We interviewed Tanya Wexler, a director and mother of four children. Tanya started out as a child actor with her sister, and grew up acting throughout high school. When she was in college, she had to make a short video clip with a sample of her acting in order to start getting professional roles. When she wrote the script, she asked a few of her older friends in the acting world to read it, and they gave her some comments. Soon she realized that her true calling was to be a director. In college she followed a director’s path and had a female mentor who raised her kids and also was a great director. Once she graduated, Tanya hoped to break into the blockbuster film industry, but realized that the pushback that female directors face is a lot more than men. For producers, a straight white guy is the default, and anyone who isn’t has to work twice as hard to get half as far. Tanya has directed three films, all of which have strong female character who aren’t just in it for the guys. She believes that Hollywood needs more female directors because women are not accurately portrayed in their movies. She is definitely a strong feminist, and engaged in a major Twitter battle with the male director of Jurassic World, who made several public sexist comments toward female directors. Overall, Tanya is an amazing woman who is part of a large group of very talented women who are on the verge of breaking into the blockbuster action movie industry, where the only thing keeping them from doing so is the gender they were born with
