Thought this might be of interest.

Happy New Year.

Peg S. Long
Screenwriter
“Dance as though no one is watching you.
Love as though you have never been hurt before.
Sing as though no one can hear you.
Live as though heaven is on earth.” - Souza

Mankind must remember that peace is not God's gift to his creatures; it is our
gift to each other." -- Elie Wiesel
P
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GEORGIA JEFFRIES is an award-winning writer-producer whose scripts have
contributed to the cutting edge of television drama. As a showrunner on the
critically acclaimed series, “China Beach”, “Sisters”, and “Cagney & Lacey”, she
earned multiple Emmy nominations, two Writers Guild Awards, the Humanitas Prize,
the Inter-Guild Merit Award and the National Commission for Working Women Award.
She has also written numerous pilots for ABC, CBS, NBC and Showtime. Her work
in cable films includes the original HBO dramas “The Good Soldier” and “Iron
Jawed Angels” as well as adaptations of the Bebe Moore Campbell novel, Your
Blues Ain’t Like Mine for Showtime and Dr. Frances Conley’s best selling memoir,
Walking Out on the Boys for Lifetime. She was the executive producer/writer of
“My Husband’s Secret Life” for USA and “For Love and Glory” for CBS.

Her first feature screenplay, “Nobody’s Fool”, won the Gold Award at the Houston
Film Festival and she later wrote “Confessions” for Universal and Jessica
Lange’s Prairie Films before focusing on a career in television.

Most recently, Ms. Jeffries completed a screenplay based on her novel, HARD
GRACE, which was inspired by the 1983 mystery behind Los Angeles’ “Looking for
Mr. Goodbar” murder case.

She holds the tenured position of Associate Professor of Screenwriting at USC’s
School of Cinematic Arts and is also a Contributing Editor for Written By
magazine. She has served as Vice-President of the Board of Trustees of the
Writers Guild Foundation and Executive Vice-President of PEN USA West.

A native of Peoria, Illinois, Ms. Jeffries graduated cum laude from UCLA and
began her career as a journalist for American Film magazine. Her essay, “The
First Time They Told Me I Write Like a Man”, was published in The First Time:
Tales from the Hollywood Trenches (Harper-Collins). Her commentary is also
featured in Women Who Run the Show (St. Martin’s Press) and Writing the TV Drama
Series (Michael Wiese Productions).

SCREENWRITERS: "THE WOMEN OF THE INDUSTRY?"

Shortly before the Writers Guild of America went on strike, I moderated a
seminar at the American Film Institute for an audience of aspiring
screenwriters. One guest speaker happened to be an Oscar winning writer who
went to great pains to elaborate on the finer points of his craft. Describing
one particularly difficult “negotiation” in which a director prevailed in
forcing the revision of an important scene, this gifted and self-effacing artist
struggled to explain how he could be overruled on the content of his own
original script.

Finally, he managed a small smile: “screenwriters are the women of the
industry.” End of discussion, next question. It wasn’t the first time I’d
heard a disheartened male writer make that statement, and it won’t be the last.

The typical way to surmount the prejudice of being “just a screenwriter” in our
business is to cross over into the hyphenate land of milk and money. When a
writer adds “director” (in features) or “executive producer” (in television) to
a writer’s position, she -- or he, as the case may be -- is immediately
legitimized. Newly worthy of more status, respect and a better parking place.

(Progress being what it is – agonizingly slow and always resented – that
crossover happens far more often for the male of the species than the female.
Unfortunately, like our national government, our industry has produced few Nancy
Pelosis – formidable figures of influence who have risen to the position of
bankable director or executive producer independent of male partners. But
that’s another commentary with another spate of depressing statistics for
another time.)

The real issue that blocks progress for screenwriters (and women) in our
industry is one of sensibility. A sensibility -- sometimes conscious, sometimes
not -- that labels these exotic souls as suspect or even dangerous. In the case
of writers that is often because they are perceived as unreasonably attached to
their own words and therefore not to be trusted. Unfortunately, as we all know
in this business of smoke and mirrors, the perception is the reality.

On the other hand a filmmaker – or executive or producer – is the
personification of reason. Decisive. Dominant. In control, for God’s sake.
Writers are too what’s the word? “Emotional”? “Moody”? “Difficult”? They
simply cannot grasp the concept that this is a business above all and the trains
must run on time. Somebody Has To Be In Charge. And that person cannot be “the
writer”.

Yes, we’re talking about the question of authority now. Authority. Just the
solid sound of the word is reassuring. Not like the frighteningly fluid
mercurial landscape of the artist’s mind. Otherwise known as Chaos. Until that
Somebody In Charge restores order. Silly me. I always thought authority and
artistry work best together. Like in the word “author”.

One of my former screenwriting students at USC, a young man with both
considerable talent and testosterone, gave me this accolade: “you teach like a
man, professor”. A look passed between us. Then, he added, “just kidding”.
But he wasn’t. We both knew what he meant. By virtue of my professional
position and experience, I brought authority to our dialogue. And because of
that authority, I was no longer perceived as “just a woman” or “just a writer”
for that matter.

I had established myself as Somebody In Charge and therefore worthy of his
attention. Only then could we move forward together with success. Only then
could he trust my guidance. Only then could he fashion a script both compelling
and complex, one that encompassed rage and redemption, humility and hubris,
heart and mind. Any story worth its salt must embrace the human spectrum of
opposites. But that requires what’s the word? Respect. Respect for the
creative process and its originator, which brings me back to the terrible,
beautiful secret of our profession:

Real writers – the ones who care more about creative content than the latest
tent-pole concept that might win favor -- ARE indeed the women of the industry.
I say this, not as apologia, but as tribute to those much maligned originators
who conceive character and story, labor over the printed page and nurture the
whole bloody mess until it has legs enough to venture into the world to rise or
fall on its own merits. From Loos to Kaufman and Marion to Milch, film and TV
scribes embody the female principle in action whether they credit it or not.

So why are screenwriters still denigrated and denied their rightful remuneration
by corporate bosses blinded by the color of greed? Maybe because we creators
hold the keys to the kingdom. Too much innate power. All those suits and
staunch upholders of the possessory “a film by the director of the moment”
credit are not content sharing the reins or the limelight. That is why, when
their insecurities hit the high mark, we are so conveniently inconvenient. And
so easily replaced.

For too long, too many writers bought the lie that our worth is less than
theirs, whoever “they” are. The shame was not only on them, it was on us.
Bullies cross all lines, professional and personal. But they can only take what
we have already surrendered. Our business requires collaboration, not
capitulation. The frontline of any negotiation is not at the bargaining table
but in our own minds. And that is why the solidarity of the 2007 WGA Strike is
already making history.

In the end this fight for our fair share is about more than the new media
profits that are filling the coffers of conglomerates who monopolize the
entertainment business. It is, on its most essential level, a quest of
self-respect, not only for this generation of screenwriters, but for all those
who come after us.

Writers, are you proud to be women? All right then. It’s about time.



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