Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1076085
Winter 2019 The Costume Designer 15 The truth is in the frame. What do you see? There may be an establishing shot: the bucolic town, the filthy jail, the seedy hotel room. But next, you always see the actor. More often than not, the camera chases the sub- ject from scene to scene because time is short and this is how a story is told. In any shot framing the actor, the costume is present. Even a lack of costume is carefully considered by the Costume Designer. Actors are intrin- sically linked to their costume. These are the unspoken rules of film and television. Why state the obvious, you may ask? Because it is vital to the conversation. In the flurry of preproduc- tion—breaking down scripts, researching, the journey of finding the character with the actor—their employ- ment contract is often far from the Costume Designer's mind. Pay equity is defined as equal pay for work of equal value. This is a long-standing American ideal. In Costume Design, it translates to being paid the same as other heads of departments such as the art director, production designer, and cinematographer. Presently, Costume Designers are paid less than their peers. The issue is further compounded by the existing politics of gender. While women make up the majority of the field (approximately 83 percent), all members suffer from the same issues. One vital component, which hasn't been included in the discussion, is the added value Costume Designers bring. No other aspect of a project's physical produc- tion so readily creates excitement before, during, and following the production and screen time. Audiences care about Costume Design. That matters because attention online, in magazines, and social media as well as the influence on fashion, translates into more eyeballs on screens. With the knowledge that pay nego- tiations are rarely an easy subject for creative people, we have spoken to four of our esteemed colleagues to discuss their views on problem and potential solutions for the complex issues. This is the first installment of an ongoing discussion of pay equity in The Costume Designer magazine. Dr. Deborah Nadoolman Landis The David C. Copley Center for Costume Design at UCLA When Dr. Deborah Nadoolman Landis considers the collaborative partnership between Costume Design and production design, she sees them as paired and as twinned as yin and yang. What she finds irreconcilable is that the contract does not reflect that relationship. She says, "Movies are about people and our work is always in the center of the frame." Instead, the contract asserts that the set has more value because it promises production designers a much higher rate. As she investigated this discrepancy, Landis real- ized, "In the wider world, architecture is considered an intel- lectual, muscular, important male pursuit. Fashion design [like Costume Design] is dismissed as trivial, frivolous, and superficial; a female pursuit." It was during her presidency of the Costume Designers Guild that she finally made the connection between pay equity and gender to explain the disparity of rates in the contract. She says, "After many sleep- less nights, I realized, 'Oh, my goodness, this is gender dis- crimination at its very core. I was so disappointed because I understood immediately that [as a gender issue] this would be far more difficult to change." But Landis does believe change is possible and has campaigned tirelessly to that end. She feels that Costume Designers need to know how much all department heads are paid on every production. She says, "We need that kind of awakening. Costume Designers need to advocate for equity and make the case for our value at every opportunity. Over the past decade, we have done a much better job refram- ing our role as storytellers and as the essential partners of the director and actors. But, stuck in an unsatisfactory con- tract that is fossilized by precedent, all Costume Designers, whether male or female, are being paid a lower rate because we perform what was perceived as 'women's work.' But we refuse that definition. Women producers and women execu- tives, in traditional men's jobs, need to understand that when they diminish the value of Costume Design, they are dimin- ishing the contribution of all women. Our representatives must acknowledge our rate as entrenched in gender bias and with strong supporting language they must challenge the union, the studios, and the producers." Landis feels strongly that this generation, at this moment, can make the case for wage equity in the entertainment business. . Salvador Perez Costume Designers Guild President Initially, President Salvador Perez thought pay inequal- ity in film was unique to Costume Design. As it was recently revealed that female actors were being paid significantly less than male actors, he realized that the disparity is "blatant sex- ism." Perez says, "It seems like if there is ever a moment with an awareness of this, it's right now. Costume Designers don't get paid as much as production designers even though what we do is equally important. Production designers simply Do It!