Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1518296
46 M PS E . O R G successful leave their audio careers earlier than men. Anna Sulley continues, "There seems to be a lot less opportunity, help, and schemes out there for people at mid- career level and above; those who want to move over from factual onto TV drama or progress outside of the indie film world onto higher profile productions. In the UK, there has also always been better representation for women in dialogue and Foley, but less so in effects editing and lead roles there. I don't think that's because women are more drawn to dialogue editing or because they prefer working on a particular genre of film (we enjoy car chase and fight scenes too!). I know a few women who started off as sound effects editors who have ended up switching to dialogue as they found it easier to get work there. As well as the lack of freelance head of departments, I don't think we have many female heads of sound employed at any of the London facilities working on scripted either (documentary is better). I'm also still hearing stories of inappropriate behavior, misogyny, and bullying happening to younger female colleagues. Incidents that people don't want to talk about publicly or to name anyone, as they quite rightly fear it might damage their careers. Sexism and racism are being called out a lot more than they used to be. But things still have a long way to go." I remember my mom and her best friend Verna Fields (film editor of Jaws and later, Head of Post Production at Universal Studios), discussing the subject of why men started taking over the film editing jobs when it had been mostly women. Film editing was considered menial work— putting together the clips the director shot. When it was discovered to be another way to "write" the film, men became more interested as it became a more prestigious position. More and more male editors became "available" and so more jobs went to them. As well as higher pay. And what if you are more than a woman sound editor, but also a diverse woman editor? I belong to a group called The Alliance of Women Directors and we went through similar prejudices as far as sounding like whiney victims. We've had production companies say, "We just don't know where to find any women directors!" [Hands in the air!] Hello, we have a list of them on our website! We know that there is a hierarchy in place—men get more jobs and get paid more to do those jobs than women do—mostly because people like to work with people they've worked with before. Look at Martin Scorsese's loyalty to Thelma Schoonmaker, the second most nominated film editor in history and recipient of three Oscars. She has edited all of Scorsese's films since Raging Bull (1980). Leslie Gaston-Bird, AES President (2024), recently completed PhD research. She quotes Erin Barra, founder of "We Make Noise" (formerly Beats by Girlz), who pointed out that there are actually a "tsunami of women" working in music (and presumably audio post-production) that haven't hit an "arbitrary level of success" to be counted. Look past statistics that say "only 2% /5% /10% of audio engineers are women" because those figures are distorted; those numbers are reported for hit-makers and Hollywood crew. As previously said, there are many more women working on indie projects. Gaston-Bird found that women who came to her Dolby Atmos certification classes had something in common: they want to be taken seriously. Many of her students have master's degrees, while men working in the industry have joked about not having a high school diploma. She also found that women are circumventing the gatekeepers and finding their own path. They seek mentorship and training and in turn become role models for other women looking to get into the industry. Together, role models, networking, and mentorship are very powerful tools to give women the social capital they need to sustain their careers. If she can see it, she can be it! Emma Butt, an award-winning dubbing mixer, dialogue & ADR editor, and sound effects editor in the UK, wrote a paper for the Birmingham City University titled, "Diversity in Post- Production Sound in UK Television Production." Basically, she had a participant group made up of research conducted between August and September of 2020. The data relates to 36 top-rated shows across six broadcasters (BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, and Sky One). Of 60 available sound roles across these shows, she found those roles undertaken by 55 people. The paper, which is 19 pages, is packed with information about the UK sound industry but it also applies to us in the United States. "At entry-level to post-production sound careers, people face the same issues as everyone else trying to break into a creative profession—trying to get a foot in the door of an already very difficult industry. However, as this research uncovered, people attempting to break into post-production sound may also face racism (through name-based discrimination), sexism, and ageism. In addition to this, they face ill-articulated job descriptions which require much more skills and experience than is necessary to fulfill an assistant level role." "At entry-level to post- production sound careers, people face the same issues as everyone else trying to break into a creative profession– trying to get a foot in the door of an already very difficult industry." OpEd S O U N D O F F