Cate Blanchett Launching Program at USC to Empower Female Filmmakers: ‘Really Exciting’ (Exclusive)

While recently on a film set, Cate Blanchett came to a shocking realization.

“I assumed, since things have changed, and we all talk about how the industry has changed, that the set I was going to walk on would be diverse,” the actress, 54, tells PEOPLE. “Not only was I the only woman in front of the camera, I was the only woman on set. My shoulders sank. I wasn’t angry, I was disappointed.”

At that point, Blanchett reminded that “you can’t be complacent” when trying to make changes — and now she started talking. In partnership with her Dirty Films co-founder Coco Francini (they run an independent film company with Blanchett’s husband of 25 years, Andrew Upton) and Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Blanchett launched the Proof-of-Concept Accelerator Program at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles to support film talents whose stories promote the perspectives of women, trans and non-binary people.

“We’ve had so many moments highlighting the achievements and endeavors of women that I think we’ve moved on, we’ve moved on,” she says. “Then you look at the data that Dr. Stacy collected with the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and you say, ‘Things are not moving fast enough.’ ”

“I think that’s what motivated us all to try to find a really functional, turbo-charged initiative that would help, from our perspective, tackle the challenges that we see. This initiative is really, really exciting.”

Cate Blanchett. Mike Coppola/Getty

In creating the program, Francini says they focused on removing the three main barriers women, trans and non-binary filmmakers often face when trying to launch their careers: money, mentorship and exposure.

When applications for the program (backed by Netflix’s Creative Capital Fund) open in January, up to eight filmmakers will be selected to receive $50,000 in funding to create a short film that can serve as a “proof of concept” for a feature film or television series.

“We talked a lot about money, which is something that women aren’t often encouraged to talk about,” says Blanchett. “When it comes to often marginalized voices, people feel they don’t know how to financially advocate for themselves. This program [will help] people get a sense of what their feature film could be through making a short film, so when they take it to a studio or a streaming service or whoever, they’re able to budget it and know what to look for and who to ask for that money. ”

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Along with funding, program participants will also receive one-on-one mentoring and guidance from industry leaders, culminating in a project showcase highlighting their work.

“They will receive mentorship and supervision not only from individuals on this team, but also from industry luminaries,” says Dr. Smith. “As Coco found when interviewing so many women in the industry, it’s really important to have a fellowship or a cohort. We really believe this is something that can not only be a program that accelerates movement, but transforms the industry as a proof of concept for that first big feature and the resources needed to create it.”

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As they work on their projects, Francini wants to show these filmmakers that they don’t need to be put in a box.

“Traditionally there are genres where women are included in terms of the stories they tell, trans people and non-binary people as well,” she says. “We want to create opportunities for these people to direct different kinds of films.” Blanchett also wants to show them that they can “create works on a large scale.”

“When I started working in the industry, the idea of ​​a woman leading a story or being behind the camera was a niche experience that would kind of speak to a very small audience,” she says.

“In terms of distribution, it didn’t have the proper resources, so it was set up for failure in terms of not being able to reach a wider audience. So we’re interested in expanding their audience access at every stage, through execution, development and marketing distribution.”

Cate Blanchett.

Jacopo Raule/Getty

In her experience, Blanchett noted that people tend to be “risk-averse” to portraying the perspectives of trans and non-binary filmmakers.

“We want to arm them with the tools to say, ‘This is not a risk. This will add value to you as a company and to an audience that hasn’t seen anything like this before,'” she says. “We’re missing a huge creative opportunity because we’re not diversifying. We’re lamenting creative laziness, we’re lamenting financial laziness, so we should be lamenting lack of inclusivity.”

“Homogeneity in any industry is death to progress and innovation,” she continues. “That’s certainly the case with the creative industries. When you go into a set that’s homogenous, you can kind of taste the result. The things that break through, that are fresh, that have an impact in the next decade, always start because someone took a risk on them .”

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According to the latest annual report by Dr. Smith and her Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, only 6 percent of the directors of the 1,600 highest-grossing films from 2007 to 2022 were women. Less than one-third of all on-screen speaking characters in those films were girls, women, trans or non-binary.

“There is a cumulative disadvantage for women just because of their identity, not their talent,” says Dr. Smith. “Because by every other metric, how much they make at the box office, how well they score on Rotten Tomatoes, all other metrics being equal. So this is it [program] fills the missing gap financially, as well as rounding out many other components that emerging talent needs.”

Cate Blanchett. Stefanie Keenan/Getty

Blanchett hopes the program’s impact will last long after it ends.

“There are a lot of programs that are really important and can be beneficial, but there’s also unrest after the program ends,” she says. “So by creating a cohort, you’re actually creating a support network of collaborators who understand what’s at stake and what’s at stake. They can build on each other.”

As they prepare to sort through the candidates, Dr. Smith says, “We want to find the next Jennifer Kent of horror. We want to find the next Ava DuVernay of Selma. We want to find the next Greta Gerwig Barbie. We want to find the next Gina Prince-Bythewood from king of women so we can pull this back and move on to much more interesting, engaging and compelling art conversations.”

Blanchett adds, “We’re hoping to find things we couldn’t even imagine.”

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Source: HIS Education