Definition June 2024 - Newsletter

CAREERS TRAILBLAZERS

“THIS IS A GROUP OF badass, fabulous women WHO ENJOY EACH OTHER’S COMPANY AND lifting each other up. THE REAL GOAL IS FOR PEOPLE to feel empowered ” TRAILBLAZERS #GALSNGEAR

I felt like things weren’t changing fast enough,” says Amy DeLouise when asked why she founded #GALSNGEAR, a growing movement to bring equity to women working in media and entertainment. An industry veteran, DeLouise has had a long career in the business, starting with working in the location department on feature films, before moving into various roles in the art department where she worked alongside directors including Robert Zemeckis and Oliver Stone. All the while, she was working her way up smaller nonfiction productions – from writer to associate producer, and finally launching her own company which specialises in storytelling for nonprofits. As she made her way up the ladder, DeLouise noticed the conspicuous absence of women working behind the scenes. “Most of the time, women were in the hair and makeup department, or maybe the art department,” she says. “Not many were in positions calling the shots – which was one of the reasons I ended up founding my own production company,” she explains. Motivated to drive change, DeLouise started working with Women in Film and Video, eventually becoming president. “I then started speaking at industry events like NAB Show and found there were not enough women talking about technical subjects. They’re often the moderator, but not the actual experts,” she observes.

Nicola Foley sits down with Amy DeLouise, the founder of an initiative working hard to bring parity to women in screen media

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