Sunday, 29 April 2018

Photoshoot Movie directed by Mairi Sutherland #MeToo Theme



The film Photoshoot was written and directed by my good self in 2009 but it took a few years for it to be readily available on Amazon Prime. An Independent British film I wrote it as a satirical comment on the attitude of the film industry to women and in that sense it was certainly before its time. Since then the MeToo Movement has created a tidal wave against Hollywood male attitudes and so this film with its story of a women who loses her career because she was sexually assaulted by a well known photographer, is now a film that has an up to date theme. The film delves into the psychological effects of sexual assault and the resulting fall out with the male film making hierarchy. For this portrayal of a women on the edge the lead actress Debbie Arnold received a Best Actress Award from the British Worthing Film Festival in 2010.

In writing it I was drawing from my own experience of being sexually assaulted by a BBC freelance reporter in 1991. Now over 25 years later we know from the Saville and others, that this was common place in the BBC with a culture that saw it as acceptable and part of the male celebrity belief that they were entitled to demand sexual favours from women, without consent as part of their job.

Now with the plethora of court cases, it is no long considered fashionable, or savvy in any way to have been part of that culture or to be seen as maintaining it in the BBC or Hollywood for that matter. Through out my 15 years as one of the most employed female film producers in Britain (according to blogger Stephen Fellows who compiles such film statistics) I have to say that I have had my fair share of humiliations from the male film community including being lined up with 9 other women, in a corporate setting to become a possible date for a famous film producer. In that respect I'm glad I was not chosen for the night out as more likely I would have defended myself in the manner of the character in Photo-shoot May Hudson.

I enjoyed making the movie and once the assault scene was filmed and accomplished with dignity by the actress Lara Clear I felt I could move on from the part of my life that had haunted me. If you want to support independent female voices in the film industry like myself please watch my film on Amazon Prime by hitting the link on here   


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