On January 20, my social justice group interviewed Tanya Wexler, who is a film director. We met at the front of the school and then walked over to the Coffee Bean together. When we got there, Tanya told us about her background, she was a child actor but went to Yale to study psychology. She got ahead a semester by taking a summer intensive course. She then went to LA, because she thought she was going to act, but in order to get a big part, she had to submit a video. Tanya decided to write a script for her to act in and she included all the camera directions. She submitted the script but was then told to take out all the camera directions because those were for the director. Tanya, however had a certain way she wanted the film to turn out and that was when she realized that her brain was wired to be a director. So she took the script back and soon after wrote two more short scripts. From this interview, we learned that only around 4% of directors are women and with the big studio and independent productions, only 10% of directors are females. In the TV industry, at maximum, 15% of directors are females. We also learned that female directors tend to make better female roles, and that only 20% of speaking parts are females. Tanya told us a story about how she almost got a big Marvel film but didn’t because men believed that women wouldn’t want to direct that kind of film, that the comic movies were more for men. Tanya loves what she does but isn’t given the opportunity to do it as often as she wants. She likes being a woman but she’s pissed that it’s so hard to be a female director in the film industry. She calls herself a, “happy warrior”. She also told us about how in order to direct a movie, you have to give a pitch and explain what you would do and then you are either given or denied the movie. Tanya told us about how the studio would tell her she has the best pitch but she still wouldn’t get the movie. She also told us of an instance where she signed up to be a candidate for the second 50 Shades of Grey movie, and it ended up being between her and a male, and the male got it, because they didn’t like the first one came out, and it was directed by a female. Tanya then talked about how the Fantastic Four movie was messed up and directed by a male, so should the next comic movie be directed by females. Speaking to Tanya really shed a new light on facts I wasn’t aware of, and I think, most people weren’t aware of. Because most people aren’t aware of these things, they don’t move to make a change and I think by talking about things Tanya shared with us in her interview during the teach-in, we can educate others about the inequalities women face.